It’s no secret why Bill Goldberg vs. Kevin Owens went last at Fastlane, because Goldberg can’t work a match longer than one minute without risking injury. In the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer notes that Goldberg’s streak during his current WWE run is set to come to an end.
Current plans call for Brock Lesnar to defeat Goldberg for the Universal Title at WrestleMania 33 and carry the belt afterwards. The Brock vs. Goldberg match is still set to main event the card and given that the last two actual matches Goldberg has had haven’t been long at all, his WrestleMania encounter against The Beast Incarnate shouldn’t be any different.
It’s likely that the fans will hate the way the Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns match will end, and no matter how WWE plans on booking Roman long term, he will still be the biggest heel on April 2nd by a long shot.
Initial plans two years ago called for Roman Reigns to beat Brock Lesnar to become “the man” but those plans were shied away from because they feared the backlash from WWE fans. However, they have kind of backed themselves into a corner in a way, and it looks like the current plan is for Undertaker to lose to Roman at Mania.
John Cena was originally supposed to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, but Vince changed his mind to Roman Reigns because he has always wanted Reigns to face off against Taker before the Deadman retires.
WWE has made the right choice: with Undertaker’s health being in the precarious situation it is in and Cena’s imminent retirement WWE must prepare Roman Reigns (who the company has selected to be Undertaker and Cena’s successor) for the handover. Since Undertaker will be the first of the two to retire they pitted Undertaker against Roman so that Undertaker hands over his role to Roman. Vince teased that at the brand reshuffle next June Roman will move to Smackdown probably so that Roman would be able to face Cena and the handover of the role of face of the company from Cena to Roman to take place. Also in the case of the Undertaker vs Roman match Roman was also the right choice for Undertaker because he’s known to be one of the safest workers (WWE can’t risk pitting Undertaker against an unsafe worker). True, Cena is also a safe worker but as I said this match is a “passing of the torch” (handover) match so it must be Roman Reigns.