Brock Lesnar shocked the wrestling world on night two of WrestleMania 42 when he removed his gloves and boots in the center of the ring following a loss to Oba Femi.
The gesture of leaving boots in the ring is a wrestling tradition signaling the end of a career. Fans at the event in Las Vegas seemed confused at first if Brock was actually retiring, but he left little doubt when he called manager Paul Heyman to the ring, who was overcome with emotion after Lesnar threw up the “X” symbol wrestling uses
to indicate that something real just happened.
Even with what seemed like clear signs that Brock was indeed calling it a career, WWE announcers Michael Cole and Wade Barrett were cautious to say he had just retired, instead indicating they would wait for an official confirmation.
Among those in WWE who didn’t offer a confirmation was Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the company’s chief content officer, who was later asked about the situation on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
“Well, it certainly seemed that way,” Triple H answered when asked if Lesnar had retired. “Brock is not a walk back through the curtain and have a long conversation guy. Brock is a walk back through the curtain very angry and go to his bus and that is the end of it. So there was not a discussion had after.”
Levesque then went on to praise Lesnar as “one of a kind” and “probably the most famous combat sport athlete of our generation.”
Meanwhile, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle seemed to have no doubt that Brock had retired. The Olympic Gold medalist battled Brock in the main event of WrestleMania XIX, and he shared an image from that classic match, along with a heartfelt tribute, in a social media post.
“Love you my brother. There will only be one like you,” Angle wrote in the caption of the post on X (Twitter). “Enjoy retirement Brock.”
As Sean wrote on this site yesterday, the 48-year-old Lesnar may have decided he didn’t want to deal with public backlash to allegations made against him as part of Janel Grant’s ongoing sexual trafficking lawsuit against WWE and Vince McMahon. Sean noted Brock is the married father of four children, and he may have wanted to shield his family as much as possible from any potential scrutiny that may come their way.
Before last night, Brock was already heavily rumored to be winding down his career with talks of a retirement match against Gunther at this year’s SummerSlam, which takes place in Lesnar’s home state of Minnesota.
If his seeming retirement as WrestleMania is just part of a storyline to build to an announced career match, Levesque wasn’t letting on about any such plan when speaking to ESPN.
“There comes a point in time when somebody comes along that’s bigger and badder and just pushes you to a place that you can’t come back from. The smart ones know when that happens, and they call it a day,” Levesque said to the sports network.
The Game continued: “I don’t think that was a planned thing. I think Brock went to the ring, he walked into a wall called Oba Femi. Brock walked up to the next big thing and ran into a brick wall. And the intelligence in him said, ‘Maybe I should call it a day.’ And he took his boots off, and he put his gloves down, and he walked away. That is not a statement of Brock being afraid of it. That is an intelligent man meeting something that cannot be stopped. It is as much of a statement of Oba Femi as it is Brock Lesnar. You witnessed a changing of the guard at the apex of our business.”
What do you think, Cagesiders? Did we just see Brock wrestle his final match? Let us know in the comments.
