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What’s the story?
Roman Reigns cut a scathing promo on Brock Lesnar last night after it was made clear that Brock Lesnar had not shown up for WWE RAW.
However, the decision to have Reigns go solo was taken very late and as reported by PW Insider, an original segment between the WrestleMania opponents had actually been scripted, with some details now being leaked.
In case you didn’t know…
WWE had advertised Brock Lesnar for the post-Elimination Chamber episode of RAW for weeks previous with Reigns being confirmed to confront Lesnar right up until the very last minute.
Lesnar did not appear on last night’s edition of Monday Night RAW and was not backstage, neither was Paul Heyman, leaving Roman Reigns to cut a scathing promo on Lesnar and his attitude towards the business.
The heart of the matter
As per PW Insider, WWE sources confirmed details of the script that would start the build-up for the only two men who have defeated Undertaker at WrestleMania to go face-to-face.
The segment was set to feature a lengthy back and forth promo segment between Paul Heyman, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, with one source even claiming that Brock Lesnar was scripted to use abusive language against Roman.
The segment did go ahead at the scheduled time, though, as it had been slated for the second hour of Raw with Ronda Rousey’s segment already due to the show.
What’s next?
Brock Lesnar is set to defend his WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 34 which takes place in April.
Brock Lesnar’s next advertised appearance for WWE is at a live event on March 3rd. His next televised appearance is Monday 12th March in Detroit, Michigan.
Author’s take
Well, I said it last night, but if this was deliberate, it was a true stroke of genius. Reigns' promo was incredible and truly gave him some babyface shine heading into WrestleMania.
If WWE actually didn't know Lesnar wouldn't show, even better. They turned lemons into lemonade and the segment probably turned out even better than it would have if Lesnar was there!
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