Brock Lesnar Announces WWE Retirement

Brock Lesnar is officially hanging it up.

The Beast Incarnate made the major announcement during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and made it crystal clear -- his Hell in a Cell loss to Oba Femi at SummerSlam this past weekend in Minneapolis was the final match of his legendary career.

“I’m here today to let the world know that I am retired and I wanted to say a big thank you to everybody,” Lesnar told Pat and A.J. Hawk. “Saturday was a very emotional day for me.”

It's not the first time Lesnar has said he's done with wrestling -- but this feels different.

After his WrestleMania 42 match against Oba, Brock left his gloves and boots in the center of the ring ... the universal signal for retirement.

But, turns out Lesnar wasn't actually done.

"I still had some fuel in the tank, but Saturday for Brock Lesnar, that's it. That's it for me in the squared circle and for everything else too. So I just wanted to give a shout-out to everybody in this universe that has followed me since I was a little kid, all the way till Saturday."

Lesnar passed the torch at the end of the Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam ... hugging Femi after the loss, raising his hand, and telling the sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium crowd that his opp was the future of wrestling.

WWE treated the moment like a farewell. They moved Lesnar to the Alumni section of their website ... and even aired a tribute package on Raw featuring legends and current stars like Roman Reigns, who wished him well.

Brock's career accomplishments are astounding -- he won titles in freestyle wrestling (NCAA champ), MMA (UFC heavyweight champ), and pro wrestling (multiple-time WWE Universal and World champ).

Now, Brock can retreat to his huge farm ... and chill.

"I was just a farm kid from South Dakota with a big dream and a big heart and a big ass chip on my shoulder. And yeah, I'm just grateful to be 49 years old and to be able to do what I did in this lifetime. I thank God and everybody that supported me."