What if Roman Reigns had beaten Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34

Last year this time, WWE was gearing up for its annual Elimination Chamber PPV. This was after a quite successful Royal Rumble with Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka winning their respective Royal Rumble matches.

While there were questions on whom Asuka would face at WrestleMania (she eventually faced Charlotte for the SmackDown Women's Championship), Nakamura had announced immediately that he will be facing AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. This left the big red belt on RAW without a #1 contender at that time.

A 7-man chamber match was scheduled for the Elimination Chamber to determine Brock Lesnar's opponent at WrestleMania. To no one's surprise, The Big Dog, Roman Reigns came out victorious after pinning Braun Strowman to win the Elimination Chamber and challenge The Beast for the Universal Title at the Grandest Stage of them all!

This match main evented the show. It was supposed to be the crowning of the new face of the WWE "Universe" and the end of a huge chase of the Red Title for Roman Reigns. With the rumors of Brock Lesnar leaving for UFC soon, the betting odds were hands-on in favor of the Powerhouse of the Shield. Everyone was expecting him to slay The Beast once and for all.

But what transpired on that day was a surprising victory in the main event for Brock Lesnar in what was one of the most boring yet bloody matches in the history of WWE. The Big Dog eventually feuded with The Beast till SummerSlam and finally pinned him to win the title, with some help from the Monster Among Men.

In this article, we take a look and speculate the potential outcomes and implications had Roman Reigns won the title at WrestleMania 34 instead of SummerSlam. In that case, a lot of things would have been different heading into WrestleMania this year. Feel free to comment your thoughts on whether this would have been a better option or not.

#1 A full-time champion on RAW

We all know what a larger-than-life athlete Brock Lesnar is, and how Vince McMahon looks at him as a ticket-booster for WWE. The biggest issue with The Beast's title reign was that he quite often used to miss RAW and just wrestle at the big PPVs. There were times when he didn't show up for over a month.

One of the main reasons why SmackDown feels like a better product than RAW is that the champion actually shows up every week, giving time to progress storylines and create interesting feuds. But that was not the case with Brock Lesnar.

Had Reigns won the title at WrestleMania 34, the fans wouldn't have cheered for him. But having the champion show-up on every episode RAW would have made the title more relevant. It also would have given opportunities to a lot of other deserving talents to feud for the Universal Title.

The night after Roman Reigns actually won the Title at SummerSlam, he issued an open challenge to the locker room to prove that he's a fighting champion. If he had won the title at WrestleMania and issued more of these open challenges, it would have uplifted the status of the title and given the fans a lot of interesting matchups.

Imagine someone like Elias or Bray Wyatt showing up out of nowhere and challenging for the Title. Superstars from NXT like Aleister Black or EC3 could have also made a one-off appearance on the main roster to hype up the casual audience about the talent that NXT possesses.

#2 Brock Lesnar leaving to UFC

With the rumors of Brock leaving to UFC (or an Elite promotion?) this year after WrestleMania 35 and the Saudi show, there is a possibility that if Reigns had won the Championship at Mania last year, Brock would have left WWE and went on to fight in UFC.

Possibly he would have wrestled the Big Dog in a rematch for the Title at the Greatest Royal Rumble and Roman's feet would have touched the ground first in that Steel Cage Match (oh did that happen anyway?).

Nevertheless, that could have been the last match for Lesnar in a WWE ring before stepping into the Octagon again. With Reigns winning the feud comprehensively this time, he would have then locked horns with some fan-favorite heels like Kevin Owens or maybe even a returning Bobby Lashley for the Universal Title.

It would have been refreshing to see Lesnar out of the title picture and new faces competing for the title.

#3 A heel Finn Balor becoming the Universal Champion at SummerSlam

Now imagine this. During the build-up to SummerSlam, Finn Balor confronts Reigns letting him know that he still has not received his rematch for the title he never lost. The Big Dog, being the fighting champion he is, sets up a title match for the two in the main event of RAW.

During the match, Balor has a great outing, dominating most of the match, giving a stellar performance and coming so close to pinning Roman Reigns. But just as the fans think they are going to see a new Universal Champion that night, Reigns hits a vicious spear and pins Balor.

Balor sits disappointed in the middle of the ring. Reigns comes to him and offers a handshake as a sign of respect. Balor refuses the handshake and is about to leave, but suddenly turns back and attacks Reigns. He delivers a Coup De Grace to Roman on the steel steps, and picks up the Universal Title and looks at a helpless Roman lying on the mat.

Reigns comes to the next episode of RAW and cuts a promo on how Balor is no match to him and can never defeat him for the title. Out comes Balor, with a deadly look on his face. He challenges Reigns for a match at SummerSlam for the title and says "You won't be able to deal with what appears in front of you at SummerSlam. Be scared Little Dog!"

At SummerSlam, as Reigns is waiting in the ring for Balor. Light goes off, out comes the Demon King to face Roman. After a vicious match where the Demon kicks out of multiple spears, Balor finally hits the Coup De Grace to beat Reigns clean and wins his 2nd Universal Championship!

#4 The Balor Club reunites

After Balor wins the Universal Title at SummerSlam, the Balor Club reunites on the next episode of RAW, taking out Roman Reigns. Gallows and Anderson win the RAW Tag Team Championships, and with Balor as the Universal Champion, the Balor Club runs riot on the whole roster establishing themselves as the top guys.

They feud with a reunited shield (with a returning Dean Ambrose) to prove who is the better faction! The feud ends at the Hell in a Cell PPV with both the teams entering the brutal structure in a 3 on 3 elimination Hell in a Cell Match. The match ends with Balor hitting a Coup De Grace on Rollins from the top of a ladder for the pinfall.

Considering the Leukemia situation, Reigns leaves the next night on RAW. Meanwhile, Ambrose turns on Rollins and they feud all the way till Royal Rumble. Balor, on the other hand, dominates the upper mid-card of RAW, successfully defending his title against the likes of Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin.

#5 Rollins faces the Demon King at WrestleMania 35

A rematch at the Grandest Stage of them all!

Balor won his first Universal Championship at SummerSlam 2016 by defeating Seth Rollins in a classic match. Since then, his Demon King persona has been the most protected character on the main roster with even the phenomenal AJ Styles being unable to beat him. If there is anyone who the fans would cheer to beat the Demon, that has to be Seth Freakin Rollins!

Entering the Royal Rumble as the favorite, Rollins lives up to the expectations and wins the rumble by eliminating Dean Ambrose in the end. After the win, while celebrating, Rollins announces his intentions to dethrone Balor as the Universal Champion. Balor comes out and holds his Universal Title high to end the show.

In the build-up to their WrestleMania showdown, both Rollins and Balor talk about their past encounters. Balor gloats about his SummerSlam '16 victory, while Rollins mentions the Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 34.

We get a stellar feud between the Kingslayer and the Demon King with both of them having a 5-star no DQ match at WrestleMania 35, which ends with Seth defeating the Demon King clean in the middle of the ring to become the New Universal Champion. Demon King 1 - 1 Seth Rollins!

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.