From the WWE Rumor Mill: Backstage details on Roman Reigns being originally planned to win Universal Title and when it changed
What's the story?
Roman Reigns losing the main event of WrestleMania, leading to Brock Lesnar retaining the WWE Universal Title was a huge shock to many and the circumstances surrounding this decision are a bit hazy.
However, Dave Meltzer clarified some of the things surround Lesnar remaining Universal Champion on the recent Wrestling Observer Radio.
In case you didn't know...
The main event of WrestleMania 34 was a short, scrappy and brutal affair with Lesnar demolishing Reigns for most the match with six F-5s, including one through an announce table, multiple suplexes, also including one head first into an announce table, and several unprotected elbow shots to the head which busted Reigns open.
Eventually, The Big Dog succumbed to the onslaught and Lesnar got the three-count.
The heart of the matter
There seems to be some confusion as to when the decision was made to put Lesnar over Reigns and that's because different people knew different things.
It seems that Vince McMahon kept this one close to his chest with almost no-one other than himself, Lesnar and some other very high-level staff within the WWE knowing.
Slice Wrestling has released a report saying that Reigns walked into the ring thinking he was winning the match, with most writers and producers for the company also believing The Big Dog was going to win.
Meltzer also addressed this on the Wrestling Observer Radio, stating that the referee for the match also didn't know the result until the match was getting underway, although may have known something.
"The referee did know, the referee was told during the match that ‘count to three’ when it happens. So he knew, he actually wasn’t told that Lesnar was winning, but he was told, he pretty much was told that Lesnar was winning but not until he was actually in the ring and the match was going on."
Meltzer goes on to add that the plan was for Reigns to win the Universal Title at WrestleMania as late as just a week before the show.
However, he does confirm that this was the planned finish for the match and that it wasn't a last-minute snap decision and it wasn't an audible called on the night due to the crowd reaction.
"Roman Reigns was winning the championship I’m not sure when that changed, but it was late. Could have been in the last week or so, but it was not at the last minute though."
Meltzer's co-host goes on to mention the promo that Paul Heyman delivered on the go-home Raw suggesting that if Lesnar loses the fans will never see Lesnar or Heyman inside a WWE ring again.
He notes that the finality of these words was interesting and suggests that this was around the time the decision was made.
What's next?
If this is true it means that some suggestions that Reigns' crowd reaction on the night didn't affect the outcome of the match, and that no decisions were made or plans were changed last-minute aren't accurate.
It does, however, mean that The Big Dog would have thought he was winning for around a week before he found out during the match he wasn't.
Reigns' promo on the post-'Mania Raw definitely had some shoot elements suggesting this.
Author's take
There's a lot at play here, with the main reasoning behind the decision seems to encourage Lesnar to remain in WWE and to give the WWE Universe a big surprise for WrestleMania.