4 WWE world champions released and 3 whose contracts expired since Brock Lesar's last match
Brock Lesnar is back in WWE to try to dethrone Roman Reigns as WWE Universal Champion. The Beast Incarnate returned to WWE television at last month's SummerSlam pay-per-view to confront The Tribal Chief.
A lot has changed since Brock Lesnar's last match in WWE, which came at WrestleMania 36, in 2020, when he faced Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship. The pandemic forced WWE to release a number of their Superstars and backroom personnel, a few of them being former world champions who have even faced Lesnar in the past.
Let's take a look at 4 WWE world champions released and 3 whose contracts expired since Brock Lesar's last match:
#7 Kurt Angle - Released by WWE
After his retirement match at WrestleMania 35, Kurt Angle worked as a backstage producer in WWE. The Hall of Famer featured on WWE television a few times following his retirement but was primarily working in a backstage capacity.
He was one of the many to be let go last April as part of WWE's COVID-related budget cuts. The company tried to bring him back to manage Matt Riddle on the main roster, but Angle rejected that offer as he wanted to concentrate on his business venture.
He recently revealed that AEW had tried to sign him on a few occasions following his WWE release.
“The first offer, they wanted me to have many matches. The next offer, I think, was three matches, and then one was just an on-camera personality, no wrestling,” said Angle.
Angle last featured on WWE television a month after his release, when he introduced Matt Riddle to the fans on SmackDown. The multi-time world champion hasn't appeared in pro wrestling since then.