WWE Rumors: Did backstage heat cause Braun Strowman to be replaced at the Royal Rumble?

What's the story?

This week's episode of WWE RAW saw a huge shift in the WWE Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble. In his quest to get his hands on Baron Corbin early on in the show, Braun Strowman inadvertently destroyed Mr. McMahon's limo, ripping one of the doors off the hinge.

This led Vince to replace Braun Strowman in the WWE Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar, booking a Fatal-4-Way match instead between John Cena, Finn Balor, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin with Balor winning it to earn a title shot at the Rumble. This has led to rumours of backstage heat for Strowman but it looks like those are most likely not true.

In case you didn't know...

Braun Strowman earned a shot at the WWE Universal Championship after beating Baron Corbin at WWE TLC even though he had a little help from his fellow disgruntled WWE Superstars. Strowman underwent elbow surgery in early November and only recently returned to full fitness.

The heart of the matter

Despite rumours on the contrary, Braun Strowman doesn't have backstage heat and he's been replaced to keep him booked strong. Mike Johnson gave more details when he spoke about the matter on PW Insider Elite Audio:

“I have not heard there’s heat on Braun Strowman. No, there’s no heat on Braun Strowman. It is more likely that they don’t want to beat him at the Rumble and they’re right on this if this is the case, that it will kill him off and hurt him in terms of his momentum and they decided to go somewhere else which is the Finn Balor route.”

What's next?

After winning the Fatal-4-Way on WWE RAW, Finn Balor will now challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania.