Former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar was close to quitting wrestling during 2020, a report from UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier has claimed.
In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, no crowd attendance was allowed for a number of months. During this time WWE introduced the Thunderdome, a full-scale arena setup with screens to allow fans to ‘attend’ the shows virtually.
Speaking on his Daniel Cormier TV podcast, Cormier said Lesnar had told him that he didn’t like wrestling without a crowd.
“You know what Brock Lesnar told me?… He said when he went back to the WWE at the end of the pandemic and he was wrestling in front of those screens, they had nobody there, he goes, ‘I’m done. I did not get into this for this. I want to be in front of a crowd.’”
Daniel Cormier – Daniel Cormier TV
Lesnar would lose the WWE Championship during WrestleMania 36 at the WWE Performance Centre and after which it was speculated Lesnar had retired however he eventually returned in 2021 at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.