Wrestlemania 35 kicked off in a unique way where one of the main-events became the opener of the night. Alexa Bliss and WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan kicked off the main show with the introduction segment. Paul Heyman came out next to give us the breaking news that the prime title match from Monday Night Raw division was happening next. Thus the first match of the main show turned out to be Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship.
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Now it was indeed a surprise to the fans waiting at home or live in attendance. In fact, most of the superstars got surprised at backstage as the match received the first place at Wrestlemania match card. A bonafide main-eventer like Brock Lesnar has never featured in such a slot since returning to WWE in 2012. So was it the original plan for him to do so? Apparently not, according to the reports of a reliable source.
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According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, WWE changed their plans for the Universal Title Match. Apparently, the decision of kicking the show off with this match happened just after the main show started. It was during the opening segment when the officials decided to open the show with Brock Lesnar dropping the Universal Title to Seth Rollins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxFZmArI9GY
Even Hulk Hogan and Alexa Bliss standing on the stage of Wrestlemania 35 had no clue that Paul Heyman was coming out next to drop a bombshell. So it’s predictable that most of the other names from backstage did not have a clue either about what was going on. Here’s what Meltzer has stated on this match,
“They rearranged the order of the show that the Universal Title match would go on after they had already started. It was actually 5:30 pm local time before the switch was made to put them on first.
Hogan, when he was doing his promo, had no idea what Paul Heyman was doing when he was walking out because when Hogan was told what he was supposed to do, that [Heyman coming out] wasn’t gonna happen and I guess nobody told him that they had switched it.”
PWInsider.com added to this report that the original plan was for the Universal Championship match to take place right before the Wrestlemania main event. So the opening match of the night could have been Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles. It ended up being the second match of the night after Seth Rollins slew the beast incarnate, Brock Lesnar via clean pinfall.