Brock Lesnar retirement bombshell as wrestling insider provides update

Brock Lesnar appeared to retire from WWE in shock fashion at WrestleMania on Sunday but a new update has been given on the Beast Incarnate's status.

Lesnar opened night two of WrestleMania 42 against up and coming star Oba Femi in Las Vegas but was destroyed by 'The Ruler' in a swift passing of the torch match.

The former UFC heavyweight champion stunned the 50,000 fans in attendance at the Allegiant Stadium by removing his gloves and boots to indicate that he was calling time on his WWE career.

Lesnar then shared an emotional embrace with long-time advocate Paul Heyman and received a standing ovation.

Initially advertised to appear on Monday Night Raw the following day, Lesnar was removed from the graphic and Heyman appeared to confirm the 48-year-old's retirement in a segment on the show.

Heyman said: "This supposed greatest production team of all time, when they did the ‘Then, Now, Forever,' [they] still [had] my Beast in the ‘Now.' So these stupid b*****s in the truck and in the production team just can't take the reality of what went down yesterday, so let me bestow upon you my wisdom. Please take him out of the ‘Now' and put him in the ‘Forever' because he's not the ‘Now' and he will forever be the baddest [motherf****r] that has ever been in a WWE ring. And that Beast's name is Brock Lesnar!”.

Brock Lesnar was full of emotion after his final match. Image: Getty

Heyman's comments followed up remarks from chief content officer Triple H on ESPN. However, Fightful stated that Lesnar's announcement came as a huge surprise to WWE officials as they expected him to ride off into the sunset in his hometown of Minneapolis, the location for SummerSlam in August.

Lesnar, who performed an X gesture, seemingly went off-script with the retirement.

There has been no confirmation of Lesnar retiring and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer claims those in WWE think he has not retired but will do later in 2026.

"Based on people in WWE, they believe he's not retiring yet, although he is retiring probably at some point this year," Meltzer stated.

"This might be one of those things where everything is being kept quiet like the Seth Rollins thing. A couple of people have mentioned it, that's the belief."

Former WWE star CJ Perry believes Lesnar will return in Saudi Arabia, telling TMZ "a Saudi prince or king is going to demand to have Brock, and they’ll pay him like 20-50 million" for a comeback bout.

Should Lesnar still have one more match in him, the obvious final opponent would be the dominant Gunther, who has retired John Cena, AJ Styles and Goldberg and is owed a favour by Heyman in WWE storyline.