On Sunday, months and months of reports suggesting that Roman Reigns would face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34 were essentially confirmed, as the “Big Dog” beat six other competitors in the main event of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, making him the number one contender to Lesnar’s title on Monday Night Raw’s last PPV before WrestleMania . A new report, however, claims that if John Cena had his way creatively, Seth Rollins would have gone on to win the men’s Elimination Chamber match.
In a Facebook post shared on Tuesday morning, Pro Wrestling World cited unnamed backstage sources , briefly reporting on Cena’s supposed suggestion that Rollins “go over,” or win the men’s Elimination Chamber match. This was reportedly an idea that Cena had been pitching to WWE’s creative team since January, only for officials to reject it, as they felt Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar would not look like a plausible matchup. The post added that Cena kept pushing this idea until the day of Elimination Chamber itself, as he was reportedly asking officials to reconsider, even with just five minutes remaining before the match.
Meanwhile, Braun Strowman put his name in the history books by eliminating five competitors, John Cena included, in the Elimination Chamber match, before getting pinned by eventual match winner Roman Reigns. Pro Wrestling World reported that it was Cena’s idea to make WWE’s “Monster Among Men” look dominant, though WWE’s creative team originally wanted him to eliminate Strowman. Allegedly, Cena rejected WWE’s suggestion, instead proposing that Braun could “eliminate everyone” and become another possible winner of the Elimination Chamber match. That idea, however, was reportedly nixed as well.
So far, no other publication has corroborated Pro Wrestling World’s story about John Cena wanting either Seth Rollins or Braun Strowman to become number one contender for the Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber . But as WhatCulture noted, reports on WWE’s plans to book Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the title at WrestleMania 34 date back to the spring of 2017 , when Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter first “leaked” the proposed booking.
With the Universal Championship match seemingly set in stone, John Cena’s post- Elimination Chamber storylines might see him building up to a marquee match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34, as noted earlier today by the Inquisitr . According to Wrestling Inc. , Braun Strowman is still rumored to face reigning Intercontinental Champion The Miz at ‘ Mania , though it’s not sure how these plans may proceed, as Seth Rollins challenged Miz for his IC title on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw .
