Bully Ray says Brock Lesnar’s return to Raw was only a surprise if you ignored the fact that the word retirement never actually came from Lesnar himself or from WWE, pointing out the company’s own post-WrestleMania language deliberately left the door open.
Speaking on the Busted Open podcast, Bully Ray noted that what many took as a retirement moment at WrestleMania 42 was entirely an assumption on the audience’s part.
“You never heard those words come out of Brock’s mouth. At least I don’t think we did, not on WWE television, not on one of their podcasts. The WWE never touted Brock Lesnar is officially retired. As a matter of fact, they were saying ‘what’s next for Brock Lesnar,’ and I find that a very interesting choice of words post-WrestleMania.”
Lesnar left his boots and MMA gloves in the ring after losing to Oba Femi at WrestleMania 42, embraced Paul Heyman, and departed in a moment that carried the visual weight of a farewell. WWE subsequently moved his profile from the active superstar section to the alumni section of WWE.com. PWInsider reported last week that Lesnar is still listed internally as an active performer and considered a free agent.
Bully Ray said those signals made the return feel earned rather than contradictory. “He never said I’m retiring. We just speculated it. The way he took off his boots and gloves, I got why he did it. You could always bait a person in. He got beat. What better way to sucker someone in than to make them believe you have retired?”
Tommy Dreamer noted that WWE’s own in-kayfabe storytelling acknowledged the filing of retirement paperwork, with Adam Pearce referencing it backstage. But he agreed the specifics had been vague enough to allow a return without breaking the story.
Bully Ray suggested the ideal payoff promo from Lesnar would lean directly into the ambiguity. “If the promo is from Brock: I never retired. I never said I was retired. All of you people said I was retired. You all speculated, but I never said it, and unless I say it, it doesn’t mean anything. So now I’m officially saying it. And I will officially retire, if you can defeat me, Oba Femi, at SummerSlam in Minneapolis.”
Paul Heyman appeared backstage on Raw and presented Oba Femi with a contract for Clash in Italy already signed by Lesnar, leaving Femi’s signature as the only piece outstanding.
The full episode is available on the Busted Open podcast on Sirius XM.
