Eric Bischoff Reacts to Brock Lesnar’s SummerSlam Exit

Eric Bischoff Weighs In on Brock Lesnar’s SummerSlam Exit and Oba Femi’s Push

Eric Bischoff has offered his perspective on Brock Lesnar’s latest storyline direction and the decision to position Oba Femi as the man to take Lesnar’s spot moving forward. Speaking on 83 Weeks with Conrad Thompson, Bischoff discussed the arc that led to their Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam and why the retirement angle never connected for him, even though he supports the final outcome.

Bischoff noted early in the conversation that he had not watched the full SummerSlam Night One broadcast. Instead, he relied on Thompson’s recap, online clips, and what he had read since the event. His comments focused less on the match itself and more on the creative path that brought Lesnar and Femi to this point.

Bischoff Critiques the Retirement Angle but Supports the Final Decision

Bischoff revisited the moment that sparked confusion months earlier: Lesnar leaving his gloves in the ring after losing to Femi at WrestleMania 42. Many interpreted the gesture as a retirement, but Lesnar returned weeks later, attacked Femi on Raw, and defeated him at Clash in Italy. Bischoff felt the lack of explanation made the entire arc feel disjointed.

“Yeah, I didn’t get to see the match, obviously, but based on what you know you’ve described and laid out, and what I read, and some of the stuff that I’ve seen online since. It’s still cumbersome to me the whole retirement thing and leaving the boots in the ring and then unretiring with no explanation from the get-go. This has been a funky story. I’m not even going to call it a story. It’s been a funky situation. It’s not worthy of a story.”

He added that the structure never settled into a clear narrative.

“Maybe it’s yeah. I guess it does. It did have a beginning. It’s a weird beginning. It’s a really weird beginning, and it did have a middle, and now hopefully it has an end. But it was so clunky in the beginning that it just never clicked for me.”

Despite his issues with the setup, Bischoff supported the decision to elevate Femi.

“Now, looking forward, I think it’s a great move. I think it could have been done so much better without the clunkiness. But I think if now I don’t know Oba Femi, I don’t know what he’s like backstage. I don’t know where his head is at. I don’t know, you know, where he is on the checklist of Paul Levesque’s, you know, attributes to earn a spot, but just based on what I’ve seen, and we can all see, he has a hell of a lot of potential.”

Bischoff also cautioned that Femi’s size should dictate how he works in the ring.

“And if he has the tools in a toolbox, if he’s developed the skills to really grow this character and be able to go out and do a lot, not a lot, but many different things because of his size, he shouldn’t go out there and try to be a gymnast. You know, shouldn’t look like you know Cirque du Soleil meets you know wrestling or sports entertainment. Get my a** kicked if I’m not careful.”

On Lesnar, Bischoff felt WWE had reached the end of the road.

“Yeah, I think it’s exciting. I think Brock’s. It’s time, you know. It’s time, and I think the idea of Brock passing the torch in kind of the traditional way, despite the funkiness of it all, is a cool thing. But it’s time. It’s definitely time. Where else can you go with Brock? You either feed him, like the monster he truly is, as long as you can, or you’ve got to put them out to pasture, and it sounds like they’re putting them out to pasture.”

Femi defeated Lesnar in 11:39 at SummerSlam, surviving a tombstone onto exposed wood before finishing with Fall From Grace. After the match, Lesnar returned to the ring, raised Femi’s hand, and told the crowd that “Femi is the future” and “he is the past.” WWE has not announced any retirement, and Lesnar has not commented further.

Saturday marked Lesnar’s tenth SummerSlam main event—a company record—and it took place in the state he is billed from. He turned 49 in July.