Report: Lesnar vs. Gunther Dream Match Still Possible Despite Retirement

Brock Lesnar’s retirement announcement at SummerSlam may not be the final word on one of WWE’s most persistent unbooked dream matches. New details have surfaced about how close the company came to putting Lesnar and Gunther in the ring at WrestleMania, and why it never happened — leaving the door open, at least in theory, for the pairing to still occur down the line.

The interest in Lesnar-Gunther dates back to their face-to-face staredown in the 2023 men’s Royal Rumble, a moment that electrified fans and immediately sparked speculation about a program between the two. Behind the scenes, WWE reportedly tried to make it happen not once but twice, aiming for WrestleMania both times. The first attempt fell apart before any storyline elements went public. The second, more concrete plan had Lesnar entering a feud with Gunther following the 2024 Royal Rumble, positioning the two for a WrestleMania showdown that year.

That plan collapsed after Lesnar was named in Janel Grant’s lawsuit against WWE and Vince McMahon in early 2024, effectively pulling him from television for an extended period. Gunther pivoted to a different WrestleMania program, defending his Intercontinental Championship against Sami Zayn instead, and continued building one of the most dominant title reigns in recent memory.

Now, with Lesnar seemingly closing the book on his in-ring career after losing the deciding match of his trilogy with Oba Femi at SummerSlam, the long-teased showdown with Gunther has resurfaced as a lingering possibility. Dave Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the match remains “viable” if WWE and Lesnar ever revisit the idea of a comeback, alongside a mention that a program with Femi could also be an option for one more run.

None of this means a match is imminent, or even likely — Lesnar’s WWE appearances have grown sparse and unpredictable over the years, and retirement talk in wrestling is notoriously fluid. Still, the fact that this particular pairing has survived two scrapped WrestleMania attempts and a multi-year layoff says something about how much equity WWE still sees in it. Gunther, for his part, remains one of the company’s most credible in-ring workers and title holders, closing out SummerSlam with a win over SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis and continuing to build a résumé that arguably makes him the most obvious remaining opponent for a Lesnar victory lap, should one ever materialize.

Lesnar’s own words after his SummerSlam loss to Femi — calling the rising star the “future” while placing himself in the “past” — read like a wrestler closing a chapter. But WWE has spent years trying to make Gunther happen, and if there’s ever a moment to finally deliver it, a genuine retirement tour would be as good an opportunity as any. For now, it’s speculation rather than a scheduled program, but it’s the kind of loose thread WWE creative rarely lets go of for good.