– As noted, Braun Strowman was replaced in the WWE Universal title match against Brock Lesnar during tonight’s episode of Monday Night RAW.
Dave Meltzer reports that Strowman’s removal is not injury related and was always the plan, though he has yet to elaborate on exactly what that means. Mike Johnson at PWInsider suggested that the change was because WWE didn’t want Strowman losing yet again to Lesnar, as the company has no plans to put the title on Braun. Finally, there are also whispers that WWE officials were unhappy with Strowman’s promo last week with Brock and he’s in the ‘doghouse’ though that is a strictly unsubstantiated rumor at this point.
“why isn’t Braun Strowman in this match? Well, the obvious reason is that he’s just not physically cleared by WWE’s medical staff to do a big heavy duty match with Brock Lesnar.”
Johnson continued, “however…they also didn’t want Braun to get beaten by Brock and they were not planning on putting the belt on Braun Strowman at the Royal Rumble. So they kind of painted themselves into a corner and then they painted themselves out of that corner somehow.”
This also (likely) means that Lesnar is going to retain his title at the Rumble and likely defend it at WrestleMania. It could also mean that WWE wants to save Lesnar vs. Strowman for a later date, perhaps WrestleMania. Keep in mind that the latest word on WrestleMania plans for Lesnar is that he was going to face Seth Rollins. It’s possible that Vince McMahon has changed his mind but we don’t know that for sure.
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