Brock Lesnar is an icon of the wrestling industry. With a career spanning over 20 years, it was recently revealed that The Beast almost called it quits during the Covid-19 era.
Ever since he joined WWE in 2002, Brock has been a dominant force in the company. He left the company 2 years later and went away to play football. He later went to UFC as well. Brock Lesnar then returned to WWE in 2012 and since then he has mainly been a part-timer for the company. However, according to Lesnar, he almost quit WWE in 2020 during the pandemic era.
Speaking with Daniel Cormier for ESPN MMA, Brock Lesnar talked about how he considered himself retired in 2020 when his contract expired, but he later changed his mind due to a phone call from Vince McMahon.
Brock Lesnar’s wrestling contract was due in 2020. Just when COVID hit the world and there seemed like no scope for professional wrestling as a career, Brock Lesnar decided to call it “The End” and retire from the professional wrestling scenario.
“I had my very first wrestling match in Hammond, Minnesota, in an empty garage. There I was 20 years later, fighting Drew McIntyre in front of no people for the WWE Championship. I was like, ‘You know what? It’s gone full circle.’ I was truly done,” Brock Lesnar explained.
He further talks about how Vince McMahon called him once, which eventually led to Lesnar flying down to Vegas to hash out a deal with McMahon. During the time his birthday rolled around, Lesnar had grown his hair and beard out. Suddenly one day, Vince called Lesnar and asked what he was up to.
At that time, he didn’t really have anything to do, so when Vince asked him to come back, Lesnar obliged happily. He flew down to Vegas where they hashed out a deal. Brock Lesnar told McMahon that he didn’t feel like cutting his hair and beard for his return, and McMahon actually liked his look.
Brock Lesnar “couldn’t stand” fighting in an empty arena
It was recently rumored that WrestleMania 39 would be Brock Lesnar’s last as he reportedly said his goodbyes to the WWE staff backstage. On a related note, Lesnar actually retired from WWE in 2020.
Lesnar recently opened up to Daniel Cormier about how he didn’t like the idea of fighting in an empty arena during Covid-19. He hated it so much that he considered himself retired after losing to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36, right around the time when his contract expires. After losing his championship to McIntyre in front of an absent crowd in an empty arena, Brock said, “I’m done. I did not get into this for this. I want to be in front of a crowd.”
In any case, it seems like The Beast is sticking around for one more year till WrestleMania 40, as it was reported. Fans hope to see more of The Beast for as long as they can.
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