Brock Lesnar Walked Out on WWE After Vince McMahon Retirement Announcement

Vince McMahon announced his retirement as WWE CEO on Friday following a string of scandals that made that decision inevitable. There are already ripple effects being felt across the professional wrestling landscape. None bigger than what happened with Brock Lesnar shortly after the announcement.

Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer says Brock Lesnar left Friday’s WWE Smackdown taping after the news of McMahon’s retirement leaked. Lesnar reportedly said something along the lines of, “If he’s gone, I’m gone” and took off.

If Lesnar is, indeed, walking away from WWE it would be an enormous blow to the company. He was scheduled to face Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in a last man standing match in the main event of SummerSlam next Saturday. WWE always has contingency plans in place in case of injury, etc. so they almost certainly have a backup ready. But Reigns vs. Lesnar was supposed to be the company’s marquee matchup of the summer. Now it could be done.

Rumors suggest Goldberg could be a last minute replacement if needed, but WWE will continue to try and get Lesnar to come back.