New details have been revealed on the decision to unify the WWE Title with the WWE Universal Title last year, and the decision to establish the new WWE World Heavyweight Title this year.
A new report from Fightful Select notes that prior to the 2022 WWE Day 1 event there were no plans to unify the WWE Title with the Universal Title. However, when current Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns contracted COVID-19 and had to be pulled from Day 1, the late decision was made to add Brock Lesnar to the WWE Title match with then-champion Big E, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, and current Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Kevin Owens.
The decision was for Lesnar to win that Fatal 5 Way, then compete in a unification match with Reigns at WrestleMania 38. Before that, there were no plans for title unification.
At one point in 2022, there were internal documents that indicated a plan to split Reigns’ titles up, with Rollins or Drew McIntyre facing Cody Rhodes to crown a new WWE Champion. This obviously did not happen as within a few weeks, plans were changed and the idea of splitting the titles was dropped. It wasn’t clear how the titles were to be split, but at that time, “TBA” was listed as Reigns’ opponent.
WWE originally had plans for the King of the Ring Tournament, along with the Queen’s Crown Tournament, to take place this month, but coming out of WrestleMania 39, plans changed again to accommodate the booking of the new WWE World Heavyweight Title.
WWE has indicated that a tournament of RAW Superstars will be held to decide the new champion, with the World Heavyweight Champion being crowned at WWE Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, May 27. The title will be exclusive to the red brand because Reigns was drafted to SmackDown.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.
The post Backstage Notes on the WWE World Heavyweight Title and the Undisputed WWE Universal Title appeared first on Wrestling Headlines.
New details have been revealed on the decision to unify the WWE Title with the WWE Universal Title last year, and the decision to establish the new WWE World Heavyweight Title this year.
A new report from Fightful Select notes that prior to the 2022 WWE Day 1 event there were no plans to unify the WWE Title with the Universal Title. However, when current Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns contracted COVID-19 and had to be pulled from Day 1, the late decision was made to add Brock Lesnar to the WWE Title match with then-champion Big E, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, and current Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Kevin Owens.
The decision was for Lesnar to win that Fatal 5 Way, then compete in a unification match with Reigns at WrestleMania 38. Before that, there were no plans for title unification.
At one point in 2022, there were internal documents that indicated a plan to split Reigns’ titles up, with Rollins or Drew McIntyre facing Cody Rhodes to crown a new WWE Champion. This obviously did not happen as within a few weeks, plans were changed and the idea of splitting the titles was dropped. It wasn’t clear how the titles were to be split, but at that time, “TBA” was listed as Reigns’ opponent.
WWE originally had plans for the King of the Ring Tournament, along with the Queen’s Crown Tournament, to take place this month, but coming out of WrestleMania 39, plans changed again to accommodate the booking of the new WWE World Heavyweight Title.
WWE has indicated that a tournament of RAW Superstars will be held to decide the new champion, with the World Heavyweight Champion being crowned at WWE Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, May 27. The title will be exclusive to the red brand because Reigns was drafted to SmackDown.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.