Brock Lesnar's WWE Contract Reportedly Expired, Now a Free Agent

Brock Lesnar has not appeared on WWE programming since losing the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36. And, according to a new report from PWInsider's Mike Johnson, "The Beast" is no longer under contract with the WWE. Johnson reported on Monday, "While the two sides have been working on a new deal, they have hit an impasse and have paused discussions. This leaves Lesnar on the open market where he could, if he desires, field offers from outside WWE, whether it be AEW or other wrestling promotions, UFC, or even outside endeavors beyond combat sports."

Johnson pointed out that while Lesnar has taken hiatuses from WWE in the past, this would be his longest since returning to the company in 2012. There is reportedly "no new deal in sight," and WWE has already started pulling Lesnar's merchandise from WWE shop. As of this writing, Lesnar is still listed on WWE.com under the section of active Superstars.

WrestleVotes then confirmed the report, while also indicating when Lesnar might be back (if ever).

The reports of Brock Lesnar being a free agent are true. In talking with a source, the belief is that once Lesnar is ready to work again, he’ll let McMahon know. Or vice versa, if WWE needs Brock, they will present a deal he can’t refuse. Currently, it’s nothing more than that.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) August 31, 2020

After a full-time run in UFC, Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012 and began working on a highly-lucrative part-time deal with a small number of television and pay-per-view dates each year. Despite his part-time contract (he's only wrestled 64 times since 2012) he has utterly dominated WWE's world championship and main event scenes. He's held either the WWE Championship or Universal Championship a combined five times for nearly 1,100 days and has main evented three WrestleManias and seven SummerSlams in the past decade.

Lesnar's most recent WWE Championship reign kicked off back in October during Friday Night SmackDown's FOX premiere, where he defeated Kofi Kingston in less than 10 seconds. He went on to defend the championship against Cain Velasquez (his old rival from the UFC), Rey Mysterio and Ricochet before dropping the championship to McIntyre. His feud with "The Scottish Psychopath" began at the Royal Rumble when "The Beast" eliminated 13 competitors from the Men's Royal Rumble match before getting booted out by McIntyre, the match's eventual winner.

McIntyre has successfully held on to the WWE Championship ever since beating Lesnar. Meanwhile, his advocate Paul Heyman recently returned to WWE television with a new client in Roman Reigns. "The Big Dog" closed out Sunday's Payback pay-per-view by winning the WWE Universal Championship from "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman.