According to Sports Illustrated's Dave Meltzer, the initial scripted plan for Day 1 was for Big E to hand over the title to Rollins.
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Seth Rollins was reportedly set to capture the WWE Championship on Day 1 of the event. Brock Lesnar won the WWE Title by defeating Seth Rollins, former champion Big E, Bobby Lashley, and Kevin Owens in the Fatal 5 Way main event at the inaugural WWE Day 1 pay-per-view. After his original opponent, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, tested positive for COVID-19, Lesnar was brought to the bout.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Dave Meltzer, the initial scripted plan for Day 1 was for Big E to hand over the WWE Championship to Rollins, who had tested positive for COVID-19 the week before Day 1 but was cleared in time for the pay-per-view.
Before Lesnar was introduced to the event, a WWE On FOX erased graphic showed that Big E was set to retain the WWE Championship on Day 1. It’s possible that WWE cancelled Rollins’ title win after he tested positive for COVID-19 as a precautionary measure, or that the deleted WWE On FOX Twitter account had no bearing on the match outcome.
There’s no indication on what WWE had planned for Rollins as WWE Champion or why the scripted plan was altered. Lesnar will now defend his championship at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 29 in St. Louis against new #1 contender Lashley. Lesnar has been confirmed for RAW next Monday, but he’ll also be on SmackDown this week to resume his battle with Reigns. Reigns vs. Lesnar is still expected to headline WrestleMania 38, but the route they’ll take has changed.
Newly crowned WWE Champion Brock Lesnar has his first opponent set for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. And it is a match that, for a long time, many have wanted to see.
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The ‘Beast Incarnate’ will take on Bobby Lashley at the January PPV. This came about after Lashley won a fatal four-way match on the latest episode of WWE Raw on January 4.
The match was originally set to take place at the Day 1 PPV on January 1. However, at the last minute, Lesnar was added to the match to make it a five-way match.
This happened because Lesnar’s original opponent for the event, Roman Reigns, tested positive for COVID-19. The two were set for a Universal championship match but that needed to be changed at the last minute.
As a result, Lesnar won the title from Big E and will now face Lashley as his first opponent.
