Brock Lesnar Pulled From WWE Royal Rumble

Brock Lesnar’s name has been the subject of controversy and an update has been given about a possible appearance at WWE’s Royal Rumble.

The last time that Brock Lesnar appeared on WWE television was at SummerSlam in August 2023 when he lost to Cody Rhodes in the third match of their series. After the match, Lesnar shook Cody’s hand, hugged him and raised Cody’s hand in an impromptu moment that Lesnar felt like doing.

Since then, it was expected that Lesnar would likely return around the Royal Rumble and that would lead to some kind of match at WrestleMania. However, that’s likely not happening now.

While Brock Lesnar’s name was not specifically mentioned in the Jelani Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon that was revealed by the Wall Street Journal, there were numerous references to a former UFC star who re-signed a WWE contract around the times mentioned in the lawsuit.

There were also implications that McMahon used Grant for sex trafficking with Lesnar, but Lesnar was not specifically implicated in the lawsuit.

Vince McMahon has since resigned from TKO Group & WWE due to the negative attention from the claims by Grant towards him. McMahon also plans to fight back.

WWE Not Planning To Use Brock Lesnar In Men’s Royal Rumble Match

It has been reported by PWInsider Elite’s Mike Johnson that Lesnar is not expected to be part of the Royal Rumble. It was noted that Lesnar didn’t travel to Florida for the event. Lesnar was at one point slated to return for WrestleMania, but not expected to be at the Rumble.

A term that one source told PWInsider is that Lesnar had been “withdrawn” from the Royal Rumble. It is believed that a WWE NXT talent will be used in Lesnar’s place although it’s not known who that will be.

There is a belief that if Vince McMahon was still running the company then he would have used Lesnar no matter what. However, with TKO and Triple H in charge, they are more aware of what a Lesnar appearance could do to the public image of the company.

The PWInsider Elite story also noted that Lesnar remains under contract with WWE. However, it’s not known when or if Brock will return to television.