WWE News: Reason Why Undertaker Faced Roman Reigns Instead John Cena at Wrestlemania 33
Sep 17, 2017 at 1:51 PM
If dream matches are being considered in the WWE, then John Cena vs the Undertaker would surely be one of them.
For the past few years, WWE fans wanted to see it on different occasions and especially at Wrestlemania. However, for many reasons, the match was cancelled. The same happened at this year’s Wrestlemania, too.
Instead, Roman Reigns was pitted against The Deadman, all of a sudden. As per the sources, there are at least, a couple of reasons behind the same.
Taker was initially finalised to take on Cena at last year’s Wrestlemania, according to Wrestling Observer Newsletter. But, that was scrapped out due to John Cena suffering a shoulder injury ahead of the show. Hence, Shane McMahon replaced him to give us a spectacular Hell in a Cell match.
Later, the dream match was shifted to this year’s Wrestlemania, but the brand split was the main issue to arrange this one, apparently. The Undertaker disappeared for a long time until he resurfaced on the WWE during the 900th episode of Smackdown Live, last year. It was a clear hint of the plan around this match being intact since both Cena and Taker belonged to the same brand.
However, the plans might take several turns in the meantime, and Undertaker entered in the Royal Rumble match to be eliminated by Roman Reigns. On the other hand, John Cena returned to Smackdown to be involved in the championship picture. He also picked up his 16th world title to lose it just after 14 days at the Elimination Chamber.
WWE had no intention whatsoever to shift Undertaker’s brand again to pit him against Cena. Plus, Vince McMahon is still unmoved from his motto to make Reigns the next John Cena and hence thought the match was needed for the betterment of the Big Dog.
On the other hand, Cena had nothing to gain from this one contest since he was already scheduled to take some time off following the biggest event of the year. Just after the Wrestlemania season was gone, he took a hiatus to shoot a movie before coming back to Smackdown as a free agent. By the virtue of this, he has been able to move to Monday Night Raw following the Summerslam PPV.