5 reasons why Roman Reigns is facing Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania

While it isn't official yet, it might as well be. On the latest episode of Monday Night RAW, The Scottish Psychopath Drew McIntyre challenged Roman Reigns to a match at the grandest stage of them all - WrestleMania.

The seeds were planted last week when Reigns was actually supposed to face McIntyre, but the former NXT Champion would launch a vicious assault on Reigns, so much so that The Big Dog wasn't even present on RAW this week.

Meanwhile, McIntyre had his sights set on Seth Rollins, who vowed to get revenge for what he did to Dean Ambrose. With McIntyre constantly bragging about ending The Shield, he may have some claim here after defeating Seth Rollins on the latest episode of RAW.

It's 2 down, 1 to go for McIntyre. However, he's going to have to take on the man who main evented the last four consecutive WrestleMania shows. This is undoubtedly going to be the biggest match of his career, and here's why Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre is happening at WrestleMania.

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#5 Baron Corbin is facing Kurt Angle

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated that the original plan for Roman Reigns at WrestleMania was to face Baron Corbin. Naturally, fans were quite underwhelmed by that, and even with Kurt Angle announcing Corbin to be his final opponent in his farewell match at WrestleMania, there's been a bit of an uproar on social media.

Either way, this definitely benefits Reigns because he's not stuck in a particularly bad spot that Kurt Angle is. For Angle, it's a really bad spot because not only has he lost a step with age, but Corbin isn't the kind of in-ring worker who can convincingly cover up his visible weaknesses.

Hopefully, they will prove us wrong and actually have a great match at WrestleMania.

#4 Last-minute change of plans

People need to realize that WrestleMania 35 was essentially written and planned with the full expectations that Roman Reigns would not be a part of the event. It probably wouldn't be surprising if WWE wrote stories for the entire year without expecting Reigns to return.

After all, when he announced that he was diagnosed with leukaemia again, many people estimated that he would be out up until early 2020 at the very least. However, no one expected that he would be back in time for WrestleMania 35.

This was probably why there was quite a bit of shuffling going on with the plans. WWE probably listed out a few opponents for him, and perhaps even locked in a match or two. However, in the last minute, the build was changed and Reigns will now be taking on Drew McIntyre in a battle of two hosses of WWE.

#3 No other plans for Drew McIntyre

It's surprising in a way that WWE doesn't have any other match planned for McIntyre. Had there been no Roman Reigns return, you can guarantee that McIntyre would be relegated to the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal similar to the way Braun Strowman did.

Not complaining of course, because this is much better, but it's surprising given that WWE put in so much effort and investment in pushing McIntyre last year, only for his push to come to a slight halt at the end of the year.

Since that point, he wasn't really in any big storyline, and he was slowly approaching the place of creative limbo, a rather bad one for any superstar because it severely affects their momentum going forward and in the long run.

Just look at Braun Strowman. He was the hottest thing going in 2017 and 2018 but WWE managed to lull him down quite a bit.

#2 To push McIntyre to the moon

This might sound crazy, but just because Drew McIntyre is facing Roman Reigns, it doesn't necessarily mean that Reigns is going to win. Sure, the odds are certainly going to favour Reigns, and it being WWE, they probably want Reigns to get a big comeback win.

But perhaps there's potential to do something much bigger and better. If McIntyre faces and displaces the top star of the company (and clean at that), it'll give him a lot of momentum going forward.

Post-WrestleMania is an extremely exciting time, and giving McIntyre the big win most certainly means that he's getting a big push going forward.

It'll also fit well with the narrative that he tore down The Shield. With only one member left to slay, it could turn out to be a career-defining moment for The Scottish Psychopath.

The good thing is that despite having less momentum, he's been well protected.

#1 There's no better match on RAW for Roman Reigns

This is the most likely reason why Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre is happening. After Reigns returned, WWE looked at the list of opponents, that likely included names such as Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, etc. and felt that there was a story to be told with McIntyre.

After all, Strowman vs Reigns has been done to death, Corbin vs Reigns is underwhelming, while WWE probably felt that Angle vs Reigns wouldn't be a good fit. While we disagree, this is certainly an interesting spot, and one that fans won't really complain about. In fact, it's the first singles match that Reigns has ever had at WrestleMania that isn't against a part-timer.

His previous opponents were Brock Lesnar (twice), Triple H and The Undertaker. He's 2-2 and will most likely end up going 3-2. It's a good match between two great full-time superstars.