5 Major consequences of Roman Reigns allegedly pulling out of WrestleMania 36

If you've not heard by now, Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Roman Reigns will not be wrestling this year at WrestleMania 36 against Goldberg. He was scheduled to face Goldberg in the main event of the second night at WrestleMania for the Universal Championship. A marquee match in any given WrestleMania, the report stated that Roman Reigns personally requested to be pulled from the card as he felt that wrestling in this time would pose a major health risk.

As you know, he's had a long battle with leukemia, one that he came out of in early 2019. While Reigns hasn't shown any health deterioration, the report from Ryan Satin stated that he wasn't feeling well at the Performance Center tapings and didn't want to risk his health further. As for his replacement, the statement said:

We’re told WWE honored his request and he will now be replaced by someone else in the match against Goldberg, though it’s unclear who at this time.

No blame can be placed on Roman Reigns, as his life is far more important than a match at WrestleMania. We respect him for making that call, but it does have five major consequences that we can name:

#5 A domino effect on the creative plans of RAW and SmackDown

As we know, WrestleMania is essentially WWE's season finale, with the RAW after WrestleMania being the season premiere. It's post-WrestleMania where there's a complete creative shake-up, with superstars normally changing brands.

Normally, the two World title feuds in each brand play the biggest role and although we don't realize it, there's a big role played in the future of each brand. It has a domino effect on the overall creative direction and with Roman Reigns out of WrestleMania and a new opponent for Goldberg, creative plans on both brands post-WrestleMania could be completely jumbled up.

#4 Brock Lesnar's plans could be changed in a big way

Brock Lesnar is set to face Drew McIntyre in the first night's main event at WrestleMania 36 this year. While he would normally be expected to lose had it taken place at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the fact that it's going to be in front of an empty WWE Performance Center would probably mean that McIntyre's coronation would have to be delayed until a later date when there's an actual live audience.

We've switched back and we believe that there's a possibility now that McIntyre can walk out victorious. If that happens, there's another scenario that fans may not like. Remember last year when Brock Lesnar lost the Universal Championship to Seth Rollins clean at SummerSlam and took a 'hiatus', only to return over a month later and become WWE Champion after beating Kofi Kingston in 10 seconds on SmackDown?

Imagine the same scenario but within one night of each other. WWE may use this as an opportunity to run back Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar, though we hope that doesn't happen. That chapter has been closed for good.

#3 John Cena and Bray Wyatt to get involved in the Universal title picture?

This should have been the Universal title match

Another thing that we hate about this situation is the fact that it only further affirms that WWE should not have had Goldberg defeat 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt at Super ShowDown 2020 and become Universal Champion.

While we liked the original plan for The Fiend vs Roman Reigns, facing John Cena isn't a bad consolation prize. However, this should have been the original Universal title match, to begin with, as Goldberg vs Roman Reigns never needed a title to be a big deal.

Cena vs Wyatt is perhaps the second-most personal feud at WrestleMania this year (well behind Edge vs Randy Orton), but it's one of the more exciting match-ups on the card. With Roman Reigns out of the picture, we can easily see a scenario where WWE decides to group Cena and Wyatt against Goldberg and make it a Triple Threat match. It would be an unexpected WrestleMania match but as of now, it's perhaps the best option.

#2 Bray Wyatt gets another World title push?

Whether we like to admit it or not, when such issues come up, there are always superstars ready to take a certain spot. When Roman Reigns was out of action from October 2018 to February 2019, Seth Rollins took his spot and became the top babyface of WWE, a role that didn't suit him too well in the long run.

Bray Wyatt could somehow be the beneficiary of this unfortunate situation. He was already in that spot, to begin with, as he was the Universal Champion from late October 2019 till late February 2020. However, even if he doesn't outright get a Universal title match at WrestleMania 36, there's little to no doubt that he'll be challenging for it after. As we know, Goldberg won't be sticking around for too long, which is why it would make perfect sense to run back the match at a later date and have Goldberg drop the Universal Championship to The Fiend.

It would be back to its rightful holder then.

#1 Goldberg forced to stick around for longer

Goldberg's run might be longer than anticipated

With superstars like Goldberg, it's clear that they only stick around for the biggest shows and the biggest paydays, never being a long-term character or never being one to appear on weekly television.

At Goldberg's age, that makes perfect sense and if one is paid a hefty amount to work lesser dates and wrestle short matches, who wouldn't take it? While Roman Reigns would undoubtedly have beaten Goldberg clean in their 'spear vs spear' match, this could force a major change in plans.

For the first time, we might see Goldberg sticking around for longer than expected. While we're aware that he isn't the most popular babyface on the roster or the most popular part-timer, WWE will likely have to take out their checkbook and pay Goldberg extra to stick around. All that depends on who he ends up facing at WrestleMania 36, but we imagine that there's a high chance he retains. We don't see him sticking around for more than a month, however.