WWE News: Original Planning With Universal Championship After Wrestlemania 33
Jan 14, 2018 at 1:28 PM
Brock Lesnar won the Universal Championship back at Wrestlemania 33. It was in the main event match at the showcase of immortals against Goldberg. The Myth has returned to the WWE for one more stint to shatter the legend of the beast. However, Lesnar was able to defeat the former franchise player of WCW to win the prime gold present in the Red Brand.
Going forward, it was expected that he would have some title defenses against some of the elite superstars present in the flagship show of the WWE, his first opponent turned out to be Samoa Joe. He won a match at the Extreme Rules PPV to become the number one contender for the Universal Championship.
At the Great Balls of Fire PPV, the dream match between Joe and Lesnar took place in the main event. Despite the momentum shown by Joe, the beast picked up an easy pinfall win. Later, he ended up winning the fatal-4-way match at the Summerslam PPV where he toppled the challenges of Reigns, Joe, and Strowman.
Then at the No Mercy PPV, he faced his biggest challenge to date in the form of Braun Strowman. The monster among men had momentum by his side going into the match, but once again, the reigning champion reigned supreme. One F-5 was enough to put the behemoth down. After this match, he went to another time-off from the WWE. Now, the road from Wrestlemania to Lesnar was certainly not supposed to be this way.
According to the reports from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the beast incarnate was supposed to compete against three different opponents, this year. This included a member of the Shield. But, the injuries following the Wrestlemania season changed all the planning.
As per the updates from the source, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor were the three planed opponents for Brock Lesnar, consecutively. However, Strowman suffered a shoulder injury and was ruled out of action. Rollins or Balor was to be the replacement for the monster among men, but WWE chose Joe, instead.
As for now, Rollins is the reigning tag team champion and chances are less that he will be in the Universal Championship picture, sooner. Finn Balor is still the rumored one to face the beast if he continues to be the champion. Or else, he would move on to the title picture with Balor Club behind him.