Brock Lesnar has been absent from WWE programming for over 14 months. The Beast Incarnate was last seen at WWE SummerSlam 2023 where he concluded his trilogy against Cody Rhodes, losing the rubber match to the American Nightmare and endorsing him in front of the Detroit crowd after the bell. Lesnar was initially scheduled to make his return to WWE TV at WWE Royal Rumble this past January and set up a WWE WrestleMania 40 program against then-WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther, but his link to a sex trafficking lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon days before the premium live event resulted in him getting pulled from storylines entirely.
Brock Lesnar, WWE “Talking” About Return
The Beast Incarnate could be back in the WWE fold soon.
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Speaking on Backstage Pass Q&A, wrestling reporter Bill Apter noted that he has heard from his WWE sources that Brock Lesnar and WWE are “talking” about a return. Reputable insider account @WrestleVotes corroborated this report shortly after.
It’s worth noting that Lesnar was referenced several times on this week’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw. Seth Rollins reminded Raw general manager Adam Pearce that he has “slayed beasts” before, alluding to his past feuds with Lesnar. WWE Champion Cody Rhodes also hinted at his Summer 2023 history with Lesnar, noting during his promo that he had “already slain a frightening beast.”
While Lesnar’s name was not spoken verbatim, this is a significant shift from how he has been perceived throughout 2024. Lesnar had been erased from all WWE video packages in an effort from WWE to seemingly distance itself from him.
That distance had only been on WWE television, as Lesnar has been brought up a couple of times at WWE press conferences.
“At one point, there was a conversation with Brock about Royal Rumble, quite a long time ago,” WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said this past April. “Right now, Brock is at home being Brock. We’ll see where that leads to from here. His status is the same as it has been before. Brock is not gone from WWE. He’s just home being Brock.”
This past July, Triple H was asked again about Lesnar, to which he noted that the company is “open” to working with him again.
You’d have to ask Brock Lesnar that. Brock kind of does his own thing. He’s up in Canada, I’m sure, watching his kids play hockey and enjoying life. If and when he decides he would like to do something, we’d be open to the conversation. We’ll see.”
This whole situation stems from Lesnar’s linkage to the sex trafficking lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon this past January. Former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a suit that accuses McMahon of sexually abusing and sexually assaulting her as well as sex trafficking her to other WWE employees. One of those other WWE employees was anonymously named as a “former WWE/UFC Heavyweight Champion.” The Wall Street Journal later identified Lesnar as that former champion, and Lesnar was specifically named as such in Netflix’s Mr. McMahon docuseries. McMahon allegedly instructed Grant to “create personalized sexually explicit content” for Lesnar as he was attempting to re-sign him to a new contract.
“Janel deserves the opportunity to tell her full story, not be a part of someone else’s,” a recent statement from Grant’s legal team states. “She will get her day in court, and McMahon will be held accountable. As we said, in fact, she would like to expedite all proceedings as quickly as possible. And Janel has the right to tell her story in her own way at the right time.”
WWE’s legal team has not yet cleared Lesnar for a return. He reportedly cannot come back to programming until that happens.
