Roman Reigns announced his plans for Elimination Chamber on SmackDown last Friday.

The Tribal Chief declared that he will defend his Universal Championship at Sunday's PPV... but it won't be inside the imposing structure. 

Instead, six men will go to war inside the chamber, battling for the chance to face Roman for his championship. 

But there's a catch. That title match will happen straight after the No.1 contenders bout, no doubt giving Reigns a huge advantage over his next challenger. 

Of course, this type of booking fits perfectly into the Universal Champ's heel persona - but it seems the plans for Elimination Chamber were changed recently. 

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, WWE originally planned for Reigns to defend his title inside the structure, but a decision was made to change to avoid 'storyline repetition' and 'overlap'.

Drew McIntyre, the WWE Champion, is indeed doing just that and a decision has apparently been made to move Roman's plan in a different direction.  

Reigns will avoid the Elimination Chamber in 2021

Further reportssuggest that Reigns was the one who made the call to shift to the new plan, with sources suggesting there was 'no chance' WWE would get him inside the chamber.

Instead, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, King Corbin and Sami Zayn will be involved in the Elimination Chamber match and the winner will get their title shot later that evening.

Those men (with the exceptions of Owens and Uso) all qualified for the match on SmackDown last week. 

The Elimination Chamber match will be a No.1 Contenders bout

But with Reigns expected to go on to WrestleMania to face the Royal Rumble winner Edge, next Sunday's PPV is expected to be nothing more than a stepping stone for the Universal Champion.

Of course, plans can always change again, but it will be very surprising to see anyone but Roman lifting the belt above his head at Elimination Chamber.