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Headline: Details On Brock Lesnar’s WWE Contract
Last week saw the shock result that no one expected - Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal
Championship over Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34.
It had been widely reported leading up to the event that Lesnar’s contract was expiring
on the day of the show, and he would be heading back to UFC.
Dana White even confirmed this story a few days prior to Mania, and it had been long
reported that the plan for WrestleMania was for Reigns to win the championship and finally
be coronated as “the guy”.
It has since been revealed that Lesnar has signed a new deal with WWE, but there is a
question mark hanging over the length of that contract.
While several sites reported that it was short-term, Fightful conversely reported that it was a
multi-year deal that would allow him to wrestle for WWE and fight in UFC, his first fight
back being between the winner of Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic.
“Lesnar’s WWE contract had options that would have expired in August but McMahon really
wanted him to stay as he views him and [Ronda] Rousey as his two biggest attractions.”
While it was reported that Lesnar’s new terms and contract hadn’t been agreed upon
until the day of WrestleMania, Dave Meltzer is claiming Lesnar and Vince McMahon came
to a verbal agreement on the Raw before Mania.
It was on that show that the finish of the main event of WrestleMania 34 was changed,
but only Lesnar, McMahon, Heyman and a few other key people were told.
Meltzer reports that Reigns wasn’t told until the day of the event, and the rest of
the lockerroom and staff didn’t know until Lesnar pinned Roman.
Michael Hayes, who laid out the match with Reigns, Lesnar and Heyman, also reportedly
didn’t know.
Meltzer adds that the reason WWE haven’t revealed the length of the contract is because
it would make it easy for fans to pinpoint when he’ll drop the Universal Championship
- although he adds that it could be until Summerslam.
It’s reported that Lesnar has been given a huge pay rise with his new deal, and unlike
other WWE wrestlers who talk contract details with Triple H, Lesnar and Heyman only dealt
with Vince on the terms.
Meltzer reports that the reason WWE wanted to sign Brock to a big money deal is because
they see him as one of their biggest draws.
“Until Rousey signed, Lesnar was generally considered with John Cena as one of WWE’s
two biggest stars, particularly mainstream…
WWE doesn’t want the appearance that one of its biggest stars left for UFC, even if
they got Rousey, who is a bigger mainstream name than Lesnar and gets them far more attention.”
While some sites are reporting that Lesnar’s deal is short-term and others say it’s for
multiple years, PWStream say it’s somewhere in the middle.
“Lesnar’s deal is not a fixed contract.
He’ll be paid per appearance, when WWE need him.
The same deal has also been set in place by the UFC, which therefore keeps all three parties
happy.”
If Brock is indeed heading back to UFC, Meltzer adds that he can’t do anything for a while
as he needs to re-enter the USADA drug testing pool and he needs to be in that for six months.
Headline Real Reason Behind Brock Lesnar & Vince McMahon Backstage Fight
The other big story coming out of WrestleMania was the reported backstage fight between Vince
McMahon and Brock Lesnar.
Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet was the first to break the story, that said as Lesnar
walked into Gorilla Position backstage he threw the Universal Championship at McMahon
and the two got into a heated verbal altercation.
Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch added that he had heard from his sources that McMahon
was either unhappy with the amount of blood drew hardway in the match, or the reportedly
unplanned spot where Lesnar threw Reigns over the German announcer’s table which they
weren’t ready for.
Dave Meltzer also added that when Lesnar threw the belt at Vince, Shane McMahon stood up
as if he wanted to get into a fight with Brock.
When this story was first reported last week, there was some skepticism from several news
outlets - as the people who told them the story had also been worked by Vince and Brock
on the finish of WrestleMania 34, and they believed this could be McMahon and Lesnar
trying to work them again.
Brad Shepard of Bodyslam.net has since noted, “The incident was either a complete work
designed to manipulate pro wrestling news sites who they knew the news would leak to,
or it was severely over hyped.
It was hard to know with certainty either way because Vince McMahon was keeping the
entire situation kayfabe from WWE Superstars and employees.”
Meltzer adds in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this could also very well be a work saying,
“The story being told is Vince was not aware nor expecting it, and obviously, Shane McMahon
wasn’t…
[Shane] was furious at what he perceived as an attempt to intimidate his father, and did
go after them, but they were already gone and there was no confrontation.”
Melzter adds, “There is a romantic thing about working everyone that some have with
wrestling...The reality, and this case is no different, it builds a lack of trust among
key employees and the belief that everything said isn’t believed and questioned, which
is not a good thing in a business where paranoia runs deep.
You only have to look at the last few years of WCW to see the long-term of this direction.”
It was a sad day for everyone yesterday following the news that John Cena and Nikki Bella have
split up.
Check out Oli Davis’ episode of WrestleTalk News by clicking the image to the left, and
check out the smaller video above that for more awesome wrestling content.