What’s the story?
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, plans for Summerslam and WrestleMania 34 keep changing, and nothing has really been set in stone yet, but the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns match may have been shifted to Summerslam.
However, we reported that WWE has still not decided whether to have Lesnar vs Braun Strowman for Summerslam or have Lesnar defend it in a Fatal-4-Way.
In case you didn’t know...
The rumoured plans for Summerslam is for the main event to be Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. The long-term goal is rumoured to be for Roman Reigns to dethrone Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34, meaning Lesnar’s Universal title reign will last over a year if the rumour is true.
Roman Reigns announced nearly two weeks ago that he would be challenging for the Universal Championship at Summerslam, regardless of whether Brock Lesnar or Samoa Joe was the Universal Champion. Reigns has a date with Braun Strowman at Great Balls Of Fire in an ambulance match.
The heart of the matter
The Observer noted as follows regarding the plans supposedly switching to Summerslam
“Lesnar vs. Reigns, with Reigns winning the title, had been planned as the main event for the 2018 WrestleMania in New Orleans from before this year’s WrestleMania. But if anything, Reigns has gone from the old John Cena position of being cheered wildly at most house shows but booed on television, to being booed heavily at most house shows.
The idea could be to pull the trigger on the Reigns title win early, so they would have the Universal champion as a regular on Raw television and house shows. Or it could be part of a story they want to tell where Reigns doesn’t win now and builds to a Mania win. But normally, WWE doesn’t put the planned Mania match on PPV before Mania. The most logical conclusion is that a Reigns win over Lesnar would lead to a Reigns vs. Cena WrestleMania main event, given the Cena “free agent” who can work on both shows gimmick was introduced at the same time the Lesnar vs. Strowman match was changed. If Lesnar loses the title, that nixes plans for Lesnar title defenses prior to next year’s Mania with both Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, both of which had been teased a few weeks ago. Lesnar vs. Strowman could be saved for Mania or Rumble.
In theory, although wins and losses leading to big matches isn’t always the way WWE books, that would change the Reigns vs. Strowman ambulance finish to a Reigns win. Strowman was planned to go over in that match to set up his title bout with Lesnar, and likely make that a way to set up Strowman as a contender for the title when Reigns won. Joe, with two wins over Reigns, is clearly being set up as a contender, but that would theoretically mean they’d have to protect him to a degree in the match with Lesnar.”
Also read: 5 reasons why Roman Reigns deserves to be the face of the WWE
What’s next?
WWE has two more PPVs until Summerslam: Great Balls Of Fire and Battleground. The winners of the matches at the GBOF PPV will definitely set a clear tone of what the RAW side of things looks like for Summerslam.
Sportskeeda’s Take
As we reported, WWE is still undecided on whether to do Lesnar vs Strowman at Summerslam or a Fatal-4-Way. As of this writing, Reigns is still expected to lose to Strowman at Great Balls Of Fire and NOT face Lesnar at Summerslam. The plan is still to have Reigns coronated at WrestleMania 34 next year at New Orleans. Unfortunately, this limits the main event scene of RAW until WrestleMania 34.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
