If The Royal Rumble is any indication, this year’s WrestleMania card is one that will anger many WWE internet wrestling fans. It looks like Roman Reigns will fight The Undertaker, while many were hoping for John Cena to fight Undertaker. Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble , so he will get the WWE world title shot. Now, it appears that none other than Bill Goldberg will head into WrestleMania as the Universal Champion.
The news comes from Wrestling Observer Radio and top insider Dave Meltzer (via Wrestling Inc ). In the segment, Meltzer said that the current plan is for Bill Goldberg to fight Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at Fastlane in March and then defend the title against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania .
Looking at this from both a booking standpoint and as a ticket-selling standpoint, Bill Goldberg as champion doesn’t really make sense. WrestleMania will sell out no matter what and get plenty of huge view for the WWE. It is the Super Bowl of professional wrestling.
After Bill Goldberg beat Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in under two minutes and then eliminated him from the Royal Rumble with just two moves, fans will want to see Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg no matter what the circumstances. Having the Universal Championship on the line is just window dressing.
Worse than that, this means that a match that will already be a huge draw will take the title from wrestlers who have been working all year to make their names. A Universal Championship match could be a huge moment for many younger stars like Kevin Owens.
Taking the belt off Kevin Owens puts him in a lower tier match at WrestleMania , something that goes against what the WWE seems to be attempting lately. There are still rumors that Kevin Owens will fight Chris Jericho at WrestleMania , but without the Universal Championship on the line, it isn’t the same.
Meanwhile, at the moment the WWE world championship match looks like John Cena vs. Randy Orton, although that is likely to change. Cena beat AJ Styles for the world title, tying Ric Flair’s record with his 16th world title win.
John Cena vs. Randy Orton is a feud that has lasted on and off for the last 15 years, as they both entered the WWE at the same time. These were the same two men who unified the WWE and world titles, although that has since been undone with another brand split. However, Cena vs. Orton is a match that has played out many times over through the years.
It is not a match that sells tickets anymore. However, The Inquisitr just reported that John Cena and his world title reign is not expected to last past Elimination Chamber , where Cena will put his title on the line in the giant cage. The word is the WWE already knows who they want Cena to fight but are holding off on that for now.
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With Randy Orton getting the world title shot and if the Bill Goldberg rumors of winning the Universal Championship are true, that means that at least three of the WWE superstars in the two world title matches are long-time veterans and not the young stars the company was building around.
Bill Goldberg has gotten huge pops everytime he shows up in a WWE ring since his return. That is one reason the WWE might want to put the Universal Championship on the man. However, Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar is not something that needs gold on the line. That match should be able to sell itself.
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