The thought was Brock Lesnar would bowl through every one of his foes and come out on top leading to WrestleMania 34. The Beast Incarnate would hold onto his Universal Championship until WrestleMania where he would ultimately lose it to Roman Reigns in a display that would hopefully solidify Roman as the top babyface in WWE.
Then Roman Reigns showed up on Raw and challenged whoever the Universal Champion is at SummerSlam, no matter who was holding the title. This move might not seem like big deal but it might go on to drastically change WWE’s plans for next year’s WrestleMania.
On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio Dave Meltzer noted the original plan for SummerSlam was Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns. But with Roman making the announcement on Raw that he wanted to get a shot at the Universal Championship at SummerSlam no matter who he had to face that might have changed things.
The question might boil down to how long WWE wants to keep Brock Lesnar away from Roman Reigns, if they want to do the title change earlier than initially planned, and a myriad of other variables.
Meltzer noted if they hotshot Roman vs Brock for SummerSlam then that might change the landscape for WrestleMania. If WWE books Roman Reigns to beat Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, Meltzer speculated fans could see John Cena vs Roman Reigns at WrestleMania in New Orleans seeing that Cena is now enjoying his “free agency.’
This decision for Roman to challenge for the Universal Championship seems like they were made a week or two ago and Meltzer said WWE wants to make SummerSlam as big as they can this year.
But just because Roman says he wants a shot at the Universal Championship doesn’t mean he’ll necessarily get it. After all, nobody with any authority proclaimed him as the #1 contender for the Universal Title unless you count The Big Dog speaking for himself.
It was reported the original idea for the Ambulance Match was for Braun Strowman to win and set up a confrontation with Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title at Great Balls Of Fire. Of course that match was supposed to happen a month ago to give time to set up the match.
Strowman’s injury kept him out of the ring so they’re doing the Ambulance Match in July instead. If Braun still wins against Roman at Great Balls Of Fire they could always use this as an excuse to let Strowman and Lesnar headline SummerSlam. After all, Samoa Joe was quickly put into the title picture when he wasn’t planned to face Lesnar until at least the Royal Rumble.
This is just another instance of how an injury can affect the short-term and long-term booking plans for WWE. Pro wrestling is fun!
I’d say let Braun win at GBOF and lose to Brock at SS have Reigns win the Rumble and face Brock at WM 34 I would be shocked if they have Reigns vs Brock at SS