Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: aew, Brock Lesnar, wrestling, wwe

Brock Lesnar's WWE Contract Has Expired; Will AEW Sign Him?

Published Tue, 01 Sep 2020 08:35:32 -0500

It looks like Brock Lesnar is a free agent. Lesnar's contract status with WWE came into question this week when it was discovered that all of his merchandise had been removed from WWE's online shop. That's strange, considering Brock is one of WWE's biggest stars, and WWE likes money. Additionally, it was revealed on Smackdown last Friday that Paul Heyman is now aligned with Roman Reigns, which is strange because Heyman has acted as Lesnar's manager for years. Still, it wouldn't be odd if Lesnar were no longer signed to WWE, and WWE needed some way to put Heyman to use since they pay him a lot of money to be an on-screen personality. Then, finally, PWInsider's Mike Johnson reported that Lesnar's contract with WWE had expired, and Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer later confirmed that report.

Brock Lesnar is pleased with the money he's gonna be able to get from somebody in a bidding war.

Apparently, the two sides simply weren't able to come to a deal on a new contract, which also makes sense. Lesnar is paid a lot of money to make very few appearances for WWE. With no fans allowed at shows, WWE can't use Lesnar to sell tickets. And Lesnar is also not going to make a significant lasting impact on the ratings, either. So the only real reason to sign Lesnar to a new contract for the kind of money Lesnar likely wants is to keep him from signing with another company, like AEW. AEW was reportedly interested in the past, and with the magnitude of his star power, they would probably be interested in signing him now. All of the same drawbacks apply for AEW giving Lesnar big money, with the added caveat that AEW doesn't have the same deep pockets that WWE does as a company, even if they are owned by a billionaire.

What could make a difference, however, are the ratings Lesnar could potentially draw for AEW. AEW has about half or less than half of the weekly viewership of WWE Monday Night Raw, so there's more room for growth, and having a star of Lesnar's caliber could potentially increase AEW's ratings by a more significant match than they could for WWE. Even still, it seems unlikely AEW could recoup their investment financially with Lesnar, so signing him would have to be viewed as a long-term loss leader kind of thing.

Another possibility is that Lesnar could make a deal with the UFC and make a lot of money from a fight or two, even if he's likely too old to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship again. Don't tell him I said that, though. Whatever happens, being a free agent is likely to give Lesnar even more leverage, even if he uses it simply to make Vince McMahon jealous by flirting with other companies until McMahon agrees to give him the money that he wants.

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