New Japan’s IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and former WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar was on the Minneapolis radio station 93X’s morning show today, photos of which can be found here. According to a report on PWInsider.com, the interview was around 10 minutes long, and touched on why he left WWE, his NFL aspirations and his future.
During the interview, Brock reiterated that he was burned out from the travel involved wrestling for WWE, and felt that if he didn’t try out in the NFL, he would have “what if” thoughts when retired. He has given up on his NFL dreams, and is getting married to Rena Mero (Sable) next month.
Brock talked about wrestling in Japan once a month, and that his lawsuit with WWE was settled. While he didn’t give details on the settlement, he said that he wants to get into MMA in the US, and didn’t have plans to come back to WWE at this time.
From reading the notes from this radio interview, it seems safe to assume that wrestling in Japan and competing in mixed martial arts are allowable under the terms of Brock Lesnar’s agreement with WWE. While this isn’t a huge blow to TNA — Brock seemingly would like TNA’s easier schedule, and could be pushed as a versatile monster in a feud with Samoa Joe and others on the roster, but doesn’t have the “name value” that a Goldberg, Rock or Jericho has, and would likely ask for similar money — WWE clearly feels that MMA promotion Ultimate Fighting Championships is direct competition, and has stated that all worldwide wrestling promotions are competitors since WWE tours internationally, so this is definitely not a “win” for Vince McMahon & company. That being said, if Brock indeed can compete in worked matches overseas and shoot fights in the US, the money and glamour is not on the same level of being pushed to the moon as WWE Champion, and in shoot matches, Brock risks… well, losing and being exposed should he not train properly. It should be very interesting to see what happens in the months to come — or if Brock ends up back in a WWE ring (does anyone really leave for good?) and when.
