Superstar Brock Lesnar has announced retirement from professional wrestling, confirming that his last career appearance came at WWE SummerSlam on Saturday.
The 49-year-old made the announcement on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, admitting he felt ready to walk away earlier this year at WrestleMania when he removed his boots and gloves in the ring.
“I’m here today to let the world know that I am retired,” Lesnar said. “Saturday was a very emotional day for me. It was kind of weird. When Oba Femi slammed me at WrestleMania, I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I think I’m done.’ But the business called, and I still had some fuel in the tank.”
“Saturday, for Brock Lesnar, that’s it. That’s it for me in the squared circle and everything else,” he added.
Lesnar’s announcement closes out one of the most distinctive and successful careers in professional sports history. A two-time All-American and two-time Big Ten champion, he won an NCAA Division I national championship in wrestling for the University of Minnesota in 2000 before signing a professional wrestling contract.
With his devastating F-5 finishing move, Lesnar defeated Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in 2002, just his second year on the roster, to win the first of his 10 WWE world championship belts. He went on to win two Royal Rumbles, in 2003 and 2022, claimed the King of the Ring tournament in 2002, and won a Money in the Bank ladder match in 2019. In 2014, he stunned the wrestling world by ending The Undertaker’s 21-0 streak in WrestleMania matches.
Lesnar stepped away from wrestling in 2004 to pursue a brief NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings, appearing in several preseason games before the team released him.
He transitioned into mixed martial arts in 2007 and won the UFC heavyweight championship in just his fourth bout, defeating Randy Couture in 2008. He retired from MMA in 2015 but returned for one final fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in 2016.
