Brock Lesnar may not be around as WWE Universal Champion for a whole lot longer, according to a new report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
While there has been some conflicting information circulating on the subject, Dave Meltzer’s report directly denies claims that Lesnar has signed a new three-year deal with the company, stating that there is a short-term agreement in place that will expire before SummerSlam. The former UFC star met with Vince McMahon in Atlanta before the April 2nd edition of WWE RAW and both sides came to a verbal agreement that was not actually signed on paper until the day of WrestleMania.
It’s not known exactly how long the new deal will extend Lesnar’s time with the company, or how many dates he will be required to work. Unlike the last time where WWE publicly announced a three-year deal right off the bat, the key here being that they don’t want it to be blatantly obvious when he’ll drop the title. As noted, he’ll be defending the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in a steel cage rematch at The Greatest Royal Rumble event later this month. If he makes it past Saudi Arabia as the champion, he’ll likely be competing at Backlash a few weeks later as well.
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As we reported earlier this week, the champ’s new deal allows for him to negotiate one fight with the UFC while still under control with the WWE. That being said, Lesnar cannot fight until he reenters the USADA testing pool and will need to go six months without a positive test in order to be eligible to fight again. So even if he agrees to a fight with UFC today, and files the paperwork to reenter the testing pool tomorrow, his first fight couldn’t come until mid-October.
Another thing to keep in mind is that once Brock’s new short-term deal expires, there’s nothing stopping him from renegotiating another deal right away. WWE has a lot more money than they’ve ever had before coming in to cover additional expenses, and Lesnar was said to have gotten a “significant raise” with this new contract. Re-signing new short-term deals every few months for incrementally more money every time is basically a fighter’s dream scenario, because he can also choose his WWE dates around his potential UFC dates.