WrestleMania 36: 5 replacements for Roman Reigns against Goldberg

2. Aleister Black

The first possible choice, and perhaps the dark horse of this group, would be Aleister Black. While he’s seen relatively inconsistent booking since arriving on the main roster, including a thrown together tag team with Ricochet and a string of seemingly neverending squash matches, Aleister Black is still an exception in-ring performer who maintains a certain mystique to him.

While his stories haven’t been progressed as best they could’ve been, he’s remained fairly protected and still seems just as much a threat as he did when the former NXT Champion departed the black and yellow brand. On top of that, his recent style of matches actually lends itself to this situation.

With only a few exceptions, Aleister Black has primarily been destroying lesser names or local talents with the Black Mass in quick fashion on RAW in recent months. He even defeated AJ Styles at Elimination Chamber, albeit under less than clean circumstances.

If Aleister Black were to challenge Goldberg and destroy him with a Black Mass in record time, it would instantly make him one of the most devastating stars in all of WWE. He could easily go on to be one of the most dominant Universal Champions we’ve seen, even more dominant than Brock Lesnar himself, and it could all be built on the foundation of that quick victory over Goldberg.

3. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan, in no uncertain terms, seems to check every needed box to fit into this situation. He’s a former WWE Champion with a proven track record. He’s been able to have amazing matches with the best and worst of opponents.

Perhaps most importantly, we already know he’s been at the WWE Performance Center and performed since they started doing these crowd-free events. Just last week on SmackDown, Bryan teamed with Drew Gulak to defeat Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro in tag team action.

The story also can make perfect sense. Bryan sought out the help of Gulak to erase holes in his game, no doubt the same holes that prevented him from defeating “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt back at the Royal Rumble.

If Bryan could topple Goldberg, who captured the title by defeating The Fiend, it would absolutely confirm that Gulak helped Bryan towards that moment and becoming a champion once again.