Brock Lesnar allegedly believed the five-minute loss to 38-year-old star was his last WWE match

WWE legend Brock Lesnar thought that he was done with the company after WrestleMania 36.

Lesnar lost the WWE title to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania in 2020. He made his big return to WWE more than a year later and confronted Roman Reigns at SummerSlam 2021.

While talking with Rick Rubin on the Tetragrammaton podcast, WWE veteran Paul Heyman opened up about Brock Lesnar's exit from the company after WrestleMania 36. Heyman revealed that Lesnar thought he was done with WWE after his bout with Drew McIntyre, which ended in just under five minutes. Check out his comments below:

“So when Brock's contract came due, and we're in the middle of the pandemic, it doesn't make any sense for WWE to do what they had done every year, which is, ‘Yeah, we know this was your final year, but if you'd consider, we're gonna throw more money at you. Give us another year of this. This was a year where that wasn't going to happen, because there was no way to get a return on the investment. So Brock went back to Saskatchewan, and in his mind, that was the end. He was done.” [H/T Wrestling News]

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Brock Lesnar was donning a new avatar when he made his return

Lesnar received a massive pop at SummerSlam 2021 when he made his return. The Beast was now sporting a cowboy/farmer look and it quickly became a hit with the WWE Universe.

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Lesnar kicked off a feud with Roman Reigns upon his return and the rivalry lasted for a year, finally culminating at SummerSlam 2022. At the event, Lesnar lost a Last Man Standing match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to Reigns. As per the stipulation, Lesnar can't face Reigns again as long as the latter is the champion.

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What was your reaction when Brock Lesnar made his unexpected return at SummerSlam 2021? Sound off in the comments!

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