When the lawsuit regarding Vince McMahon's alleged sexual abuse and trafficking was first made public, an unexpected WWE Superstar found themselves pulled into the whole sordid affair: Brock Lesnar.
It was claimed that McMahon had offered WWE employee Janel Grant to Lesnar as a bonus, of sorts, for signing a new contract. Texts showed that Lesnar responded positively to the idea, though we've seen nothing to suggest they ever actually met (or whether the former UFC star was as serious as McMahon appeared to be).
Before the scandal, the plan had been for The Beast to be eliminated from this year's Royal Rumble by Dominik Mysterio. He'd have destroyed The Judgement Day member at Elimination Chamber before facing then-Intercontinental Champion Gunther at WrestleMania.
Instead, Lesnar has been M.I.A. since being connected to McMahon's reported misconduct. There have been references to him on RAW but nothing to suggest WWE will bring him back into the fold until his name is cleared and this lawsuit is dealt with...which could take several years.
Throw in the fact that Lesnar stormed out of WWE when McMahon was originally forced out of the company and his loyalty to the billionaire could mean his last match was with Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam 2023.
Now, we have a possible update. According to insider "Dr. Chris Featherstone, Ph.D.," there have "been no internal conversations regarding Brock Lesnar coming back to WWE, and the belief is that he will not be returning any time in the foreseeable future."
In other words, we shouldn't expect him to factor into WWE's WrestleMania 41 plans.
"You’d have to ask Brock Lesnar that," Triple H said earlier this summer when asked if the former WWE Champion is likely to return. "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."
That echoed comments made by The Game after WrestleMania when he reiterated that Lesnar was not "gone" from WWE before adding, "His status is the same as it has been before. He’s just home being Brock."
If this really is the end for Lesnar in WWE, then it's a shame in many ways but something the majority of fans will likely be fine with in the long term. His matches in recent years have boiled down to only a few of the same moves and there are plenty of huge draws elsewhere on the WWE roster.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.