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WrestleMania 36 is less than a week away at this point. The Show of Shows will take place on two nights due to reported logistical issues caused by the restriction from the coronavirus outbreak. A number of late changes also had to be made to the WrestleMania card due to WWE Superstars pulling out to go into self-isolation or due to injuries.
Mania was reportedly taped last week and information regarding certain changes to the card is contained in this article. However, there are no match results contained in the article, only match card changes which will probably be announced later by WWE themselves.
The biggest name to pull out of WrestleMania has to be Roman Reigns, and the news was broken by Ryan Satin. Reigns was slated to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Championship but that match has now had to be changed.
DISCLAIMER: This article contains spoilers regarding some changes made to the WrestleMania card
#7 Roman Reigns
We start off our list with the biggest name missing from the WrestleMania card - Roman Reigns. Reigns was slated to challenge WWE Universal Champion Goldberg which was being promoted as the battle of the Spears.
With WrestleMania taped last week, we found out later on that Roman Reigns had been asked to be kept off the card. The Big Dog has battled leukemia in the past and with the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s definitely the correct decision on his part. WWE, for their part, honour Reigns' request and he has been replaced in the Universal Championship match.
At the time of writing, WWE haven’t officially announced that Reigns will not be wrestling at WrestleMania 36 and have not confirmed his replacement.
#6 The Miz
Another Superstar who will not be performing at WrestleMania 36 is The Miz. Miz is currently one half of the SmackDown Tag-Team Champions along with John Morrison. The duo was supposed to defend the tag-team titles in a three-way tag-team match at WrestleMania. According to reports, that match is now a singles match.
The Miz was pulled from the card after reportedly being sick. This was reported by Dave Meltzer who also added that The Miz being sick at the PC may have had something to do with Roman Reigns requesting to be pulled from his own match. Here’s what Dave Meltzer said on the matter:
Roman Reigns made the call himself. It was interesting because he was there and made the call. It had to do in some form with Miz being sick and The Usos not being happy about it. I don’t really know much else, that’s really all I was told. It’s a weird story because if you followed it, basic logic is that he should have stayed home.
#5 and #4 Rezar and Murphy
One-half of the Authors of Pain - Rezar - will also miss WrestleMania. Although Rezar was technically not on the card, he would have probably accompanied Seth Rollins down to the ring for his match against Kevin Owens. The same goes for another of Rollins’ disciples - Murphy - who will also miss WrestleMania.
Rezar is out of action for what could be up to six months with a torn bicep. He picked up the injury on an episode of RAW recently after he caught Montez Ford while the latter was trying to hit a crossbody. According to recent reports, with Rezar out injured, WWE will not be using his tag-team partner Akam on television either.
If things weren’t bad enough for Rollins’ faction already, Murphy will not be by his side at WrestleMania either. Murphy was not on the latest episode of RAW and according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, he is sick and was not cleared to compete.
Here’s what Meltzer said about Murphy on WOR:
Buddy Murphy, who wasn't in the match but he was going to be in Seth Rollins' corner, Buddy Murphy was sick.
#3 Andrade
Another current champion in the company who will miss WrestleMania 36 is Andrade.
Andrade is currently supposed to defend his United States Championship but that match was scrapped after Rey Mysterio had to pull out of WrestleMania (more on that later). Andrade and Angel Garza were then set to challenge the Street Profits - Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins - for the RAW Tag-Team Championships at the Shows of Shows.
According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, Andrade was pulled from the match after picking up a rib injury. Although the injury isn’t too serious, he still wasn’t cleared to compete at the WrestleMania tapings last week.
The RAW Tag-Team Championship match has now had to be changed again after Andrade was pulled from the card. Garza will team up with NXT Superstar Austin Theory at WrestleMania to challenge the Street Profits. The reason Austin Theory was chosen as Andrade’s replacement was reportedly because Paul Heyman sees something in him. It will be interesting to see how Theory and Garza worth together as a makeshift tag-team.
#2 Dana Brooke
One of the first Superstars to pull out of WrestleMania 36 was Dana Brooke. The former NXT Superstar was supposed to be in the six-pack challenge for WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship at Mania but was pulled from the match after going into quarantine. According to Sportkeeda’s Tom Colohue, Brooke being put in quarantine was because she was self-isolating as a precautionary measure because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The six-pack match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship is now a five way.
#1 Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio was one of the first WWE Superstars to pull out of WrestleMania along with the aforementioned Dana Brooke. Mysterio is in quarantine at home because of the coronavirus update. He was supposed to challenge Andrade for the United States Championship and that match had to be pulled from the card before Andrade himself pulled out of WrestleMania thanks to a rib injury.
According to Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue, Mysterio pulled out to go into self-isolation as a precautionary measure. Here’s what Colohue had to say:
It was reported on the Wrestling Observer that Rey Mysterio was not on the show this week due to being quarantined, that was also mentioned for Dana Brooke. To my knowledge, Rey Mysterio has not been quarantined due to having coronavirus. To my knowledge, he is simply self-isolating and I believe that is also true with Dana Brooke.
