WrestleMania Sunday (Night 2) opened with Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi. In what was one of the most highly anticipated matches on the card, Femi established himself as WWE's next big thing when he slayed The Beast.
However, what came next was the biggest shocker of the night. A tearful Lesnar removed his gloves and boots, and seemingly retired from WWE when he embraced Paul Heyman and thanked the fans as he left the ring.
According to Bodyslam.net, Lesnar handpicked Femi as his WrestleMania 42 opponent several months ago. There's still no news on his apparent retirement, but when TMZ caught up with his advocate, Paul Heyman, he wasn't giving anything away.
"What’s my vision? Another 15 years of dominance by Brock Lesnar," Heyman said, adding, "Why? Why are you pushing this whole retirement thing? You actually read what is posted online and take it seriously? This is part of the great political divide in this country, isn’t it? That people actually take seriously irrelevant opinions."
"There’s only one relevant opinion, and it’s mine," he added. "Mine is that Brock Lesnar dominates the next 15 years."
We'll likely get a better idea of what to expect during tonight's RAW, and WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque remained similarly noncommital when asked about Lesnar's apparent farewell.
"Well, it certainly seemed that way. Brock is not a walk-back-through-the-curtain-and-have-a-long-conversation guy. Brock walks back very angry, goes to his bus, and that’s the end of it. So there wasn’t a discussion afterwards," he claimed. "I will say this—probably the most famous combat sports athlete of our generation. One of a kind. Nobody like Brock Lesnar."
"But the one thing nobody gives him credit for is the intelligence of a fighter. They see Brock as this hulking brute—the Beast. But there comes a point when somebody comes along that’s bigger and better and pushes you to a place you can’t come back from."
"The smart ones know when that happens—and they call it a day. I don’t think that was planned. I think Brock went to the ring and walked into a wall called Oba Femi," Triple H continued. "He ran into the next big thing—a brick wall—and the intelligence in him said, 'Maybe I should call it a day.' So he took his boots off, put his gloves down, and walked away."
"That’s not fear—that’s intelligence. An intelligent man meeting something that can’t be stopped. It’s as much a statement about Oba as it is about Brock Lesnar. You just witnessed a changing of the guard at the apex of this business," he concluded.
Are we being swerved? Could Gunther force Heyman to bring Lesnar out of retirement so they can square off at SummerSlam, the original rumoured location for the 10-time WWE Champion's retirement?
Stay tuned for the answers as we have them.