Originally, Tribal Chief Roman Reigns set to defend his Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar at Day 1 pay-per-view. Unfortunately, Reigns tested positive for COVID-19 and pulled off from the event. Then, WWE added Brock Lesnar to WWE Title match and Lesnar became the new WWE champion.
Previously, there were rumours that Drew McIntyre is set to feud with Roman Reigns for the Universal Title after Day 1 event but McIntyre’s injury affected the company’s plans. It seems that Drew McIntyre will face Roman Reigns at some point.
INJURY UPDATE: @DMcIntyreWWE suffered a cervical neck strain with severe contusions.
Upon further evaluation by medical staff he will have a follow-up with an orthopedic cervical specialist. pic.twitter.com/5Bju1faAW8
— WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2022
Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio reported that Madcap Moss could have beat McIntyre at Day 1 event but WWE probably chose to protect the former WWE Champion as it might effect his future program with Roman Reigns.
“I don’t think anyone believed for a second he (Madcap Moss) was going to beat Drew McIntyre. It’s funny because with Drew McIntyre being hurt, you know, they could have done it, but they didn’t even dare do it. I wouldn’t have either because, at the end of the day, the plan is still supposed to be Drew McIntyre vs. Roman Reigns at some point. So he shouldn’t be losing to Madcap Moss even if he is going to be hurt. Hopefully, the injury is not too bad.”
Dave Meltzer also talked about the big issue that could arise in the future WWE match bookings. WWE reportedly wants the two world title matches to be on separate nights, and either Brock Lesnar or Roman Reigns would have to drop the title if they are still scheduled to have a WrestleMania match.
“The thing with Mania is, they’ve got two titles. They want one title defended on Saturday, and one title defended on Sunday. If they do Reigns and Lesnar, they are going to get the title off from one of those two if they are going to do the match, or else both will probably be on the Sunday show, and then you’d have the Saturday show with no title matches.” (H/t: Sportskeeda)
