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Welcome to another edition of 5 Recent News & Rumors involving The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns. The Universal Champion had quite the outing at Royal Rumble this past weekend.
Roman Reigns managed to retain his championship against Seth Rollins. However, it was thanks to the champions' advantage that Reigns got to keep the title despite getting disqualified. The highlight of Reigns' night was costing Brock Lesnar the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley.
We'll take an in-depth look at the controversy and what the company's current plan is for Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38. So without any further ado, let's dive in and check out the most important news and rumors circulating about Roman Reigns:
#5. Current plan for Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38; potential Elimination Chamber spoiler
Brock Lesnar won the Royal Rumble Match and decided to face Roman Reigns for the Universal title at WrestleMania this year. The Beast Incarnate will also get a shot at the WWE Championship this month as he faces Bobby Lashley and five others inside the Elimination Chamber.
As per Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer, it's unlikely that Lesnar will walk out of the Elimination Chamber as the WWE Champion. The current plan is for Reigns to defend the Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar in a match that's not title vs. title:
"I've been told multiple times that it's not title vs. title, Roman vs. Brock. But they’ve done countless storylines where both of them talk about title vs. title — they’re telling you what they want but they’re not going to give it to them. So, they’re either doing that or Brock is getting beat in the Elimination Chamber and it’s part of his plan to look strong going against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania," said Bryan Alvarez.
The Elimination Chamber is set to take place in Saudi Arabia on February 19th, 2022.
#4. Roman Reigns' reaction after costing Brock Lesnar the WWE title
Roman Reigns took his rivalry with Brock Lesnar to another level at Royal Rumble. The Universal Champion interfered in Lesnar's match against Bobby Lashley and cost him the WWE title.
Reigns came into the ring and attacked Brock Lesnar when the referee was down. Then, with the assistance of Paul Heyman, he hit Lesnar with the WWE title allowing Lashley to pick up the win. Soon after Royal Rumble, The Tribal Chief broke the silence and posted a two-word message on Twitter: "God mode."
Paul Heyman betrayed Brock Lesnar and has shown that he's still the special counsel for Roman Reigns. It'll be interesting to see his role going forward.
#3. Vince Russo on Seth Rollins being booked poorly
As noted earlier, Seth Rollins lost his Universal title match against Roman Reigns via disqualification. After the match, Reigns proceeded to brutalize Rollins with chair shots, much like The Architect when he betrayed The Shield.
Despite such an end to their encounter, Rollins didn't look to further his feud with Reigns on RAW. Speaking on SportsKeeda's Legion of RAW, Vince Russo commented on how it didn't make any sense for Rollins to not ask for a rematch against Reigns right away:
''Seth came out in this segment, we all saw how he lost the match, but that's SmackDown; 'I've moved on from that. I want to be in the Elimination Chamber.' Bro, no! Austin wouldn't have moved on from that! The way he lost that match, he's already past it. No! You got scr*wed! Why are you past it? And he talks about, 'Oh, there will be other matches with Roman.' Oh, but you don't want it now? Bro, that's what I'm talking about.''
Seth Rollins will be one of the participants in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE title.
#2. Roman Reigns vs. The Rock at WrestleMania 39?
As per Ringside News, there's talk of having a first-time-ever match between Roman Reigns and The Rock at WrestleMania 39. The match has been in planning for a long time and was initially set to happen at this year's WrestleMania. But due to The Rock's other commitments, it couldn't happen.
WWE hasn't dropped the idea for the big match between the two to take place. Though these plans aren't finalized as a great deal depends on The Rock's busy schedule, we do hope that it finally takes place next year.
#1. Reason why Seth Rollins was brutally assaulted at Royal Rumble
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed that WWE wanted Reigns to get a lot of heat after his match with Seth Rollins. The reason why the Universal Champion brutally beat Rollins with a chair was so the focus of the match could move from the faux ending to Reigns' despicable actions:
"To get out of the people booing it, Roman hit him with a million chair shots when it was over, including a chair shot to the back. This was basically to mimic the Seth Rollins chair shot to the back when The Shield broke up. So, you know, that was to turn boos for the match into boos for Roman at the end of the segment and it pretty much worked that way. So, that was the plan. That's the whole gist of it.''
It'd be safe to say that WWE pulled off their plan perfectly as Reigns walked out of the Royal Rumble as the biggest heel.
