Suspended disbelief: The telegraphed road to Lesnar-Reigns at WrestleMania 34
Does WWE have one more swerve remaining entering Sunday's men's Elimination Chamber match?
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5 min read
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From the moment The Undertaker was pinned by Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 33 last April in Orlando, Florida, the plan for WWE's main event at this year's "Showcase of the Immortals" has seemingly centered around Reigns and universal champion Brock Lesnar.
Not only did veteran scribe Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter lead the charge reporting it as fact the next day, WWE's booking over the 10 months that followed -- including Lesnar keeping the championship and Reigns largely moved into secondary title feuds -- seemed to support the idea.
Should Lesnar and Reigns meet inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on April 8 at WrestleMania 34, WWE would deserve credit for at least protecting the reveal on television. Lesnar and Reigns have been kept away from one other in storyline and barely acknowledged each other's existence save for a Fatal 4-Way title match that main-evented SummerSlam. But the company has failed miserably in keeping those same plans from leaking through sources to the media.
The only problem for WWE in cementing plans for Lensar-Reigns so far in advance is the glaring lack of suspense it creates entering Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, which serves as the final Raw-exclusive stop before WrestleMania.
With a seven-man men's Elimination Chamber match designed to determine Lesnar's opponent and Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura having already chosen WWE champion AJ Styles as his opponent, there's almost a 100 percent guarantee that Reigns will be victorious. Because of how loaded the match is with star power (Reigns will face John Cena, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Elias, The Miz and Braun Strowman), the removal of uncertainty is extra disappointing.
The mere presence of dirt sheets have always been a Catch-22 for serious fans. While the lust for knowledge is a thrill unto itself, it competes directly with the innocence of watching scripted entertainment -- no different than "Star Wars" or "Breaking Bad" -- without knowing what happens next.
On one hand, pro wrestling is being covered as almost a legitimate sport by major news sites in 2018 -- you are reading this on CBSSports.com, after all -- in ways never thought possible in the past. That in itself is incredibly positive for the genre's health, just as technology has made it easier than ever to access promotions far removed from WWE's massive bubble.
Following the real-life journeys of WWE superstar and the financial realities of the business at large can also be just as enthralling as the predetermined drama inside the ring. But with that comes the price of overabundant access to potential spoilers, even for fans dead set on avoiding them.
With all of that said, should Reigns win Elimination Chamber on Sunday, it would be difficult to complain about what would follow.
A Lesnar-Reigns feud has money written all over it, giving the promotion a chance to fully anoint Reigns as "The Guy" at a time when Lesnar has been presented as dominant for a full year. The two also have history of delivering car-crash gold during their WrestleMania 31 main event in 2015 that was building to be a classic until Rollins memorably cashed in his Money in the Bank contract.
A Reigns victory at WrestleMania 34 would see WWE come full circle on what appeared to have been its initial plan three years ago at Royal Rumble ... until Reigns was infamously booed out of the arena over the crowd's disgust with returning fan-favorite Daniel Bryan being eliminated so early.
There's plenty of reason to believe the aftermath, including the Rollins swerve, was a direct result of those boos. It also gave WWE time to better prepare Reigns for the moment of supplanting Lesnar (in terms of company importance). Three years later, helped by strategic developments like the recent Shield reunion, Reigns is in a much better place even among the most cynical fans.
That doesn't mean Sunday's inevitable outcome is any easier to swallow. While imagining a spoiler-free utopia where WWE can keep its future creative plans airtight might not be realistic, now would be as perfect a time as ever for WWE to dramatically switch course and swerve the "insiders" for the sake of entertainment.
If only that was possible.
It's a notion instantly rendered unlikely when you consider the company's financial bottom line for WrestleMania likely doesn't change whether the two names on the marquee are known 300 days in advance or three weeks out from its biggest night. But an even bigger problem is how far WWE has backed itself in a booking corner to make way for Lesnar-Reigns.
An obvious replacement for Reigns could have been Strowman, who is not only believable as a physical threat to Lesnar but so organically over as a rare monster babyface with potential to marry violence and comedy in ways very few superstars can. Yet Strowman, aside from dramatically breaking everything in site, spent 2017 doing two important things that damaged his storyline invincibility: getting pinned clean by both Reigns and Lesnar on pay-per-view.
Another potential swerve, although no longer possible because WWE decided to keep Lesnar out of the Elimination Chamber, would've been to counter with an even sexier Reigns-Cena program, made juicier by Cena's attempt at a WWE-record 17th world championship reign.
Despite having WrestleMania written all over it, that dream feud between polarizing babyfaces was rushed after SummerSlam at a minor PPV last fall and lasted just one electric month. The culmination of Reigns pinning Cena clean at No Mercy, the same night Lesnar did the same to Strowman in the nine-minute main event, did nothing but communicate that Lesnar-Reigns was still in bloom.
WWE also spent last fall rushing other potential WrestleMania blockbuster reveals, including the aforementioned Shield reunion and Kurt Angle's long-awaited return to the ring, leaving few outs available should WWE have potentially wanted to shake things up.
The one advantage WWE has always held over its non-scripted brethren in combat sports has been the ability to control and manipulate who faces whom and what the outcome will be. That has only helped fuel the limitless reality fans enjoy and the feeling that truly anything can happen. Unfortunately, that feeling is gone entering Sunday.
Should the road to Lesnar-Reigns and WrestleMania 34 play out as reported, don't expect many to be disappointed. But here's to hoping WWE has one more unseen trick up its sleeve -- or at least a believable tease of one -- after such a telegraphed build to the biggest match of the year.
Big fan of WWE? Be sure to subscribe to my podcast In This Corner with Brian Campbell where I break down everything you need to know each week.
