Brock Lesnar was reportedly a free agent prior to his WWE return at SummerSlam 2025

As seen during the 2025 WWE SummerSlam Sunday PLE, Brock Lesnar made his surprise return to WWE in his first appearance since SummerSlam 2023. Lesnar attacked John Cena with an F5 to end the show.

Lesnar was brought back to WWE despite being named in Janel Grant’s ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon. While Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com noted that Lesnar was being fully paid during his hiatus from WWE even though he wasn’t being utilized, a new report from Meltzer stated the following…

“He was getting paid on his prior contract long after they stopped using him, but that deal did expire and he actually was a free agent for months until the new deal was signed. They couldn’t extend the prior deal due to injury like with others because he wasn’t injured and it was their choice not to use him.”

Meltzer added that WWE was likely confident about Lesnar not signing with AEW and when WWE’s legal team cleared him, they made an offer for a new contract with “very limited dates.”