Two events have passed and on both occasions, the WWE has swerved its fans with the outcome of Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.
With his contract situation and his desire to return to the UFC coming into play, it was widely expected that The Big Dog would finally slay The Beast in New Orleans at WrestleMania 34 to claim the championship and - finally - become the face of the company that the WWE had been working so hard to do.
UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP
He lost. Lesnar hit several F5’s on a bloody Reigns to pick up the win before the rematch was announced for the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last week. Again, it was easy to see why a Reigns win was expected again; the mystery remained regarding the duration of Lesnar’s new WWE deal, while the company could have the former Shield member reign supreme in front of a more receptive crowd inside a stipulation which could still protect Lesnar.
Again, Reigns lost - despite the ‘controversial’ finish.
Clearly, everyone is now wondering just what the WWE has planned for Reigns considering he’s had two attempts to defeat Lesnar, and he’s failed on both occasions. While the obvious answer would be a third and, potentially, final clash, it’s not something that’s going to sit well with fans that are tired of this feud.
With there being doubt backstage on whether or not Reigns can be ‘the guy’ in WWE, Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer have claimed that with there being no title change, it looks likely that Braun Strowman will be the one to finally dethrone Lesnar.
Rumours emerged last week that there has been some backstage conflict on The Monster Among Men, with some officials believing he should be the one to stop Lesnar while others want to stick to the plan to make Reigns the guy to do so.
With two failed attempts, though, they revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that the way to make Reigns the top star in the company is by having Strowman beat Lesnar, which can lead to an encounter between Reigns and Strowman down the line.
STROWMAN
According to Ringside News, he said: “[Roman] is done. I don’t know what you do with him. I mean he should be a heel. You know, he could win the title and be a heel. Maybe he could win it from Braun. But my thought is that he has to be a heel.
“I’ve probably thought that for three years now, but I feel it much stronger now...I’ve always felt it strong from the start. If they had turned him heel three years ago, they might be cheering him by now.
“You could easily book a rematch off this finish [at the Greatest Royal Rumble] but what do you do? You’ve already done the cage match, you’ve already done the pinfall, it’s just too much.
“It’s like the programme is already past its peak by [the Greatest Royal Rumble] and they did put Strowman over, so yeah, I got to think Strowman’s the guy and he should be. He’s the more over of the two.”
Considering Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble recently, it does make the most sense to move away from Lesnar and Reigns for now.
Anyone who defeats Lesnar needs to be believable, and Strowman is part of a unique group who can be considered a legitimate conqueror to possible send Lesnar packing.
What do you make of Braun Strowman potentially being the one to defeat Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.