WWE News: Brock Lesnar Nearly Quit WWE Immediately Following His Return In 2012
Current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is one of the hottest topics in the world of professional wrestling as well as in mixed-martial-arts, and with his WWE contract coming to an end in just one week, he’s even more of a hot topic than usual. Nobody knows if Lesnar will stay with WWE or make a return to the world of mixed-martial-arts via the UFC or Bellator. People on the WWE side believe he’s staying in WWE, and people on the UFC side believe he’s coming back for one last run.
Lesnar left the UFC back in December of 2011 after a first round TKO loss to Alistair Overeem. Just four months later, “The Beast” made his return to WWE and received one of the loudest ovations in the history of pro wrestling. Lesnar began a program with WWE’s top babyface John Cena and emerged as of the most intimidating wrestlers ever to set foot in the squared circle.
At Extreme Rules 2012, Lesnar and Cena squared off, and the original plan was to have John Cena win, but due to the beating he suffered at the hands of Lesnar, he would be taken out of the arena on a stretcher. However, that didn’t happen as Cena didn’t get stretchered out, and instead, cut a passionate promo at the end of the show. Cena’s promo infuriated Lesnar, and The Beast — who felt like he was just double-crossed — nearly quit WWE that night.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer appeared on this week’s edition of the Lapsed Fan Podcast to talk about the history of WrestleMania, specifically WrestleMania 29. During the podcast, Meltzer noted that Lesnar seriously considered quitting WWE after just one match and regretted his decision to return to WWE.
“The John Cena move in [Brock Lesnar’s] first match back was really the wrong move, but their whole thing was that there was going to be only one Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena match — I was told ‘they’re only going to go once, so John has to win, and then they’re going to move on, because Vince [McMahon] had to prove that his top guy could beat the other organization’s top guy.’
“Brock wasn’t happy that night because — in his mind — they double-crossed him on the finish, because John Cena came up and did that promo that he wasn’t supposed to do. Cena was supposed to win and then go out on a stretcher, and that didn’t happen. So, he felt double crossed, and WWE’s argument was that John went into business for himself, and we couldn’t help it.”
Other than one instance a couple of weeks ago, Brock Lesnar has honored every single date on his WWE contract since his return in 2012 and has elected to re-sign every time his contract expires. But, with Lesnar being in his late 30s, it’s now or never in terms of a return to mixed-martial-arts.
There are some people who believe that Lesnar is using a potential return to the UFC as leverage to get a better deal from WWE. Lesnar’s current WWE deal pays him five million dollars a year to wrestle three to four matches per year, and he knows that he could potentially earn more for fewer appearances if he returns to the UFC. During Lesnar’s time in the UFC, he was a mega pay-per-view draw as he became the biggest pay-per-view draw in UFC history.
Rumor has it that WWE is going to do everything imaginable to re-sign Lesnar at tonight’s RAW because they want to be able to lock in their WrestleMania plans, which could involve Lesnar retaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately for WWE, it’s in Lesnar’s best interest to not re-sign with them unless they offer him significantly more money than they’re paying him now.
If WWE is able to re-sign Lesnar tonight, they’ll likely make it public immediately to add suspense to the WrestleMania main-event because if Lesnar doesn’t re-sign, everybody will know that there’s no chance of Lesnar winning, and retaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
[Image via WWE]
