What’s The Story?
Braun Strowman’s battle with Roman Reigns was one of the most anticipated matchups heading into last weekend’s Fastlane. It saw Reigns gave Strowman his first clean loss and according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was due in large part to Roman’s impending matchup with The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 33.
In Case You Didn’t Know...
“The Big Dog” hit Strowman with a spear after “The Mountain Among Men” attempted a fatal splash from the top rope to earn the victory and give Strowman his first clean loss in his WWE career. Heading into the match, most fans thought it would behove WWE to have Strowman beat Reigns and continue his dominance over the WWE roster. As a matter of fact, Roman winning clean set off quite the reaction on Twitter and other sites and upset a lot of fans.
The heart of the matter
The report claims that Roman is not only being prepped for Taker at WrestleMania but also for Brock Lesnar after Mania considering “The Beast” is expected to walk out of the event as the new WWE Universal Champion.
Seeing as Reigns is one of the few members of the WWE roster that has held his own against Lesnar and that their match at Wrestlemania 31 was a brutal affair that many consider some of Roman’s best work, it makes sense for Reigns to be the one to take the title off of Lesnar eventually. While some believe that the company still should have had Strowman go over Reigns, the WON report suggests otherwise:
“Yes, you could have Strowman beat Reigns, absolutely, with the idea that if Reigns gets the title, you’ve got Strowman waiting as the top contender. But it’s just as valid from Vince McMahon’s standpoint to have the guy facing Undertaker win going into the match. Plus, Strowman went over in every angle. And, the match was booked to make Strowman look strong, and really Strowman put on a great performance, as did Reigns, and they really stole the show.”
Also, many fans wondered why WWE waited to set up Reigns-Taker on the Raw after Fastlane instead of at the PPV itself. However, according to the WON report, Vince and company’s reason for not having “The Deadman” interfere with the match was because the other two main matches at Fastlane (Bayley-Charlotte and KO-Goldberg) ended with distractions influencing the outcome.
What’s next?
With Fastlane now in the books, “The Show of Shows”, Wrestlemania, is next and on everyone’s mind. After defeating Strowman at Fastlane, Roman’s Mania plans were set up after he and The Undertaker had an altercation Monday night on Raw, which resulted in “The Deadman” hitting “The Big Dog” with a devastating chokeslam.
However, Braun Strowman’s situation is a little different. “The Monster Among Men” has yet to set up his plans for the biggest show of the year, leaving many to speculate that he’ll be involved in the Andre The Giant Battle Royal in Orlando.
Sportskeeda’s Take
After the 2016 Reigns had, he really didn’t need that win over Strowman to solidify his place on the roster, as his place is pretty well established at this point. In our opinion, the Strowman-Reigns match/feud should have been held off until after Reigns wins the Universal title. These two will be cornerstones of WWE moving forward, so it really made no sense to have this match and feud happen at the PPV before Wrestlemania with nothing on the line.
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