World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) icon Brock Lesnar announced his retirement from professional wrestling following a loss to rising Nigerian wrestling star Oba Femi at the promotion’s marquee ‘SummerSlam’ event on August 1. The 49-year-old multi-time WWE champion, who also had stints in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) as a part of an illustrious combat sport career, confirmed his retirement on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Tuesday, as per ESPN.
Appearing on the show, Lesnar confirmed that his outing against Femi would be the last of his career. He also admitted that he felt he was done as an in-ring performer following a loss to Femi at WrestleMania 42 in April, having removed and left his gloves and boots in the ring, but he decided to return, defeating the 28-year-old in May at ‘Clash in Italy’ before finally losing to the rising star in a ‘Hell in a Cell’ match at SummerSlam. Following the match, he raised Oba’s hand as a sign of respect, hailing him as ‘the future of WWE’, while calling himself ‘the past’.
“I am here today to let the world know that I am retired,” Lesnar said at the show as quoted by ESPN.
“Saturday was a very emotional day for me. It was kind of weird. When Oba Femi slammed me at WrestleMania, I said, ‘I cannot do this anymore. I think I am done.’ But the business called, and I still had some fuel in the tank.”
“Saturday, for Brock Lesnar, that is it. That is it for me in the squared circle and everything else,” he signed off.
Lesnar’s announcement marks the end of one of the greatest careers in all of combat sports. The 49-year-old was a two-time All-American and a two-time Big Ten champion and also captured the NCAA Division 1 national championship in wrestling while representing the University of Minnesota in 200 before signing with WWE.
Lesnar’s announcement brings an end to one of the most unique and successful careers in professional sports history.
A two-time All-American and a two-time Big Ten champion, Lesnar won an NCAA Division I national championship in wrestling for the University of Minnesota in 2000 before going on to sign a pro wrestling contract.
With his brutal physicality, in-ring ability, athleticism and his trademark ‘F5’ finishing move, Lesnar defeated Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson back in 2002 to secure the first of his 10 WWE Championship titles. He also emerged victorious in two ‘Royal Rumble’ matches (2003 and 2022), won the ‘King of the Ring’ tournament (2002), the ‘Money in the Bank’ ladder match (2019), earning a contract that guarantees a world championship match anytime, anywhere.
In 2004, Lesnar stepped away from WWE, pursuing a brief stint in the National Football League (NFL) and appearing in some preseason games for the Minnesota Vikings before his release.
In 2007, Lesnar ventured into mixed-martial arts, capturing the UFC Heavyweight title in his fourth bout against Randy Couture in 2008. He ended his first UFC stint in 2011, making a return to WWE in 2012, losing to John Cena in an ‘Extreme Rules’ match on his return, and since then, he had memorable matches against Cena, Triple H, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, Goldberg, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, among others.
A massive career-defining moment came in 2014 at WrestleMania 30, when he defeated his long-time rival The Undertaker to break his 21-0 undefeated streak at professional wrestling’s marquee event.
While he had retired from MMA in 2015, he did return for one final bout against Mark Hunt in 2016 at UFC 200. After his second WWE stint ended in 2020, his final run with the company was from 2021-26. In his second and third stints with the WWE, he would dominate his matches by unleashing a barrage of German Suplexes on his opponents, taking them to the ‘Suplex City’, a term he coined himself.
Reflecting on his career, Lesnar said, “I was just a farm kid from South Dakota with a big dream, a big heart and a big-ass chip on my shoulder. I am just grateful to be 49 years old and have been able to do what I did in this lifetime. I thank God and everybody that supported me.”
“I want to say to the little kids, I was a little farm kid with a bunch of lint in my pocket. I had big dreams, and I just worked. I think a lot of people with social media platforms see athletes doing things and they leave out the hard work. If kids just stay focused on work and putting time in, good things will happen,” he signed off.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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