Newly crowned Universal Champion Brock Lesnar agreed to terms on a new deal with WWE shortly before the Crown Jewel PPV in Saudi Arabia, as noted in a report by Dave Meltzer over on MMAFighting.com yesterday.
A new report by Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter indicates the short-term deal Lesnar signed back in April following WrestleMania was set to expire at Crown Jewel, explaining Lesnar’s booking for the event.
Roman Reigns, who was forced to vacate the Universal Championship a few weeks ago after revealing a renewed battle with leukemia, was scheduled to win the previously booked triple threat against Lesnar and Braun Strowman in Saudi Arabia. At that point, it was assumed Lesnar would go on to focus on his UFC comeback in 2019.
Those plans changed with the Reigns announcement and, per the report, Vince McMahon made plans around October 18 to secure Lesnar to a new deal. This means McMahon was among a very small circle of people made aware of Reigns’ leukemia diagnosis. A decision was then made for Lesnar to win back the championship and beat Strowman.
While the actual terms of the deal remain secretive, it is believed to be another short-term deal that could take him through WrestleMania next year in New York/New Jersey. How many dates Lesnar agreed to on this deal isn’t known. Lesnar is booked in a Champion vs. Champion match against WWE Champion AJ Styles at Survivor Series in two weeks.
Unless plans change, Lesnar is not scheduled for the TLC PPV in December and it isn’t known if he will be booked for the Royal Rumble. As reported on yesterday, the new deal with WWE allows him to work for the UFC. Lesnar has been tested six times by USADA and UFC President Dana White indicated that he remains the planned opponent for Daniel Cormier in a UFC Heavyweight Championship fight, in what will be Cormier’s final contracted fight with the UFC before retiring. That fight is planned for March 2. Cormier addressed the potential fight with Lesnar last Saturday at UFC 230.