Source: The Wrestling Observer
Vince McMahon and top WWE officials were said to be “legitimately surprised” at the intensity of fan backlash at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. WWE knew that some fans would not approve of Reigns winning instead of Daniel Bryan but didn’t expect it to get that bad. The idea was to eliminate Daniel Bryan early on to give the fans a chance to “cool down” leading up to Reigns winning and The Rock coming out to “make things right.”
One source said: “They panicked early, they changed a few things. Dwayne was not happy.”
Yes, even The Rock was said to be surprised by the reaction. His surprise could even be seen during his in-ring segment and post-show backstage promo on the WWE Network.
Even with the #CancelWWENetwork campaign, Vince McMahon is “dead set” on sticking to Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. WWE doesn’t plan on adding Daniel Bryan to the main event again because they did it last year. Dave Meltzer added: “Vince feels that it would be a repeat and gone to the well one time too often.”
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