4 Wrestling rumors we hope are true and 3 we hope aren't: Brock Lesnar "refused" to work with former WWE Champion; original plans for RAW star to dethrone Big E at Day 1 revealed?
Welcome to the second edition of WWE/wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't of 2022. The year has started off with a bang, as both WWE and AEW have been putting out quality programming.
For WWE, the road to WrestleMania is set to begin soon, but few of today's rumors include direct WrestleMania reports. Either way, some of what has happened will have consequences on the road to the Grandest Stage Of Them All.
Today's rumors include a current champion on RAW working through injuries, real-life heat between two faction members of a released WWE group, a current legend "recently" singing a new WWE contract, original plans for Day 1, and more:
#4. Hope is true: How Brock Lesnar influenced a WWE title change in 2017
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#SmackDown @BrockLesnar @WWERomanReigns @HeymanHustle https://t.co/RmQx7XXmjC
Back in 2017, the champion vs champion idea resurfaced at Survivor Series. Since then, we've seen some incredible matches, especially involving the WWE and Universal Champion.
2017 kickstarted that with an incredible WWE vs Universal Champion bout between AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar, where The Beast Incarnate put out his best match in years in a successful effort against The Phenomenal One.
The loss only increased AJ Styles' stock, but not many have forgotten that it was originally supposed to be Jinder Mahal vs Brock Lesnar instead. On a historic night in Manchester, AJ Styles became a 2-time WWE Champion, with his second reign being the longest of any WWE Champion in SmackDown history. Along with that, he became only the third superstar in the 21st century to hold the WWE title for over 365 days.
Dave Meltzer briefly discussed Jinder Mahal's WWE title reign and revealed that the reason he dropped it to AJ Styles was that Brock Lesnar didn't want to work with him:
"You know why they did that? Because Brock did not want to work with him [Jinder Mahal]," revealed Dave Meltzer.
AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2017 was great
And for weeks before that, they had promoted Jinder Mahal Vs Brock Lesnar.
Like, a big part of me wants to know how WWE would have done that match at a time where they were booking Jinder strong! https://t.co/g9hTZINJSo
While this isn't a shot at Jinder Mahal, we only hope this is true because the decision for AJ Styles to become WWE Champion was the right one and led to an instant classic.
The truth is that Jinder Mahal wasn't ready for a match against Brock Lesnar, nor was he ready for his WWE title reign despite the strong booking throughout. AJ Styles was also deservingly rewarded for his hard work at the time, flying out of South America in the last minute to replace Bray Wyatt against Finn Balor at TLC 2017.