As previously noted here on eWn, there were reports going around that Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship was being moved up to SummerSlam. That match in particular was also slated to be the main event of next year’s WrestleMania in New Orleans, which was planned before the most recent WrestleMania in Orlando.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer explained why the match-up between Lesnar & Reigns has been moved up to the “biggest party of the summer”.
Meltzer: “It was confirmed to us that a few weeks ago, probably just before the Roman Reigns interview where he said he wanted a shot at the Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe winner. That plans for SummerSlam on 8/20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn changed from Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman as the main event to Lesnar vs. Reigns.“Lesnar vs. Reigns, with Reigns winning the title had been planned as the main event for the 2018 WrestleMania in New Orleans from before this year’s WrestleMania. But if anything, Reigns has gone from the old John Cena position of being cheered wildly at most house shows but booed on television, to being booed heavily at most house shows.”
“The idea could be to pull the trigger on the Reigns title win early, so they would have the Universal Champion as a regular on RAW television and house shows. Or it could be part of a story they want to tell where Reigns doesn’t win now and builds to a Mania win. But normally, WWE doesn’t put the planned Mania match on PPV before Mania.”
