WrestleMania 36 is in for a change as Roman Reigns will not perform to mitigate his risk of exposure to COVID-19, but who should replace him?
Breaking news hit this evening as Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting Roman Reigns is out of WrestleMania 36.
It now looks like one of the potential main events for either night of WrestleMania 36 will look entirely different. Who could be in line to replace Roman Reigns against Goldberg with the Universal Championship on the line?
1. Absolutely no one
Let’s be clear here, WrestleMania 36 probably shouldn’t be happening. Despite the reported precautions WWE is taking, including preventing anyone who has been out of the country or in contact with someone who has been out of the country from entering the facility where the event will be taped, the risk is still high enough that they shouldn’t move forward.
Postponing WrestleMania 36 would obviously cause issues with WWE’s creative plans and current programming, but we’re in the midst of a global pandemic that is affecting every single industry and aspect of this planet. On top of that, isolating people from other countries seems a relatively useless precaution considering the United States now has more confirmed cases than any other nation, including China.
The safe call for WWE, their talent, their crew, and everyone involved would be to indefinitely postpone WrestleMania 36 and all shows until the situation is safer and more under control. Roman Reigns made a tough call, but ultimately the right one, by choosing not to compete. Hopefully, he’ll be back in the mix once things are safe for him to return.
The reality is that there’s no way Vince McMahon or WWE would actually cancel the show unless their hand was forced. As a result, we can probably count on WrestleMania 36 continuing to go on, and someone will surely replace Roman Reigns against Goldberg with the Universal Championship on the line, and ideally, the replacement will defeat 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.
4. Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston has been with WWE for over a decade, and one of the highlights of 2019 was certainly seeing him finally capture the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35. If you go back to that story, it was a situation that wasn’t initially intended for Kingston.
In reality, Kingston replaced Mustafa Ali in the 2019 Elimination Chamber because Ali was unable to compete. After years of scratching and clawing, continuing to do the work, Kingston finally got an opportunity by being the man the company could always rely on.
Once he had that opportunity, the crowd latched on and WWE had no choice but to crown him at WrestleMania 35. This situation could be very similar. Kingston is still someone the company can always depend on.
After spending months struggling following his devastatingly quick loss of the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar, rebounding by taking another unintended opportunity to defeat Goldberg for the Universal Championship would be undeniable poetic justice.
5. Matt Riddle
While every single option here seems like a great choice, none would fit quite as perfectly as Matt Riddle. Again, similar to Bryan, we know Riddle is in Orlando and available as he competed on yesterday’s episode of NXT.
On top of that, Riddle has an extensive history with Goldberg. The two reportedly have real life beef, and Riddle hasn’t been shy about criticizing Goldberg online. Now could be the perfect moment, especially since Goldberg only has so many matches left in him.
Matt Riddle has also expressed interest in retiring Brock Lesnar, and what better way to chart the path towards that than by making his main roster debut by destroying Goldberg in record time and capturing the Universal Championship?
There’s also precedent for Riddle to get a spontaneous victory. Back at NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2018, he took out veteran Kassius Ohno in only six seconds. While we wouldn’t get an immediate crowd reaction, the internet might literally explode if Riddle destroyed and embarrassed Goldberg in the same fashion at WrestleMania 36.