5 Reasons why Braun Strowman replaced Roman Reigns against Goldberg at WrestleMania 36

The rumors are true. The second night of WrestleMania 36 was scheduled to be headlined by Goldberg defending the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, everybody is at risk - particularly people in the elderly age group and those with pre-existing health conditions.

As you know, Roman Reigns has a history of battling with leukemia, which means that he belongs to the more vulnerable category of people who are prone to the coronavirus. He requested to withdraw from the Universal Championship match as he was reportedly not feeling too well during the Performance Center tapings and his request was granted.

He was certainly justified in requesting to be withdrawn from the match, but it left a big gap on the card that had already undergone several changes due to the prevailing circumstances.

Either way, Strowman was rumored to be Reigns' replacement and it was true, with no actual build or storyline to justify the match. Here are a few reasons why Braun Strowman was chosen for the big title match at WrestleMania 36.

---

#5. He's the best option right now

Was there anyone better?

Given that most superstars are either booked or out of the WrestleMania 36 card, there wasn't any better option for Braun Strowman. In the eyes of many fans, Strowman should have had the Universal title match at WrestleMania 34 in 2018, but he was booked in a tag team match with a 10-year old instead.

The year after that, he lost his momentum again and was inserted into the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. While it was good to see him win that, the reality is that it doesn't hold any actual prestige. Strowman is ironically in the biggest match of his career and it wasn't intentional. Either way, he was the best option on the SmackDown roster.

#4. To give Braun Strowman an actual push

Braun Strowman's first singles gold

This is the least likely outcome in our opinion, but the one that we would prefer to see the most. As mentioned, Braun Strowman should have been in this spot two years ago, but WWE decided to sacrifice all his momentum in favor of Roman Reigns - who didn't even end up winning at WrestleMania 34, to begin with.

It was the classic case of a superstar getting brushed aside in favor of Roman Reigns, but the truth is that in WWE, things can take time for certain superstars. Not everybody is going to have a debut year like AJ Styles or Brock Lesnar, where they win the World title within half a year or less than 12 months.

Strowman will always be a consistently-featured superstar on the roster and there's no doubt that putting the World title on him has crossed WWE's minds on more than one occasion. The problem is that they've never pulled the trigger on him.

Given that Goldberg may not stay past WrestleMania 36, he might have a slight chance of winning.

#3. A quick replacement without any need for a storyline

Goldberg on the SmackDown after Super ShowDown 2020

As we know, once WrestleMania 36 officially shifted to the WWE Performance Center, the company started putting in less effort into making it the biggest show of the year. The original WrestleMania 36 card was impressive in itself, but a lot of changes had to be made due to the circumstances.

We don't blame WWE for taking their foot off the gas in terms of the build to WrestleMania since the biggest show of the year can't be in front of an empty crowd. We imagine that they will double-down on making SummerSlam a great card should the crowds return by then (which we fully expect them to).

But given that Roman Reigns was replaced before last week's episode of SmackDown and WWE chose to advertise the match anyway, it becomes confusing as to what the thinking behind it is.

Either way, there's no doubt that Strowman was an easy option to go with and a superstar they could use without needing an actual build.

#2. To save the main event of night 2

One of the two main events

WrestleMania is too big for one night, as WWE has been advertising this year. The truth is that the decision to host it over two nights in two different venues was due to the social distancing protocol and the logistics of having two separate crews.

The original main event of WrestleMania36 was set to be Brock Lesnar vs Drew McIntyre, but a two-day WrestleMania meant that WWE could have the WWE title match headline day one while the Universal title match headlined day 2.

When Roman Reigns pulled out of WrestleMania with only days to spare, it became a big problem for WWE, which is why they were lucky that they didn't book Strowman in any major match.

It would be hard to imagine any other match headlining night 2, with only the RAW Women's Championship match having an argument to take that spot (should the Universal title match have been canned altogether).

Either way, the decision to put Strowman in was clearly to save the second night of WrestleMania.

#1. To make Goldberg look more credible

Braun Strowman is next

Weirdly, this reminds us of the fact that Roman Reigns never even earned his title shot. While Drew McIntyre had a hard-fought battle to win the Royal Rumble and cement his WWE title match against Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns simply walked up to Goldberg on the SmackDown after Super ShowDown and said: "I'm next!".

Either way, that was a big marquee match-up and be that belonged on the WrestleMania card (though we would argue that The Fiend vs John Cena would have been better for the title).

While we would have loved to see Goldberg put over Braun Strowman, the harsh reality is that it's an unlikely scenario. We mustn't forget that Goldberg defeated the most protected character in WWE ('The Fiend' Bray Wyatt) in a matter of minutes to win the Universal title.

While Strowman is a good challenger for Goldberg (and a dream match that the Champion admitted that he wanted before), it's one of those scenarios where he's being utilized to make Goldberg look better.