Brock Lesnar will not be a part of the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
Following recent reports, Lesnar was all but confirmed to be an entrant in the match at the January 27th event, with some reports expecting to be appearing at the Raw or SmackDown go-home show. However, due to recent events that have been taking place, Lesnar will be absent from Tropicana Field.
On January 25th, Vince McMahon was accused of sex trafficking and multiple other charges by a former WWE employee. The horrifying details were summarised in an article by the Wall Street Journal, which graphically detailed multiple instances of sexual assault by McMahon and a number of WWE employees. The lawsuit itself names “world-famous athlete and former UFC Heavyweight Champion.” as someone whom the former employee was ordered to make explicit content for by McMahon. While not named in the lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal has named Lesnar as this athlete.
The article and lawsuit stunned the wrestling world and would also lead to major sponsor Slim Jim pausing their partnership with WWE for the Royal Rumble. Shortly after this, Vince McMahon announced that he would be resigning from his position as WWE CEO and a member of the TKO Board of Directors. The next day, Slim Jim resumed their sponsorship with WWE for the Royal Rumble.
With McMahon stepping down, the immediate future for Lesnar is what most expected.
Brock Lesnar “Withdrawn” From Royal Rumble
As reported by PWInsider, the former World Champion is not in Florida for the event. The term given to PWInsider was that Lesnar has been “withdrawn” from the match and will be replaced by an NXT Superstar. The report concludes by stating that if the Lesnar controversy happened with McMahon still in charge, Lesnar would have still entered the match regardless. However, with the company under TKO ownership, they are far more conscious of how an appearance would be perceived.
Featured image: WWE
