Sometimes the WWE can be a little too predictable. You know who is going to win, who will lose, who will get the big push, and who will languish at the mid-card even if they’re one of the best workers in the company.
But when it comes to Brock Lesnar, it’s pretty much anybody’s guess. As was the case at last night’s WrestleMania 35 when the superstar’s “advocate,” Paul Heyman, came out at the top of the show and announced that Lesnar’s Universal Championship match against Seth Rollins would start the evening. Typically a match of that magnitude would be somewhere at the top of the card, but Lesnar, who has been criticized in the past for not showing up to defend his title every week, has never really played by his own rules.
That might be coming to an end after Lesnar lost to Rollins in a shocking turn of events. For the last five years Lesnar has been one of the few constants in the WWE, holding main titles on and off (but mostly on) since returning to the company in 2012, and mostly showing up to the big shows like WrestleMania and Survivor Series. And while the rumors that Lesnar would leave the company to go back and fight in the UFC—where he’s held the Heavyweight Championship and posted a record of nine wins and three losses throughout his MMA career—have swirled around for some time, there’s a very good chance this latest WWE loss could be a sign of things to come. The Beast might actually be leaving WWE. And if that’s happening, for how long is up for debate.
While Lesnar has fought in UFC while on the WWE roster, at UFC 200, in what the WWE called a “a one-off opportunity,” his time in the company could be over if the rumors are true that Lesnar will face UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 241 on Aug. 17.
If that does happen, and Lesnar will be away from the WWE for an undisclosed amount of time as he gets back into the Octagon, it presents the sports entertainment giant with an interesting opportunity. The roster is stacked with talent like no other time in the company’s history, it would free up a little room at the top, especially when it comes to competition for the new champion, Rollins. For Lesnar, it could simply be the closing of one part of his legendary career, and the opening of another. And with the future of the UFC’s biggest star, Conor McGregor, up in the air after he teased retiring and was accused of sexual assault, the MMA brand needs a marquee name like Lesnar in the Octagon.
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