Hot on the heels of the sudden announcement of Vince McMahon‘s retirement, a big-named WWE Superstar has reportedly vacated the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts before tonight's SmackDown.

That's right, despite still being prominently advertised on the company's website as ‘Returning to SmackDown' – at least at the time of publication –  Brock Lesnar will presumably not be participating in tonight's SmackDown taping, at least according to Bryan Alvarez. Lesnar's appearance was most likely meant to drum up hype for his upcoming Last Man Standing match with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam later this month and may have even continued his burgeoning storyline with Paul Heyman and Theory.

Instead, fans will have to be left with… well, something else – maybe an extended debut for Maxxine Dupri, the newest member and sister of Max Dupri of the Maximum Male Models?

Yikes, “several sources” has a lot of weight here, and Alvarez certainly has his sources within the wrestling world.

Now, will this be reminiscent of the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin walkout of 2002? While that would be ironic, considering he walked out of a match against Brock Lesnar booked by Vince McMahon, for the sake of new co-CEOs Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan, let's hope that is not the case, as a lot of eyes will be on the first post-Vince Premium Live Event, and WWE has clearly been leaning heavily on this Last Man Standing Match.

Why Brock decided to pack his things and leave is a mystery, as Vince is reportedly not even at the venue tonight. One thing is for certain: This is just the beginning of the story on a day with no shortage of breaking news.