WWE Rumor Review: Last-minute change due to Roman Reigns, plans for released star's return, reason for Edge's absence after WrestleMania

#1. Original plans for the main event of WWE WrestleMania Backlash

WrestleMania Backlash saw Roman Reigns retain his WWE Universal Championship against Cesaro. The match was excellent and the main evented the show. However, that may not have been the original plan.

Dave Meltzer reported that the WWE Championship match between Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, and Braun Strowman was originally set to main event WrestleMania Backlash. However, a last-minute decision caused Reigns' title defense to headline the event instead:

"The original idea was for the three-way for the Raw title to be the main event. The three-way RAW women’s title match wasn’t scheduled to open either. There was a push on the day of the show with the idea that Reigns is the only franchise player on the roster, and as such, he should either go first or last."

This report is likely correct as Roman Reigns has main evented every single pay-per-view he's been on since then. The Tribal Chief is the biggest star in the company, which makes sense that he should either open or headline every show he is a part of.

Furthermore, Reigns vs. Cesaro was an inspired choice to main event WrestleMania Backlash, as no other match would have been able to follow their classic. Bobby Lashley and the WWE title did headline the two events the Universal Champion has missed since then: Hell in a Cell and Day 1.