Roman Reigns has already had enough of Cody Rhodes.
Cody made his “stupendous” return to WWE on night one of WrestleMania 38. He was Seth Rollins’ surprise opponent. Cody won the match and followed that up with a victory over The Miz on the April 11 episode of Raw.
Roman Reigns Rips Up Cody Rhodes Sign
Roman Reigns was in action once Raw went off the air. He teamed with The Usos to take on Drew McIntyre and New Day. At one point, Reigns took a Cody Rhodes sign from a fan and ripped it to shreds.
This will certainly stoke the flames of a potential showdown between Reigns and Cody. Rhodes recently appeared on WWE’s The Bump and said that a match with Reigns is there for the future.
Peep the video courtesy of Twitter user “ItsWildBoy.”
Brock Lesnar might not get his rematch with Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship after all.
Lesnar dropped his WWE Title to Reigns in the main event of Night Two of WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas earlier this month. While WWE WrestleMania Backlash is usually supposed to be focused around WrestleMania rematches, “The Beast” might not be on the show at all. Initially, Lesnar was advertised for both WrestleMania Backlash and Money In The Bank later this year.
Although he was still advertised for both shows shortly after WrestleMania, now, WWE has updated their events page, and Lesnar is no longer being advertised for Backlash. As of this writing, Lesnar is still being advertised for Money In The Bank, which is slated to go down from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, July 2.
It remains to be seen what’s next for Lesnar in regards to his professional wrestling career. There are currently no reports as to whether or not a rematch between he and Reigns is even on the table creatively. Currently, Reigns is on both Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live, now holding the WWE and Universal Championships. He seem to be focused on accumulating as much gold as possible for The Bloodline, urging The Usos, already the SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions, to unify the Tag Team Titles with RAW Tag Champs RK-Bro.
It will be interesting to see who WWE decides to pair Reigns with for the WrestleMania Backlash event with Brock Lesnar now seemingly being pulled. WrestleMania Backlash will go down live from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island on Sunday, May 8.
The Rock has planted the seeds for a WrestleMania match with his cousin and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns via Young Rock.
During Tuesday’s episode of the NBC show about the early life of Dwayne Johnson, we see the actor playing Johnson watching wrestling with his family when a child actor playing Reigns jumped on him.
When little Reigns wanted to wrestle and told him to acknowledge him, Johnson’s actor stated that a match like that can only happen at WrestleMania.
Here’s a clip from the show, courtesy of our friends at WrestlingNewsCo:
Over the last few years, there has been talk about this bout that would likely be Rock’s final match. It all came down to The Rock’s schedule as it would have to be clear and in addition to his movie commitments, he is also deeply involved with the XFL when it re-launches next spring.
As recently as last month, Dave Meltzer talked about the working plan for next year’s WrestleMania and he said that The Rock wants to do the match but nothing is etched in stone.
The other big match expected for next year at WrestleMania 39 is Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey.
Roman Reigns unified the WWE and Universal Championships by defeating Brock Lesanr at WrestleMania 38 earlier this month. However, many were worried that the “Tribal Chief” may have suffered a legit injury during the match.
Just prior to the match’s finish, Reigns got caught in a Kimura lock by Lesnar, and after breaking the hold by getting to the ropes, the Universal Champ complained of an arm injury. Given that the finish came shortly after this spot, many began to speculate that Reigns might have legitimately been injured.
Pair that with the fact that WrestleMania 38 finished a lot earlier than expected, fans also believed the match was called earlier due to Reigns’ injury. According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline, this is not the case. Speaking on Sunday Night’s Main Event, Meltzer stated that talk of Reigns being injured is simply not true. The match went according to plan and reflected the violent nature that all other Brock Lesnar matches usually do.
While Roman Reigns might not be injured, he is in a bit of an interesting position. WWE still has their RAW and SmackDown Live exclusive rosters, however, with Reigns holding both World Titles, it will be intriguing to see how creative handles this situation. “The Tribal Chief” already appeared on Monday Night RAW last week, the night after WrestleMania, to cut a promo and celebrate his win.
Perhaps Reigns will be defending both titles simultaneously, working both brands until someone can potentially dethrone him from one of the straps. Whatever the case may be, it seems like WWE is still working out the details as they move along.
Roman Reigns became the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38. Though it appears that WWE is as clueless as the fans when it comes to handling the unified titles.
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast recently talked about the Head Of The Table. His sources suggest that WWE has not yet decided on how this thing will play out:
“I don’t think they’ve decided if he’s going to be on Raw every week or every other week. It hasn’t been set yet. They’re working all this out right now on how they’re going to play this out.”
Roman Reigns’ appearances on the post Mania episodes of Raw and SmackDown didn’t make things any clearer regarding his title reign.
In the meantime, The Usos are headed to Detroit for this Monday’s episode of Raw. The current SmackDown tag team champions intend to win the Raw tag team titles from RK-Bro to unify them both as well.
We will probably get a better idea of WWE’s plans at the show. It would be interesting to see if Reigns makes an appearance at the episode as well.
How do you feel about WWE unifying the world championships? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
WWE is setting the stage for more championships to be unified in the near future.
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 38 in a Winner Takes All Championship Unification Match.
In the main event segment of Friday’s SmackDown, The Bloodline leader dropped a bombshell. After consolidating power at the very top of WWE’s singles divisions, Reigns declared it’s time The Usos do the same with the tag titles.
Reigns said he wants The Usos to go to Raw and bring him the Raw tag team championships, currently held by Rated RK-Bro.
The Usos expected at Monday’s Raw to kick off a program with Randy Orton and Riddle. In addition to the Usos’s quest to capture the Raw tag titles, Cody Rhodes vs. The Miz is also advertised for the show.
WWE has not yet confirmed if or when this tag title unification match will take place. However, the company’s next premium live event is a month away and the company is not known for setting up matches months in advance. At this time, there’s a strong possibility we will see The Usos vs. Rated RK-Bro at WrestleMania Backlash on Sunday, May 8th.
In the fallout of WrestleMania 38, the next big match everyone has their eyes on for WrestleMania 39 next year in Los Angeles is a bout between Roman Reigns and The Rock. Reigns has reigned as WWE Universal Champion for nearly 600 days, and recently defeated Brock Lesnar to capture the WWE Championship as well, unifying the promotion’s two top titles.
Now, with Reigns holding the two top titles in WWE, and establishing himself as the “Tribal Chief” of his legendary professional wrestling family, many have wondered if The Rock could return to challenge that moniker. Some have even speculated at the possibility of doing something similar to The Rock vs. John Cena, which was set as the main event of WrestleMania one year out from the show.
However, if Reigns’ current advocate Paul Heyman has anything to say about it, he’d go a different route. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour recently, Heyman noted that he isn’t a fan of setting the stage a year out from WrestleMania, as so much can happen in between now and then.
Why? Why would you do it? Because then they’re telling everybody that for the next 364 days nothing [that Roman does] matters until The Rock,” Heyman said (WrestleZone). “If Dwayne Johnson wants to step up to Roman Reigns, then Dwayne Johnson should step up to Roman Reigns, and we’ll set the match, and we’ll go for it. But to go for it a year from now? That’s a long time.
“A lot can happen in a year. What if I say to Roman Reigns, ‘take 30 days off and do a movie’ just to show Dwayne Johnson who’s a bigger box office attraction in film? Which, it would be Roman Reigns, and Roman Reigns is a better actor than Dwayne Johnson, to be blunt. I mean there’s a lot that could happen. You got a year.”
Paul Heyman certainly raises an interesting point, as it would also be difficult to have The Rock commit to such a task given his busy Hollywood schedule. Of course, there’s no shortage of opponents for Reigns to keep busy with in the meantime. One Superstar in particular who recently returned to the company already has his eyes on a World Championship, and for now, that road leads to “The Head Of The Table.”
Cody Rhodes knows the possibility of a showdown with Roman Reigns exists.
Cody made his long-speculated return to WWE on night one of WrestleMania 38. He was the mystery opponent for Seth Rollins. Cody ended up scoring the pinfall victory in a highly praised match.
Reigns was also in action at WrestleMania 38 but he took the stage for the main event on night two. “The Tribal Chief” pinned Brock Lesnar to become the undisputed WWE Universal Champion. That means as of now, there is only one men’s world champion in WWE.
Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns?
On the post-WrestleMania episode of Raw, Cody Rhodes made his intentions clear. “The American Nightmare” said he returned to WWE to become a world champion.
During an appearance on WWE’s The Bump, Rhodes said that a match with Reigns is there but the journey has some more pitstops (h/t PW Torch).
“When I left here, Roman Reigns was on top. And I think Roman Reigns was experiencing some of the negative byproduct of being on top. Some of the pushback that a new face, a new individual, but the thing that makes a champion in any company in anything is consistency.
“And we he said ‘Dallas, Texas, acknowledge me,’ and whether they’re supposed to boo, cheer, whatever it might be, and they acknowledged him? You want to know a term that’s often really overused in what we do? It’s ‘over.’ Oh this guy’s so over, she’s so over. No, over is years and years and years of work to where fans follow you.
“That’s part of my song,” Rhodes said of his relationship to fans. “I’ll follow you to the end. That’s how I feel about the fans and hopefully that’s a mutual thing. He’s (Reigns) truly gotten over via consistency and via hard work. What he has going now with Paul Heyman and The Usos, it’s a very intimidating presence. It exists. There’s a match out there. That is likely ‘the match’ that exists out there. But before the match, you have to cross paths in some capacity and we haven’t yet. And I look forward to that.”
Cody may very well still be involved in a feud with Rollins. The two shook hands on Raw but Rollins didn’t come across as sincere. In fact, even the commentary team hinted that there’s more to come with this rivalry.
Roman Reigns picked up another huge win in the main event of WrestleMania 38. He defeated Brock Lesnar to become the new Undisputed Universal Champion.
Though many fans noted how the ending of the match fell flat. It appears that an injury The Tribal Chief suffered in the final minutes of the match may be the reason for it.
Reigns was heard telling his special counsel Paul Heyman that something ‘is out’ towards the ending of the title unification match.
Many believed that the Head Of The Table may have popped his shoulder during the bout. Though as seen below, the photos that have surfaced since then suggests that he may have torn a muscle:
Roman Reigns also seems to be struggling to hold both the titles at first after his big win. He did manage to end the show flaunting both the belts.
Neither WWE nor Reigns himself have commented on his injury so far. So it’s hard to say if the injury is serious or if he will be missing any ring time due to it.
There is no word yet on the future of the unified titles either. We will have to see if WWE keeps both the world titles together or separates them anytime soon.
The highly anticipated Winner Takes All Title Unification match between WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar took place in the main event of WrestleMania 38 – night 2.
After Lesnar went for Heyman, Reigns speared Lesnar through the barricade. Reigns with a spear and two superman punches. Lesnar hit some german suplexes. There was a referee bump and Reigns hit a low blow. Reigns with a title shot to Lesnar for 2. Reigns with a spear to the back. Lesnar reversed a spear into a kimura. The finish saw Lesnar go for an F5, but Reigns blocked it and hit a spear for the win.
Their first match took place at Crown Jewel where Reigns retained the Universal Championship over Lesnar when he hit him with the title after interference from The Usos.
After Crown Jewel, Lesnar was given a storyline suspension for attacking WWE officials and damaging a camera while beating down Reigns. They were originally planned to have multiple matches during this latest installment of their feud.
The second match at Day 1 in January was nixed due to Reigns pulling out of the match after testing positive for COVID-19. Lesnar was later added to a multi-man match where he won the WWE Title only to lose it at Royal Rumble to Bobby Lashley and later winning it back the following month at Elimination Chamber.
What are your thoughts on Roman Reigns winning the match? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns has shared his thoughts on Triple H walking away from in-ring action.
Back in Sept. 2021, WWE issued a statement revealing that “The Game” suffered a “cardiac event” and was expected to make a full recovery. As it turns out, things are a lot more serious than WWE led the public to believe.
Hunter revealed to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that he has a defibrillator in his chest and will never wrestle again. He also essentially said that he was on the brink of death.
Roman Reigns On Triple H’s Retirement
During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Roman Reigns said he’s always been fond of Triple H since his days in developmental (h/t 411Mania.com).
“H was very critical in this process to guide me along. Before I met Vince and built a relationship with him, it was Triple H, he was the one down there in developmental, helping guide talent along. He was the one that overlooked it.
“He was huge in guiding me along. I think he recognized [my] potential and he was always good to me. Early on, I was the type that was asking for raises. ‘Can I get some more money?’ ‘Yeah, go ahead.’
“Two months later. ‘Can I get some more money?’ ‘Yup.’ Then there’s a point where they are like, ‘No.’ I was like, ‘Can you ask Triple H?’ The next morning, you get more money. H has hooked me up and always looked over me. Inside and outside the ring, he’s the best.“
Wrestling fans got to witness 30 years of “The Game.” Hunter began his career back in March 1992 and ended it in March 2022.
The Undertaker is sharing his pick for the WrestleMania 38 main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar.
The Dead Man racked up an incredible 21 wins at WWE’s grandest event before that streak was broken by Lesnar (2014). He retired with a WrestleMania record of 25–2, with the other loss dealt to him by Reigns (2017).
The only two men to defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania will clash once again on April 3rd at WrestleMania Sunday. Ahead of this epic encounter, The Undertaker spoke with WWE to share his prediction for the Winner Take All Championship Unification match.
The Undertaker thinks it could go either way, but feels The Tribal Chief will be victorious.
“I’m going to go out on a limb, I say, Roman, what possibly would be an upset.”
– The Undertaker’s WrestleMania 38 Prediction
The Phenom says Roman Reigns was on the rise when they wrestled. He was still ascending to where he is now. Today, Reigns has a calmer demeanor, but still possesses lots of energy and charisma, as well.
“It’s really entertaining to see guys that size be able to move the way they can and be able to do the things that they can—physical, brutal, especially on Brock’s end,” said The Undertaker. “Roman, much more calculated, but again, explosive athleticism, really athletic big man.”
Roman Reigns ‘broke character’ at Sunday night’s WWE live event from his hometown of Pensacola, Florida.
The Tribal Chief competed in the main event of WWE’s latest stop on the Road to WrestleMania tour.
Reigns teamed up with The Usos as the Blood Line squared off against The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) and Drew McIntyre, who was subbing in for Big E.
Reigns hit a spear on Woods to get the victory for his team. After the match, Reigns cut a promo and spoke candidly about what it means for him to return home.
“Man, it feels good to be home! You guys know the travel schedule. We’re all over the world all the time. Obviously, we’re going through this pandemic, we’ve been fighting through lockdowns and quarantines. And we’re still here, you know?”
Reigns said he was thinking all day about what to say to his hometown crowd. He told them he is grateful and feels a massive amount of gratitude that the WWE Universe stuck with them throughout the pandemic.
“Our journey is our journey. We did it our way and you know – that is what it is. But I challenge everybody here to follow your journey and whatever your destination is. Do what you gotta’ do to get there but enjoy the run, enjoy your ride, enjoy being from such a great community. I say it all the time …. I run into New Yorkers, people from L.A. and they’re like ‘where you from?’ and I’m like – I’m from a small little beach town.”
Reigns said he’s been all around the world, but called Pensacola the most beautifully-built, best kept secret in the whole world.
“I’ve been all over. The Tribal Chief ain’t scared to go on vacation, you know what I mean? I’ve been to a lot of different beaches. I’ve been to a lot of different small towns. And this one, I’m not just being biased. This is the best one.”
Reigns then challenged all the young children in the audience to set goals for themselves and follow their journey, no matter what type of adversity they face.
“Just like all of you should feel, this is my city! This is my little beach town! And I will never say this anywhere else in the world. I don’t care if I go to Rome, Paris, London, New York. Pensacola, WE acknowledge YOU!”
Watch Roman Reigns break character at the WWE Live Event from Pensacola, Florida:
Roman Reigns can be considered the arch-rival of Brock Lesnar. The two have had many chapters in their rivalry and it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna end anytime soon.
However, despite their differences, The Beast Incarnate recognizes the talent of the Tribal Chief. According to him, the Universal champion has the ‘it’ factor.
Brock was asked about Roman and their upcoming WrestleMania 38 match during an interview with New York Post. He said that he sees a superstar in the Head of The Table:
“I see a f–king superstar, I see I guy who came into his own and is a real threat as person and as a character. … Roman has the It factor, has had it.” said Brock Lesnar, “It’s exciting to me. I get goosebumps just thinking about this match.”
Lesnar also talked about his current character. The WWE champion claimed that it’s the extension of his real-life self: “This is the real Brock Lesnar, I’m a country hillbilly f–k, and that’s who I’m am. I grew up the same way.”
Apart from this, the former UFC star discussed how he considered himself to be retired from wrestling after WrestleMania 36 and explained what brought him back.
It appears WWE is bringing in SmackDown’s Roman Reigns for an appearance on Raw in advance of his main event match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 next month in Dallas, Texas at AT&T Stadium.
WWE is advertising Reigns for the Monday, March 28 episode of Raw at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This will be Raw’s go-home show for WrestleMania 38. Lesnar is also advertised for the final Raw before WrestleMania.
Lesnar will wrestle Reigns in a winner-take-all match to unify the WWE Championship and Universal Championship.
Reigns did appear last September on an episode of Raw as he wrestled twice as he teamed with The Usos in a six-man tag match against The New Day and later faced Big E and Bobby Lashley in a triple threat match.
Moving along to November, Reigns & The Usos also faced Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods in a dark match after an episode of Raw in Long Island, New York.
Both Reigns and Lesnar will be in action at Saturday’s WWE house show at Madison Square Garden in New York City as they’re both supposed to defend their titles against unknown opponents.
Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar WrestleMania 38 will be a “winner take all championship unification” match.
Going into WrestleMania 38, Reigns holds the WWE Universal Championship, while Brock Lesnar is the WWE Titleholder. Something has got to give and it will on night two of the mecca in sports entertainment.
The updated match preview at WWE.com now explicitly references that the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship will be unified:
“It’s WINNER TAKE ALL in a highly anticipated Championship Unification Match on WrestleMania Sunday”
Previously, the match was simply referred to as “Winner Take All.”
Reigns and Lesnar did battle back in October for Crown Jewel. Reigns successfully defended his gold through nefarious means. The feud didn’t stop there as Reigns cost Lesnar the WWE Championship after nailing him with the title that was handed to him by Paul Heyman.
Lesnar ended up regaining the gold at WWE Elimination Chamber. On that same show, Reigns successfully defended the WWE Universal Championship against Goldberg.
In the last match on his current WWE deal, Goldberg challenged WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns for the title at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event.
The match opened the main card. They brawled early until Goldberg caught him with a spear. When he went for the jackhammer, Reigns reversed it with a rock bottom-like move. After hitting the superman punch, Reigns went for the spear, but Goldberg caught him with one of his own. Reigns won with the guillotine choke and Goldberg passed out.
The match was set up during the February 4th edition of SmackDown as Reigns and Paul Heyman celebrated their accomplishments at the Royal Rumble, which was costing Brock Lesnar the WWE Championship.
The WWE Hall Of Famer came out and said that he acknowledged Reigns, but as his next victim. Goldberg told Reigns he wanted the Universal Championship match. That match was confirmed later in the show.
Of course. This match was originally scheduled for WrestleMania 36 back in 2020, but Reigns took time off due to the COVID-19 pandemic so WWE got Braun Strowman to face and beat Goldberg for the Universal title instead
Goldberg challenged for the WWE Championship at the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view but lost to Drew McIntyre before losing to then-WWE Champion Bobby Lashley at the SummerSlam only to win the rematch when he previously competed at Crown Jewel where he beat Lashley.
Reigns will make his next Universal Title defense against Lesnar at WrestleMania 38. As of this writing, Goldberg’s WWE future let alone his WrestleMania status is currently up in the air.
The character work of Roman Reigns as The Tribal Chief has been praised by many wrestling veterans. Matt Hardy has now joined the list.
The AEW star talked about the current Universal champion on the latest episode of his podcast. He discussed how the Head Of The Table was receiving mixed reaction from the crowd as a babyface.
However, things have changed since Reigns turned heel. According to Matt it’s his favorite thing on WWE TV right now:
“The stuff he’s doing currently with him and the Usos, I can’t put that over enough. It is my favorite thing on WWE television. He’s killing it! To me, I’m almost disappointed it took them so long to actually step out and turn him heel.”
Matt Hardy mentioned how people liking Roman Reigns’ heel persona would eventually make him a bigger babyface. He claimed that he would have loved to face the current champion if he was in WWE:
“So I love the work he’s been doing and I would have loved to have had a match with him. That would have been a lot of fun.”
Hardy himself has been teasing changes to his AEW character recently. He posted a video suggesting the imminent debut of a new star.
Goldberg made an appearance on WWE Friday Night Smackdown this week to interrupt Roman Reigns in the opening segment. He challenged Reigns to a Universal Title match at the Elimination Chamber event after he cut a short and very direct pointed promo to set up the match.
This was expected as Fightful reported that the WWE Hall of Famer was slated to make his return and was scheduled to travel to Oklahoma City, the site of WWE SmackDown.
There was some concern due to weather as Oklahoma got hit with a snowstorm on Wednesday and Thursday. Goldberg has been booked to lose 3 consecutive World Title matches over the last two years.
The legendary wrestler lost the Universal Title to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania 36. Goldberg challenged for the WWE Championship at the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view but lost to Drew McIntyre. He lost to then WWE-Champion Bobby Lashley at the SummerSlam. He last competed at Crown Jewel where he beat Lashley.
WWE presents the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event on Saturday, February 19, 2022. Other matches confirmed for the show includes WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins vs. Austin Theory vs. AJ Styles vs. Riddle in an Elimination Chamber Match, WWE Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Lita, WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. The Viking Raiders
WrestleMania 38 is still months way, but we’re already looking ahead to the 2023 installment of WWE’s biggest premium live event of the year.
WrestleMania goes Hollywood on Sunday, April 2nd, 2023 at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The new state-of-the-art venue will host the upcoming Super Bowl LVI game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, California
WrestleMania 39 Main Events
The Rock & Ronda Rousey
WWE will once again leverage two if its biggest box office attractions to ensure WrestleMania 39 shatters records.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is planning for The Rock to be part of a blockbuster double main event at next year’s show of shows.
If all goes as planned, the top matches for WrestleMania will see The Rock battle his cousin Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey clashing with Becky Lynch.
The idea is to lead to the biggest WrestleMania ever in 2023 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA, with Reigns vs. The Rock and Becky Lynch vs. Rousey”
– Wrestling Observer Newsletter (February 7, 2022)
The Rock vs. Roman Reigns is arguably the biggest match WWE could present at this time. If they can get The Rock to sign on for WrestleMania 39, there’s no question this show will do record business. Both men have spoken publicly about wrestling one another. You can read their most recent comments in the links below:
There is new information available regarding if the planned Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns match at WrestleMania will be title for title. Lesnar has mentioned on WWE programming that he wants to win the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber and make his match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania title for title.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the belief on WWE’s creative team is that the match will have both championships on the line. Earlier reports suggested this would not be the case but Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar have pushed for it.
“At this point, the feeling on creative is that Vince will make the call to go with title vs. title, hence putting Lesnar in the chamber. There were those internally including Heyman and Lesnar pushing for it,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
“The feeling internally was Vince was leaning in the direction of title vs. title, which would mean the originally planned WWE title match, whatever it would have been, is now off.”
Although plans could change, and have changed throughout the early build-up to WrestleMania, currently the belief is one person will walk away from Mania with both titles, although that has not been set in stone.
WWE Undisputed Champions
One of the biggest title vs title matches in WWE history took place a little over 20 years ago. At WWE Vengeance in 2001, a mini-tournament was held with the winner earning both the WWE and WCW Championships. Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for the WCW Championship in his first match and then defeated Steve Austin to win the WWF Championship in the finals. Austin had successfully defended the WWE Championship against Kurt Angle in the other semi-final.
The Undisputed title in WWE lasted until September 2002. Triple H was then given the “Big Gold Belt” which was renamed to the World Heavyweight Championship on September 2nd, 2002 and would be the champion on RAW.
There wasn’t another undisputed champion until 2013. With the brand-split temporarily ended, John Cena and Randy Orton met in a TLC match for both belts on December 15th, 2013 with Orton coming away the winner.
This period would last until 2016, when Finn Balor won the inaugural Universal Championship at SummerSlam that year.
Other Title vs Title matches in WWE history include:
Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior – WrestleMania VI (Intercontinental Championship vs WWE Championship).
Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania X Ladder Match – (Intercontinental vs Intercontinental).
Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair – WrestleMania 35 (RAW Women’s Championship vs. Smackdown Women’s Championship).
CM Punk vs John Cena (WWE Championship vs WWE Championship) – SummerSlam 2011
John Cena vs Seth Rollins – SummerSlam 2015 (US title vs WWE Title).
Rob Van Dam vs Tommy Dreamer – RAW August 26th, 2002 – Hardcore vs Intercontinental Unification match.
The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) vs. The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) – Survivor Series 2001 – WWF Tag Team Titles vs WCW Tag Team Titles
Edge vs. Test – Survivor Series 2001 – WWF Intercontinental title vs WCW US Title
Roman Reigns will reportedly be facing a Hall of Famer when WWE travels to Saudi Arabia in two weeks for Elimination Chamber.
According to a report from Fightful Select, Reigns is set to defend his Universal Championship at that show against Bill Goldberg. As fans may recall, Reigns was originally scheduled to face Goldberg at WrestleMania 36 back in 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Reigns, a cancer survivor, decided to back out of that WrestleMania for safety reasons. Goldberg faced Braun Strowman instead.
Goldberg has been back working with WWE for several years now, but according to the Fightful report, this is believed to be the last match on his current contract. Goldberg has given different interviews in recent months where the exact date of his contract’s expiration has become muddled; he even mentioned that it went through 2023 at one point.
Obviously, plans are always subject to change at WWE, but this is the working plan as of now. With Goldberg vs. Reigns scheduled, this would be the card for Elimination Chamber so far:
WWE Championship Match – Elimination Chamber Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs. Austin Theory vs. Riddle vs. AJ Styles
WWE Universal ChampionshipMatch Roman Reigns (c) vs. Bill Goldberg
WWE Raw Women’s Championship Match Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lita
WWE SmackDown Tag Team ChampionshipMatch The Usos (c) vs. The Viking Raiders
Goldberg defeated Bobby Lashley at Crown Jewel
Goldberg’s last match was a Falls Count Anywhere No Holds Barred Match against Bobby Lashley at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia this past October. Goldberg was victorious in that bout, his third of 2021. He also lost to Bobby Lashley at SummerSlam and Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 37.
Based on the current lineup, which match at WWE Elimination Chamber are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments section below!
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Brock Lesnar is scheduled to make a major announcement related to WrestleMania Monday night during Raw.
WWE announced Sunday afternoon that this year’s men’s Royal Rumble match winner will announce who he intends to face at WrestleMania 38 during this week’s Raw show. It would be a total shock if he didn’t announce a match with Roman Reigns, which has been planned for several months now.
Lesnar lost the WWE Championship to Bobby Lashley at the Royal Rumble after Reigns interfered in the match, laying the ground work for Lesnar’s Rumble win later in the show and eventual match with Reigns at WrestleMania.
During his title match at Saturday’s Royal Rumble, Lesnar lifted Lashley up for a F5 and inadvertently knocked out the referee in the process. Right after that, Reigns appeared. He directed Paul Heyman to hand over the WWE title belt, which he did, aligning himself once again with Reigns. Roman then took out Lesnar with the belt, left, and Lashley covered for the pinfall and championship victory.
Per WWE.com: “After a wild turn of events, The Beast now has a decision to make on who he will challenge on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Will it be The All Mighty or The Head of the Table? The Superstar who took his WWE Title, or the man who handed it to him on a silver platter?
In addition to Brock Lesnar’s big announcement, WWE has also confirmed new WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and Women’s Royal Rumble winner Ronda Rousey will be on hand for Monday’s Raw from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Who do you think will win the assumed Reigns vs. Lesnar match at WrestleMania 38? Let us know in the comments section below!
Check out the Top Rope Nation wrestling podcast for your weekly dose of pro wrestling talk featuring interviews, analysis and exclusive news: Apple – Spotify – YouTube.
Seth Rollins was the first challenger of the new year to step up to take on Roman Reigns for his WWE Universal Title just weeks after Reigns set the record of the longest-reigning champion in the history of the title at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.
Rollins trolled Reigns before the bout even started by coming out to The Shield entrance music and even through the crowd while wearing his old gear. The match started off with Seth in control including him hitting a powerbomb through a table. Seth hit the buckle bomb then the stomp for a near fall. Reigns went for a spear, but Rollins reversed it into a pedigree for a near fall.
Reigns put him in the guillotine choke and Seth grabbed the rope, but Reigns didn’t break the hold so Reigns was DQ’d, but retained. Post-match, Reigns grabbed a chair and attacked Rollins with it.
The match was made official on the January 7th edition of SmackDown as Rollins was revealed as the next challenger. There was a storyline where Adam Pearce said WWE management informed him that he needed to choose Reigns’ Royal Rumble opponent before the end of the night and the show ended with Rollins going into Reigns’ locker room where he was just laughing.
Rollins is still a member of the Raw roster and was involved in the fatal five-way match at Day 1 where Brock Lesnar pinned Big E to win the WWE Championship. WWE is still moving forward with its plans for Lesnar and Reigns to face off again at WrestleMania 38.
Mark Henry is of the belief that things in the wrestling industry wouldn’t get much bigger than The Rock vs. Roman Reigns.
Reigns’ “Bloodline” angle has been praised by wrestling fans. “The Tribal Chief” was in need of a fresh coat of paint and he got it in the form of a heel turn back in Aug. 2020.
“The Head of The Table” aligned himself with Paul Heyman and The Usos to create the Bloodline faction. The story has evolved and Reigns turned on Heyman for re-aligning with Brock Lesnar.
Enter The Great One?
During an episode of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry said he feels The Rock and Roman Reigns beginning a feud would go down in history.
“There’s only one thing that can be changed and it’s really not even a change. It’s only one thing that can happen that can take it out of this world and make it — and that’s for The Rock to come and say, ‘No, you don’t run the family. I run the family.’
“If that was to happen it would be the biggest thing to happen in pro wrestling. Because this is already historically [a] top tier story without The Rock. You add The Rock, man you can put it right up there with [The Mega Powers].
“You can put it right up there with another thing that The Rock was involved in, The Nation. You can put it right up there into Stone Cold Steve Austin’s run and rise to prominence. There’s really nothing that it wouldn’t surpass.”
The question remains, can The Rock fit WWE in his schedule? As everyone knows, he is Hollywood’s biggest star and constantly stays busy.
“The People’s Champ” was able to make some room for WWE from 2011 to 2013. By the end of his return run, The Rock suffered torn abdominal and abductor muscles as well as a hernia.
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