Brock Lesnar used 'secret WWE signal' during retirement segment at Wrestlemania 42

A clip of Brock Lesnar using the "X" signal after his Wrestlemania 42 match against Oba Femi is going viral on social media, with many believing the symbol was used to indicate that he was going off-script.

An emotional Lesnar laid his gloves and boots in the middle of the ring on Sunday before sharing an embrace with on-screen advocate Paul Heyman.

Many viewers assumed the 48-year-old former UFC fighter was announcing his retirement following his four-minute-and-42-second match with rising star Oba Femi, a decision that came as a surprise to WWE officials, according to Fightful.

The report claims they did not expect Lesnar to retire in Las Vegas and instead anticipated him doing so after SummerSlam in August, with the event taking place in his hometown of Minneapolis.

Speaking to ESPN after the event, WWE's chief content officer Triple H said "it seemed that way” when asked if Lesnar had decided to retire. “Brock is not a ‘walk back through the curtain and have a long conversation’ guy,” he added.

Naturally, millions have watched Lesnar leave his gear in the ring, with some picking up on the fact that he threw up the “X” symbol before embracing Heyman, which has previously been used in wrestling to indicate that something real just happened.

Here's how fans reacted to the incident.

One said: "During his emotional retirement, Brock Lesnar threw an 'X' sign to Paul Heyman and the cameras. In wrestling, this signal is used to ensure everyone knows something is off-script and actually real. A truly LEGENDARY end to an ERA."

A second wrote: "Paul Heyman's face says it all," and a third commented: "I think Brock made that decision in the ring. I don’t think it was planned or that Paul had a clue it was about to happen."

A fourth said: "This means Heyman didn’t know? That’s crazy," and a fifth added: "Yeah he definitely made this decision himself and didn’t let people in on it. Good for him. Legend of the game."

How Triple H reacted to Brock Lesnar's actions at Wrestlemania 42

Speaking in the aftermath of Sunday's event, Triple H, real name Paul Levesque, paid tribute to Lesnar and called him a "one of kind" athlete.

"There was not a discussion had afterwards," he said. "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 that nobody gives him credit for is the intelligence of a fighter. They see Brock as this hulking brute—the Beast, right? They see him as all that.

“There comes a point in time when somebody comes along that’s bigger and better and just pushes you to a place that 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 a planned thing. I think Brock went to the ring, and he walked into a wall called Oba.

“Brock walked up to the next big thing and ran into a brick wall, and the intelligence in him said, ‘Maybe I should call it a day.’ And he took his boots off, he put his gloves down, and he walked away.

“That is not a statement of Brock being afraid of it. That is an intelligent man meeting something that cannot be stopped. It is as much a statement of Oba as it is Brock Lesnar."

Triple H added:

“You witnessed a changing of the guard at the apex of our business.”