Major Changes Made To WWE Universal Title Match Between Kevin Owens And Roman Reigns At ‘Royal Rumble’
The result of the WWE Universal Title match between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns will be pivotal to the card that we will see at WrestleMania 33, but WWE officials may have changed their minds about who will be walking out of the WWE Royal Rumble as the champion. It’s been rumored for quite awhile that Reigns would win the WWE Universal Championship from Kevin Owens, but that may no longer be the case.
The fact is there have been far too many rumors about what WWE officials have planned for Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33. It’s been made crystal clear that Vince McMahon and other WWE officials are trying to improve Roman Reigns’ dynamic with the WWE Universe, but his opponent keeps changing. It’s likely that the winner of the Royal Rumble match will be from Raw, but that won’t be official until Sunday night.
Roman Reigns’ plans for WrestleMania are unknown. On the other hand, we know Kevin Owens is likely to enter into a rivalry with Chris Jericho sooner rather than later. The only question will be if their feud needs the Universal title or not. It’s a huge decision to make, and there are a lot of moving parts heading into the match, but WWE has likely made their decision, which will lead to some changes for WrestleMania 33.
The intangibles of the WWE Universal title match between Owens and Reigns at the WWE Royal Rumble are going to be Chris Jericho being locked in a cage above the ring and the potential for Braun Strowman to interfere in the match instead of Y2J. Owens vs. Reigns will be a no disqualification match, so WWE may be trying to make fans think about Jericho above the ring and be shocked when Braun Strowman interferes against Roman.
It’s been rumored that WWE officials are planning for Strowman to feud with Reigns at WrestleMania 33 in the hope it would help Roman gain a stronger reaction as a babyface. There is a lot of speculation that their match would be for the WWE Universal Championship, but a new report is claiming that Kevin Owens is being advertised for WWE live events after the WWE Royal Rumble PPV as the WWE Universal Champion.
A card is always subject to change, but these events are being advertised as early as next weekend. The odds of Owens walking out of San Antonio still the WWE Universal Champion are a lot stronger than they were even last week. Strowman vs. Reigns is also being advertised for post-Royal Rumble events, so the chances of the WWE Universal title staying on Owens are good, which means a lot heading into the Royal Rumble match later in the night.
If Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens is set in stone for WrestleMania and Owens remains the WWE Universal Champion after the WWE Royal Rumble, it’s likely a WWE Superstar from SmackDown will win the Royal Rumble on Sunday. Of course, Owens could drop the title to someone at WWE FastLane, but it would be a lot cleaner for him to lose it at the WWE Royal Rumble because Owens vs. Jericho doesn’t need the title.
For weeks, it seemed like WWE officials were planning for Roman Reigns to walk into Orlando as the WWE Universal Champion. That could still be the ultimate goal, but it looks like WWE will be changing course a little heading onto the “Road to WrestleMania.” The WrestleMania 33 card will make a lot more sense after the WWE Royal Rumble PPV on Sunday. After that, the WWE’s direction should be much easier to follow.
[Featured Image by WWE]
