More on WWE Title Match Changes at Day 1 & Current Plans for Brock Lesnar

As noted before, Roman Reigns was pulled from his scheduled Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar at this past Saturday’s WWE Day 1 event due to him recently testing positive for COVID-19. WWE announced that as a result, Lesnar would be added to the WWE Championship match at the event, which was later won by Lesnar.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that talent were informed by WWE officials of Reigns’ situation and the changes being made to the card for Day 1 at around mid-afternoon that day. It was reported that those competing in the WWE Championship match had not been informed of the original plans for the winner of the match beforehand. It was also reported that some of their sources stated that they believed Big E had been originally planned to retain his title.

It was reported that due to the Universal Championship match being pulled, WWE officials adjusted the match times for several matches and added new segments and video packages to the show to make up for the extra free time.

In regards to the WWE title match itself, it was reported that the match had been originally planned to be around thirty minutes in length. This was nowhere near the length the revised match ran, which was around eight minutes. It was reported that the reason why the revised match had its time drastically cut is currently not known.

In regards to the backstage reaction to Big E’s loss, it was reported that many people spoken to stated that they felt Big E did not receive consistent booking as WWE Champion.

In regards to WWE’s plans for Lesnar, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Lesnar’s win did not impact WWE’s original plans for him and Reigns at WrestleMania 38. Meltzer reported that WWE officials still are planning to go ahead with their current plans for Lesnar and Reigns that will include what was originally planned to take place at Day 1.

Meltzer reported that the decision for Bobby Lashley to feud with Lesnar for the WWE Championship was made after Lesnar was booked to win the title. This reportedly was the reason why Lesnar did not hit an F5 on Lashley during the Fatal Five-way match and Lashley’s post-match stare at Lesnar.

Meltzer also reported that WWE’s plans for Big E following his WWE title loss are currently not known.