Night 2 of WrestleMania opened with Oba Femi's highly anticipated clash with Brock Lesnar. During the closing moments of their bout, Femi established himself as WWE's next big thing when he conquered The Beast.
However, what came next was the biggest shocker of the entire weekend. 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.
WWE has been noncommittal on Lesnar's status, though a video package aired during RAW, along with a passionate promo from Heyman (the company's official store is even selling three different "Thank You Brock" t-shirts).
According to Dave Meltzer, there is a backstage belief that, despite the evidence to the contrary, Lesnar has not retired yet...but he will retire later this year. Rumours have swirled for months about The Beast bidding farewell to WWE at SummerSlam, seeing as it's in his hometown of Minneapolis.
Bryan Alvarez chimed in to say that Lesnar's retirement did appear either unplanned or last-minute, which he believes was evident from the video package above (which felt rushed and is mostly comprised of clips from old documentaries). He added, "It really came across like he did something people weren't expecting."
Meltzer has also learned that WWE had originally planned for the Lesnar/Femi feud to be much longer, though the idea was dropped shortly before WrestleMania 42.
So, has Lesnar retired? While there are ways he could be brought back, none of them makes sense. Could he return just to, what, be beaten and retired by Gunther? Sure, but throw in the fact that it would destroy any trust fans have in WWE, and it doesn't seem likelu.
In case you missed how things played out at WrestleMania 42 on Sunday, here are some highlights from Lesnar's epic clash with Femi: