Bully Ray on AEW possibly signing Brock Lesnar, the truth about his "free agent" status

Brock Lesnar has been all over the news after his latest WWE contract expired. Tom Colohue stated that Brock Lesnar's contract had expired earlier, but a separate merchandise contract had expired around SummerSlam 2020, which is why his merchandise was quietly pulled from WWE.com

Brock Lesnar is still expected to re-sign with WWE, but there has been a lot of speculation over a possible jump to AEW or even a return to the UFC. AEW President Tony Khan was even asked about the possibility of Brock Lesnar signing with them, but he gave a vague answer:

AEW's Tony Khan during Thursday's conference call on free agent Brock Lesnar:"I can't comment on that at this time but I've enjoyed Brock's work for many years. He's a great fighter & a great wrestler. I don't think people talk enough about what a great worker Brock Lesnar is."

— Brian Campbell (@BCampbellCBS) September 3, 2020

WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray was speaking about the possibility of Brock Lesnar in AEW on Busted Open Radio (H/T SEScoops) and said that the promotion can afford The Beast Incarnate:

“Of course they can afford him” Bully Ray began on the show, dispelling the myth that AEW wouldn’t be able to ‘afford’ Brock Lesnar being under contract. “That’s one of those opportunities that comes up where, let’s just say that AEW is really trying to stick to their budget? Especially with things going on right now with COVID.”

Bully Ray mentioned the fact that there were a couple of releases which went under the radar for AEW and also asked how many opportunities anyone is going to get to sign Brock Lesnar:

“We’ve seen a couple of very quiet releases from the company” Bully Ray continued. “People that they were still paying but could not perform for whatever reason, to save on the bottom line. So let’s say their budget is extremely tight? How many opportunities are you going to have to take a crack at Brock Lesnar?”

Ultimately, Bully Ray admitted that it's just another of the "dances" between Vince McMahon and Brock Lesnar and believes that they'll work out a deal when the time is right:

“I think it’s just another one of the dances that Vince and Brock like to have where Brock’s contract expires, Vince lets it expire, and then they stay away from each other until the next Saudi Arabia show or the next show that has people in the crowd, or WrestleMania, whatever it may be. So I don’t think Brock is really a free agent in the sense of the word, I just think he’s like currently not under contract right now.”

Does AEW have any chance of signing Brock Lesnar?

While there's a lot of love for speculation in the wrestling world, it's hard to see a scenario where Brock Lesnar goes away from WWE. While UFC could be a possibility, would AEW realistically be willing to shell out so much money to lure Brock Lesnar to the promotion?

The direction and vision of AEW seem to be slightly different from WWE and not one where they want to build their program around part-time stars such as Brock Lesnar. Moreover, Vince McMahon tends to "throw the vault" at Brock Lesnar, as UFC President Dana White once put it.