The road to WWE WrestleMania 42 has been thrown into a state of creative flux following reports that original plans for a third encounter between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns have been scrapped.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Reigns is currently factored out of the immediate world championship picture and is considered the “odd man out” in the title scene.
While Reigns is expected to make his return at the Royal Rumble on January 31, he is not currently slated to be thrust back into the hunt for the gold he once held for over 1,300 days. The shift in direction reportedly stems from Triple H’s desire to inject more unpredictability into the “Road to WrestleMania”.
“The original direction was literally simply Cody is going to hold this deal until Mania, and then Roman was going to go to Mania and beat him. That’s what they were gonna do… Triple H wanted to get some surprises in there, and he wanted maybe to throw some monkey wrenches into the road,” a recent report explained.
As a result, Drew McIntyre has been positioned as the “middle man” in the ongoing saga. Plans have evolved to have him hold the championship while the company explores a more nuanced, darker character arc for Cody Rhodes.
This creative pivot coincides with vocal fan frustration over “fantasy booking” and rumors of missing stars like Chris Jericho. World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk recently addressed these reactions on the My Mom’s Basement podcast, labeling the obsession with unfulfilled fan theories as a “slight mental illness.”
Meltzer added that the current two ideas for the WWE Title match at WrestleMania are McIntyre vs. Cody vs. Jacob Fatu in a triple threat match, or a standard singles match between McIntyre and Cody. This comes after Fatu’s return on the January 9th SmackDown, where he cost Rhodes the WWE Title.
