Backstage Update on Brock Lesnar Becoming a Free Agent, Why His Merchandise Was Pulled

– As previously reported, former WWE World and Universal champion Brock Lesnar is now a free agent in wrestling after his latest WWE deal expired, and he did not come to terms with WWE on a new contract. As of now, WWE is still listing Lesnar as a member of the Raw roster. Dave Meltzer reported more details on Lesnar’s free agency at F4WOnline.com and today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

According to Meltzer, Lesnar’s last WWE contract expired at WrestleMania 36, where he lost the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre. Lesnar has not appeared on WWE programming since that time. Meltzer stated on today’s Observer Radio that nobody knew about Lesnar being a free agent since April “because it wasn’t an issue,” meaning people outside WWE weren’t clued into it until WWE had pulled his merchandise. As yesterday’s report from PWInsider stated, talks between Brock Lesnar and WWE had stalled to point that they were “pausing all discussions.” It was also noted that such instances had taken place between WWE and Lesnar during their past contract negotiations before a new deal was eventually reached.

Meltzer reinforced that report on WOR, noting that Lesnar has done this repeatedly, and Lesnar is said not be in talks with UFC at the moment. Usually, Lesnar’s contract would expire around WrestleMania time. Meltzer stated, “Most of the time, people know about it. This year, it wasn’t really publicized, and he hasn’t been, as far as I know, he hasn’t been negotiating with UFC.” Lesnar is also a former UFC heavyweight champion. He last fought for the MMA promotion in 2016 at UFC 200, while he was also under WWE contract.

Meltzer went on that there was no real rush to bring Lesnar back for SummerSlam time, likely due to the COVID-19 situation. Also, WWE probably would’ve wanted him back for the next Saudi Arabia show, but that likely won’t be happening again this year.

With regards to Lesnar’s merchandise, Meltzer reported that Lesnar’s contract allows a certain time-frame to continue selling his merchandise after his contract apparently expires. Meltzer noted that while WWE would be technically allowed to sell through the remaining Lesnar merchandise they had available, the promotion reportedly could not continue advertising Lesnar products after a certain date, which was likely a short time ago.