WWE News: Brock Lesnar Spoke With UFC Recently About A Return, Latest On WWE Status
Heading into WrestleMania 31, the grand question continues to be whether or not WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will continue to work for the company following the event.
Lesnar is booked for Monday Night RAW on March 30, the night following WrestleMania, in San Jose. As of the most recent report, this is the last day Lesnar is scheduled to work on his current WWE contract. Speculation has been abounding in recent months that Lesnar is continuing to consider a return to MMA, specifically with the UFC.
UFC President Dana White recently appeared on the Fight Network and was asked about Lesnar. White told host John Pollock that he has spoken with Lesnar recently, including a conversation four weeks ago.
White went on to note that, “If he (Lesnar) wants to fight, he’ll call me.”
When examining the current booking in WWE, it would appear that Lesnar is leaning towards staying in the professional wrestling world. Conventional wisdom held that if Lesnar was on his way out, WWE would have likely taken the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt off of him at Royal Rumble last weekend. At all costs, the company would want to avoid a situation where Lesnar walks into WrestleMania as the champion with word leaking out on the internet that he is leaving the company following the event. This would create a situation similar to the Brock Lesnar versus Goldberg match at WrestleMania XX in 2004 when every fan knew Lesnar was on his way out of the company following the match, and they proceeded to boo and heckle both competitors for the duration of the bout.
As recently as a couple of weeks back, WWE appeared to be headed in the direction of Lesnar losing the championship belt at Royal Rumble. The company appeared to be grooming Seth Rollins as the guy to take the belt from Lesnar and carry it into WrestleMania as the champion while the company continued to wait on Lesnar’s decision concerning his future. However, with Lesnar retaining at Royal Rumble, it seems as though something has changed.
Is the decision to leave the championship belt on Lesnar indicative of Lesnar deciding to stay with WWE? Has Brock told McMahon behind closed doors that he is staying? As of right now, Brock is not booked to wrestle on the Fast Lane pay per view show in February, so barring a title switch on television, Lesnar appears to be heading into WrestleMania 31 as champion. It is hard to imagine the company putting him in that situation if there is a chance that he is leaving following the event.
Pro Wrestling Torch editor Wade Keller reported on his Friday podcast that indications within WWE are that Brock is staying with WWE.
The booking over the next couple of weeks of WWE television should indicate whether Brock is on his way out of the company or staying.
[Image via Sportskeeda.com]
