If the rumours are to be believed, Roman Reigns was scheduled to beat Brock Lesnar in the main event at WrestleMania, only for the outcome to be changed during the match.
According to the speculation, Vince McMahon made the call because the prospect of a Reigns win – which looked increasingly likely as he kicked out of F5 after F5 – was one which would have not gone down well with the New Orleans crowd.
Chants of “this is awful” could be heard inside the SuperDome that night. The mood in the building was that this was not the right time or the right place for a Roman conquest.
So will the King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday night be those things?
Quite possibly, yes. The crowd is likely to be very much more ‘traditional’; meaning they will cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys in a way a North American or British crowd might not necessarily.
Regardless of whether you agree with them or not, or what their motives are, there is a section of the WWE fan base which has decided they do not like Roman Reigns and are always happy to express that opinion.
One factor which may go against the Jeddah suggestion is that even if the Reigns-Lesnar match goes on last, the time difference means it will be no later than 5pm in New York, and even earlier in other United States regions.
America, essentially, will be at work. But they were when AJ Styles won the WWE title on SmackDown in Manchester too. And, British partisanship aside, the Greatest Royal Rumble is a far bigger event than that was.
WWE’s positioning as a global company also has to be taken into consideration. If this is an organisation which expects to pull in investors, sponsors and fans from around the world they must give the markets outside of North America valuable moments such as major title changes.
Reigns did some of his best promo work in the build-up to the WrestleMania match with Lesnar
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman received some boos on Raw this week (although still not as many as Reigns) so there could be a change in mood in terms of how fans see the current Universal champion.
Have they grown tired of never hearing him speak and only infrequently seeing him wrestle? Do they want a fighting champion such as AJ Styles on SmackDown? And did the WrestleMania match actually damage Lesnar’s stock too?
A day after Lesnar’s successful New Orleans defence, it was confirmed he had signed a new contract with WWE and while the precise details of that deal are not known, there is speculation it is only for a few dates.
That conspiracy theory would support the suggestion that he is ready to drop the belt and ride off into the UFC sunset.
All logical thought dictates that will be the end result of Friday night’s dust-up in the desert. Wrestling often ignored the rules of logic to shock and surprise its fans.
But it’s time for Roman to reign.
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