"I actually retired" - Brock Lesnar reveals he was done with wrestling after losing to two-time tag team champion

It's hard to believe that Brock Lesnar's second run with WWE lasted eight consecutive years. There was a small gap in between, but he has been back for more than half a year now and is set to headline WrestleMania 38 against Roman Reigns. In a recent interview, Lesnar admitted that he was retired for a period in between.

Brock Lesnar was absent from WWE between April 2020 and August 2021. It was the longest gap he had taken since returning in 2012, and by the summer of 2020, his contract had quietly expired.

There were rumors that WWE didn't want to utilize Lesnar in the ThunderDome without an audience, and they patiently waited to re-sign him. It was only at SummerSlam 2021 when he returned to kickstart his feud with Reigns, which will culminate this April.

On an appearance on The Michael Kay Show, Lesnar admitted that he considered himself retired after WrestleMania 36 when he lost to two-time RAW Tag Team Champion Drew McIntyre and revealed how the empty arena show made it all come full circle for him:

“I actually retired when COVID hit and my contract was up in 2020. Full circle Brock Lesnar story, I had my first wrestling match in Minnesota was in a garage with no people. 20 years later, had a WWE Title match at WrestleMania in a warehouse in front of no people. 20 years, full circle. I was like ‘I’m out,'” said Brock Lesnar. (H/T RSN)

McIntyre would go on to take the mantle and become the superstar of the year in 2020 for WWE. He led the ThunderDome era until The Tribal Chief returned, and the two have only crossed paths once since then at the 2022 Men's Royal Rumble.

In that instance, they were the final two men before The Beast Incarnate threw The Scottish Warrior out to win the Royal Rumble again.

---

Brock Lesnar is set for the biggest WrestleMania main event ever

Two years after his supposed retirement, Lesnar will headline WrestleMania again. It will also be his third match against Roman Reigns at The Grandest Stage of Them All.

This means that Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns joins the likes of The Undertaker vs. Triple H and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin vs. The Rock as the only superstars to face each other thrice at The Show of Shows. They will be the only duo to headline WrestleMania against each other on three separate occasions.

It will be a title unification match and is being advertised as the biggest match in the event's history.