If the original rumours ended up being true, then Roman Reigns might have left WrestleMania 34 as the new Universal Champion.
That was what the speculation suggested. The world thought Brock Lesnar was going to make a return to the UFC, allowing The Big Dog to slay The Beast in New Orleans to claim Monday Night RAW’s biggest prize.
RUMOURS
Instead, Lesnar left the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with the championship still around his waist, while his follow-up victory in the cage match against Reigns at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia also went against speculation that Reigns would then win in front of a more receptive crowd.
Now, Lesnar is still in WWE and is expected to defend the title at SummerSlam, while Reigns heads into Money in the Bank in Chicago next month with Jinder Mahal as his opponent.
However, it’s now been revealed why the WWE decided to change their minds about the whole situation suddenly. When Bryan Alvarez spoke on Wrestling Observer Live this week, he explained that it wasn’t all about securing Lesnar to a new deal.
Instead, Vince McMahon planned to have Lesnar destroy every opponent with one F5 in the build-up to WrestleMania. Reigns was supposed to become the first to kick out and then dethrone Lesnar, but when Vince heard the fans still weren’t cheering Reigns one week before the event, he changed his mind.
CHANGE OF PLANS
Since then, WWE has adopted the storyline that management doesn’t want Reigns holding the title, in another attempt to get behind Reigns.
According to Ringside News, he said: “Vince McMahon had a one-year plan, and it involved Brock beating everybody with one F5 and then at WrestleMania, he would hit on one Roman, and Roman would kick out and Spear him and win.
“That was the plan all the way up to a week before Mania when I guess Vince was surprised Roman got booed, so Vince said, ‘I’m changing my plan!'
“They decided to keep the title on Brock Lesnar and do an absolutely stupid storyline where Roman Reigns would claim he’s being screwed by the authority and that’s why he’s not champion. Even though if you watch the show he’s been beaten repeatedly.
“So as viewers, we’re supposed to believe that in real life they’re not letting him become champion, and we’re supposed to sympathise with him. If you’ve watched the show you know this hasn’t worked and I don’t know if it’s going to work.”
The sympathy isn’t working; not even a feud with The Modern Day Maharaja has seen Reigns receive universal cheers - so this entire ‘management is against me’ act isn’t going to fool anyone.
Fans want to see Lesnar drop the title, but they really don’t want Reigns to be the one that does it.
What do you make of the reason why WWE changed their plans for Roman Reigns heading into WrestleMania 34? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.