From the WWE Rumor Mill: Possible reason why Roman Reigns failed to win at WrestleMania revealed

What's the story?

Brock Lesnar retained the Universal Championship in the main event of WrestleMania last weekend in what was one of the biggest shocks of the show, but it seems that this was because the plan changed mid-way through their match.

In case you didn't know...

Roman Reigns was the favorite to win the Championship at WrestleMania in a rematch that was more than three years in the making. Lesnar was made to be the bad guy throughout the build-up so it was thought that Reigns winning would get the reaction that Vince McMahon had wanted all along.

Many thought that Lesnar's hints about heading back over to UFC were the reason why he would drop the Championship at WrestleMania, but instead, The Beast has recently signed a new contract and defends his Championship at The Greatest Rumble ever in just over two weeks time.

The heart of the matter

It seems that the WrestleMania main event could have been changed last minute because of the fan's reaction inside the Superdome. Dave Meltzer talked about this on today's episode of The Wrestling Observer Radio where talked about the impact the fans had on the outcome of the match. (Transcript via Ringsidenews)

“I don’t think they realized it was going to be as bad as it was when it comes to crowd reaction that the people weren’t going to care and all that. But they thought that by telling everyone that Brock didn’t care that Roman would become a defacto face but what they didn’t realize was what was going to happen was the crowd would reject both of them. So it wasn’t the atmosphere to change the championship so in a sense. You know but that decision was made before they figured that all out.”

WWE knew that this wasn't going to be the warmest crowd that Reigns had performed in front of, but it seems that the company didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. WWE is aware that the crowd in Saudi Arabia will be much more welcoming in a few weeks time.

“I think Reigns understood that and he realized it wasn’t the best night for him [at WrestleMania] and Saudi Arabia might be a whole lot better if it is Saudi Arabia [where Roman Reigns will win the Universal Title] and I don’t know that it is.”

What's next?

Roman Reigns gets a rematch against the Universal Champion in just over to weeks time at The Greatest Royal Rumble Ever as he takes on Brock Lesnar in Saudi Arabia on April 27th.

Author's take

Reigns haven't been getting face reactions from the crowd for a number of years, so it's unlikely that the crowd had any say in the outcome, unless McMahon really wanted this win to be special for Reigns.

Saudi Arabia is known to have a huge Reigns fanbase so this could have been the plan all along for the title to change hands in front of that kind of audience so that Reigns gets the reaction he deserves when he finally overcomes Lesnar.

---

Send us news tips at [email protected]