Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon were reportedly the most vocal in pushing back against Shane McMahon's attempt at booking the 2022 Royal Rumble.

Fightful Select reported Shane McMahon "specifically wanted to go on in a spot that would highlight him." He suggested himself for the No. 1 spot in the Rumble, which went to AJ Styles, and made several other suggestions that were poorly received backstage.

Vince McMahon and Lesnar, the eventual winner of the Rumble, stepped in several times to overrule McMahon's ideas. The younger McMahon was reportedly "insistent" on his vision, which did not come to fruition.

Once the booking settled down, Shane McMahon was reportedly set to go into the match at No. 29, but that was switched to No. 28 at the last minute. McMahon "reacted hastily" to the switch but eventually went out when Randy Orton told him that he would not be entering the match to Shane O'Mac's music. 

Shane McMahon, who was booked to be a regular on Raw through WrestleMania, was quietly fired in the fallout of the Rumble fiasco. The men's Royal Rumble was one of the worst-received in history, with only 2015's Rumble ranking worse on Cagematch fan voting. Several reports indicated Shane McMahon's presence and attempts to produce the Rumble was among the reasons the match booking seemed scattershot. 

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Lesnar vs. Reigns Reportedly Won't Be Title vs. Title

Despite WWE teasing a potential champion vs. champion match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38, that reportedly isn't the plan.

According to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), sources have told him "multiple times" that there won't be two titles on the line when Lesnar and Reigns meet on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

When both Lesnar and Reigns were world champions leading up to the Royal Rumble, they had an interaction on SmackDown during which Brock said he wanted to have a title vs. title match against The Tribal Chief.

A wrench was thrown into that scenario at the Rumble when Lesnar dropped the WWE Championship to Bobby Lashley because of interference from Reigns.

Meanwhile, Reigns retained the Universal Championship in a disqualification loss to Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble.

On Monday's episode of Raw, Lesnar confronted Lashley and challenged him to a rematch, but Lashley declined. Instead, WWE official Adam Pearce granted Lesnar entry into the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia.

If Lesnar wins at Elimination Chamber, he will be the new WWE champion and will get to challenge Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania, as he earned a WrestleMania title match by winning the Royal Rumble.

It seems likely that Reigns will have to interfere again in order for Lesnar to lose, but that is undoubtedly possible given how heated the feud between them has been.

WWE Reportedly Reverses Course on Rollins vs. Shane at WrestleMania

WWE has reportedly gone back on plans for a match between Seth Rollins and Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 38.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), original plans called for McMahon to be in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match, which is where his feud with Rollins would have begun.

Meltzer later confirmed a Ringside News report that McMahon is now "out" of WWE.

McMahon had been gone since losing to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania last year, but he returned as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match Saturday.

Shane-O-Mac had an impressive showing, and the assumption was that he would be back with WWE for the road to WrestleMania.

McMahon did not appear on Monday's Raw, however, and there are now questions regarding whether he will be utilized moving forward.

Meltzer (h/t Jeffrey Harris of 411Mania.com) also reported that McMahon was one of the producers for the men's Royal Rumble match and "rubbed some people the wrong way evidently."

It is unclear if rumors that people had issues with Shane's booking played a role in his being left off Raw and out of the Elimination Chamber match.

McMahon is the son of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, so it's a big surprise that he is reportedly no longer with the company.

Orton Reportedly Scheduled to Miss Some Time

Randy Orton reportedly won't be on WWE programming for some time after missing Monday's Raw.

According to Alvarez (h/t Jenkins), a source said Orton would be gone "for a little while," although no reason for his absence was given.

Orton was an entrant in the men's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in his hometown of St. Louis on Saturday, but he wasn't on Raw two nights later even though his RK-Bro tag team partner, Riddle, had a prominent role on the show.

As part of the academic challenge between RK-Bro and Alpha Academy, Riddle competed in a scooter race with Chad Gable. The race was won by Gable after Otis attacked Riddle.

Riddle and Otis had a match afterward, and Pearce turned it into a qualifying match for the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match.

The Original Bro was victorious, which may have been done by WWE with the knowledge that Orton won't be on television for the next couple of weeks leading up to Elimination Chamber.

Orton typically takes time off at various points in the year given his status as a respected veteran, so it isn't uncommon for him to miss a few weeks at a time.

While it is an inconvenient time for him to be out considering WWE is on the road to WrestleMania, the big event isn't happening for another two months.

RK-Bro figures to be a big part of the show, and as long as Orton is back in the near future, they should have an important spot on the card.

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Lesnar, McIntyre Reportedly Had to Rush Royal Rumble Ending

The Men's Royal Rumble match came down to Brock Lesnar and Drew McIntyre as planned, but their interaction reportedly didn't play out the way WWE originally wanted it to.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), the plan was for Lesnar and McIntyre to have a longer interaction, but they had to go to the finish quickly because time was running short.

Lesnar and McIntyre did have a brief back-and-forth in the latter stages of the Rumble, but The Beast Incarnate ultimately dumped McIntyre over the top rope with an F-5 before McIntyre could get much offense in.

The interaction marked the first between Lesnar and McIntyre since McIntyre beat Lesnar for the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 36.

Both Lesnar and McIntyre were surprise entrants in the Rumble, as McIntyre made an unexpected return from a neck injury and Lesnar came in at No. 30 after losing the WWE title to Bobby Lashley earlier in the night due to interference from Roman Reigns.

Lesnar has already announced his intention to face Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38, and he will also be in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, meaning it could be title vs. title.

Meanwhile, there is no telling what the WrestleMania plans are for McIntyre, as it doesn't appear he will be vying for a world title.

His impressive performance in the Rumble suggests WWE still has big plans for him, but clearly not to the level of what Lesnar and Reigns will be doing on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

WWE Reportedly Changed Ending of Reigns vs. Rollins

Reigns retained the Universal Championship in a disqualification loss to Seth Rollins at the Royal Rumble, but WWE reportedly had other plans in mind initially.

According to Meltzer (h/t Jenkins), the original plan called for Reigns to beat Rollins, but a change was made after the post-match attack was settled on.

Rollins trolled Reigns by entering to The Shield theme song and wearing his old Shield gear. He also had Reigns on the ropes on a few occasions and nearly pinned him after a stomp.

Ultimately, Reigns locked Rollins into a guillotine choke, but Rollins reached the ropes. Rather than relinquishing the hold, Reigns kept it locked in past the five count, which led to him getting disqualified.

After the bout, Reigns attacked Rollins with a steel chair, much like Rollins previously did to him and Dean Ambrose when he broke up The Shield.

Per Meltzer, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon decided to go with the DQ finish because he felt having Rollins lose and then take the beating with the chair would have done too much damage to him.

Reigns got involved again later in the pay-per-view, as he cost Lesnar the WWE Championship against Lashley, setting up Reigns vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania.

Meanwhile, Rollins has been given a spot in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship at the upcoming Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

Bliss Was Reportedly Planned to Be in Royal Rumble Match

Alexa Bliss was not part of the Women's Royal Rumble match, but that reportedly wasn't always the plan.

According to Meltzer (h/t Jenkins), Bliss was meant to be in the Rumble, but it was decided that putting her in the match would distract from her current story.

After months away, Bliss returned to WWE programming a few weeks ago and has been part of weekly vignettes since then on Raw.

The vignettes feature Bliss speaking to a psychiatrist about her mental state and her relationship with the possessed doll Lilly.

Bliss has yet to appear in front of a live crowd or compete in a match, and WWE's decision to hold her out of the Rumble suggests the company has big plans on that front.

WWE seems to be working on better defining Bliss' character before she returns in front of fans, which could be a sign the company is planning on having her revert to her old Goddess gimmick.

Aside from Bliss, WWE used essentially every available female Superstar it has on the main roster, plus several legends brought back to compete in the match.

Bliss was highly unlikely to win with Ronda Rousey making her return, so holding her out of the Rumble helped protect her mystique and prevented her from losing her first match back.

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WrestleMania 38 will have a familiar match in its main event.

WWE confirmed on Monday that 2022 Royal Rumble winner Brock Lesnar will challenge universal champion Roman Reigns at wrestling's biggest event, which is scheduled for April 2-3.

During Monday Night Raw, it was also announced that Lesnar will be among the five competitors to challenge for WWE champion Bobby Lashley's title at the Elimination Chamber event on Feb. 19.

Reigns and Lesnar have faced each other seven times in the past, with four one-on-one matches and three multi-man matches according to CageMatch.net. They met in the main event of both WrestleMania 31 (2015) and WrestleMania 34 (2018).

The two of them most recently headlined WWE's 2021 Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Reigns defeated Lesnar for the second time in his career to retain his universal title.

Earlier this month, Reigns surpassed Lesnar's 503-day reign to become the longest-reigning universal champion since the title's inception in 2016. He currently has the sixth-longest title reign in WWE history.

Reigns put his championship on the line against Seth Rollins in the opening match of the Royal Rumble event. He lost the match by disqualification but remained the champion.

Lesnar dropped the WWE title to Lashley at Saturday's event. The climax of the match saw Reigns interfere and hit Lesnar in the head with the championship belt, allowing Lashley to score the pin.

However, Lesnar was inserted into the Royal Rumble match as entrant No. 30 and was the last man standing to punch his ticket to WrestleMania 38. It was his second time winning the Royal Rumble, last doing so within his first year with WWE in 2003.

If Lesnar wins the Elimination Chamber match to become WWE champion again, it will set up the first "champion vs. champion" main event in the history of WrestleMania.

Brock Lesnar was reportedly not the original planned winner of the 2022 men's Royal Rumble match.

Mike Johnson of PW Insider reported Riddle was locked in as the winner in the week leading up to the match before a last-minute change handed the win to Lesnar. Randy Orton was also considered in what would have been his third Rumble win, but Riddle was the internal choice—right until the moment plans changed.

The report said WWE switched to Lesnar at the last minute as a "surprise."

One issue: No one was surprised.

Lesnar was the betting favorite heading into the event. Once he lost his WWE championship to Bobby Lashley earlier in the night, the direction of the story could be seen from a mile away. Lesnar enters the Rumble, wins and then challenges Roman Reigns at WrestleMania to give the Tribal Chief comeuppance for his interference earlier in the night.

A Reigns-Lesnar WrestleMania match has been in the offing for several months. It's been one of the longest, most well-told stories in years from WWE. Paul Heyman's done yeoman's work as the middle man, Reigns is in the best run of his career, and Lesnar has allowed his personality to shine for the first time in his career.

Having Lesnar win the Rumble potentially poisoned the well in the story among fans. Cagematch fan ratings have the Royal Rumble pay-per-view rated as the worst in history, and the 2022 Rumble ranks only behind the 2015 debacle as the lowest-rated men's match in history.

Had an actual surprise like Riddle won the match, it would have created the next two months of stories on Raw. Tensions could have brewed between RKBro as Riddle blossomed into a single's main eventer, setting up Randy Orton to potentially beat Lashley at the Elimination pay-per-view to set up a championship showdown. 

Lesnar, meanwhile, could have simply gone to SmackDown and demanded a match with Reigns—something that fits his in-kayfabe character. The storyline was straightforward and did not necessarily need the Rumble victory. 

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