Brock Lesnar’s Payment Arrangement With WWE Explained After Year-Long Absence

Brock Lesnar is back, but how was he being paid?

John Cena and Cody Rhodes battled in a hard-fought contest for the WWE Championship at MetLife Stadium for SummerSlam 2025. After Rhodes scored the win, he exited the ring to give Cena his moment with the crowd. Then, the unexpected happened.

Brock Lesnar’s entrance music hit, and he made his return to WWE television. Chants of “holy sh*t” echoed through the stadium as Cena stood frozen in shock. This brought up a lot of discussion within the fan base as the news reverberated like a bomb drop.

In the aftermath of Lesnar’s return, Billi Bhatti addressed speculation about his contract situation on Dirty Sheets’ Wrestling Informer podcast, pushing back on widely circulated reports about his pay during his hiatus.

“There’s absolutely no way that WWE were paying Brock Lesnar between 2024 and 2025 because that’s just not the way the deal was structured. It was one year at a time from SummerSlam 2021 to SummerSlam 2022, from SummerSlam 2022 to 2023… Let’s assume that’s right — let’s say that Brock Lesnar has made half a million for no reason so WWE could use their image, which they didn’t do anyway — it has only really cost WWE half a million dollars. He’s not received anywhere near six to ten million for sitting at home. He’s received half a million. Dave Meltzer’s wrong, and so is every f*cking moron that piggybacks off Dave Meltzer and makes their own stuff.”

According to Bhatti, Brock Lesnar’s post-2021 contract paid $100,000 per television appearance, $500,000 for a pay-per-view, $1 million for a Saudi Arabia event, and a $500,000 annual fee for image rights. Therefore, from 2012 to 2020, The Beast Incarnate worked under larger guaranteed contracts. After he briefly retired in 2020, Vince McMahon brought him back on a per-appearance basis, which was his deal at the time of the Janel Grant controversy.

Lesnar’s return is especially noteworthy given his removal from WWE programming in early 2024. His absence followed allegations made in Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon, which claimed she was used as leverage in contract talks with Lesnar. That led to the abrupt end of a planned WrestleMania feud with GUNTHER.

Brock Lesnar’s surprise return set the stage for his return to the company as part of John Cena’s retirement tour. He has dominated the WWE landscape before, and it’s anyone’s guess how much brutality everyone is in for this time around.

What’s your take on Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE? Do you believe that WWE is spending their money wisely on the Beast Incarnate? Let us know what you think in the comments section!