As 2019 winds down, the Road to WrestleMania 36 is visible on the horizon, beginning as it does every year with the Royal Rumble, which is coming up on January 26. Naturally, that means that everyone is speculating and spreading rumors about what to expect. Some of what we’re hearing might be made up or at least totally wrong (that’s always true), but sometimes these things turn out exactly like we expect, and even when they don’t it’s interesting to see where the conversation is and what that says about the state of WWE and their talent.
Dave Meltzer recently speculated on Wrestling Observer Radio that Roman Reigns versus the Fiend Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship is a likely Smackdown Main Event for WrestleMania. Although Meltzer was straightforward about not having heard anything direct about that, Paul Davis at WrestlingNews.co says he spoke with a source within WWE and was told that is indeed where things are headed.
That rumor fits in perfectly alongside another rumor that seems to have originated with Sportskeeda, that Roman Reigns is the top choice to win the Men’s Royal Rumble Match next month, which will give him the opportunity to challenge Wyatt for the title.
Davis also claims that Reigns’ feud with Corbin has been deliberately booked to cool Roman off, so fans don’t turn against him for being overpushed on his way back to the main event. Personally, I have a hard time imagining that Reigns can win the Rumble without getting a chorus of boos from fans, even if it’s more out of habit than anything else. He’s been a lot more popular since returning from treatment for leukemia, but he also hasn’t been pushed like he used to be in that time, and that’s probably not unrelated.
Again, this is all just rumor at this point, although it does sound like very believable WWE booking. Time will tell what comes to pass, and how fans react when it happens.
