Last week the Royal Rumble aired live from Saudi Arabia and Roman Reigns punched his ticket to WrestleMania when he won the men’s Royal Rumble match. It had been rumored for months that Bron Breakker was the frontrunner to win the Royal Rumble, but he was attacked by a mystery man before he entered the match then he was immediately eliminated by Oba Femi.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE had to make changes due to Seth Rollins’ injury as original plans called for Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns and CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes to take place at WrestleMania.
After the decision was made to go with Punk as the champion the idea was Bron Breakker would lose his title match against CM Punk on January 6, go on to win the Royal Rumble, and then beat CM Punk at WrestleMania for the championship which would anoint Breakker as the next top star.
However, plans changed when it was decided that Drew McIntyre would be taking the Undisputed WWE Championship from Cody Rhodes. McIntyre pushed the idea that it would be better for him to beat Rhodes for the title since he had already lost to The American Nightmare multiple times. Cody Rhodes was said to have been on board with the idea.
Creative had been worked up for a potential Rhodes vs. Reigns match at WrestleMania, but Triple H agreed with Rhodes and McIntyre, and his feeling was that the Rhodes vs. Reigns direction was two predictable because they headlined WrestleMania two years in a row.
When the decision was made WWE scrapped plans for Bron Breakker to win the Royal Rumble and the choices were Rhodes and Reigns. The idea was to try and have Cody Rhodes earn his title shot at Elimination Chamber, and build WrestleMania around a Punk vs. Reigns match until the end of this month.
CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns is now confirmed for WrestleMania and McIntyre vs. Rhodes is likely to main event night 1, but it’s being reported that Jacob Fatu could still be added to the night 1 main event.