Backstage Update: WWE's Plans for Brock Lesnar Following Clash in Italy Revealed

More details have emerged for WWE's plans with Brock Lesnar following his victory over Oba Femi at Sunday's Clash in Italy pay-per-view.

Despite hinting at retirement after his loss to Femi at WrestleMania 42, Lesnar returned to set up a rematch for Clash in Italy. The future Hall of Famer soundly defeated Femi via pinfall to even their head-to-head series.

Unsurprisingly, Sunday's victory in Turin will stand as Lesnar's final WWE match.

Speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingInc.com), Dave Meltzer reported that WWE is planning a rubber match between Lesnar and Femi, with the latter likely to emerge victorious:

"They want to do a one and one, and then Oba wins the third…kind of like what they did with Cody (Rhodes) and Brock a couple of years ago," Meltzer reported. "And that's just…if you're going to do a three match series, which has always been the plan in this feud…to do a three match series, then obviously you've got to split one and one."

Regarding the Lesnar-Rhodes feud, the American Nightmare scored the first win with a pinfall victory at Backlash 2023. Lesnar won the second match at Night of Champions via technical submission.

However, Rhodes would secure the head-to-head victory by winning the rubber match at SummerSlam 2023.

Brock Lesnar Could Retire After SummerSlam 2026

If Lesnar is planning to call it quits (for good), there may not be a better stage than SummerSlam 2026. That's because the marquee pay-per-view takes place on the Aug. 1-2 weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Lesnar's home state.

WWE's next premium live event, Night of Champions, will take place on June 27th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Obviously, it's unlikely Lesnar will wrestle a non-title match there.

Losing to an up-and-coming superstar like Femi and retiring in front of the home crowd would be the ideal conclusion to Lesnar's career. Again, that's only if he's actually planning to retire in the near future.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 7:05 PM.