There Could Possibly Be a Major Twist in the Universal Championship Match at WrestleMania 36

Since his return, Bray Wyatt has been an unstoppable force on both the Raw and SmackDown brands. After spending much of his main roster tenure going from hot to cold, even feuding with major names such as The Undertaker, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Kane, and Dean Ambrose, Wyatt was unable to retain a spot on the top of the card.

However, WWE still had enough interest in Wyatt, which resulted in a complete character transformation and the debut of The Fiend. Eight months after his previous match, Wyatt returned in the ring as The Fiend, following weeks of Firefly Funhouse vignettes which led to an attack on Finn Balor. It took less than 3.5 minutes for The Fiend to defeat Balor, leaving a mysterious but frightening impression to much of the crowd.

Just two months later, during a feud with Seth Rollins, Wyatt defeated Rollins at the Crown Jewel event to win the Universal Championship for the first time. Since then, Wyatt has mainly been in a feud with Daniel Bryan, with their most recent match being The Fiend defeating Bryan at Royal Rumble.

During last week’s episode of SmackDown, Goldberg challenged Wyatt for the Universal Championship at the Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia. While the current plan is for The Fiend to compete against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36, Dave Meltzer addressed a possible wrench that could be thrown in those plans in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“…when it became apparent Goldberg was facing Wyatt, it also became clear that there would be more interest in Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania for the title than Wyatt in the spot, even though Wyatt has been pushed in his Fiend character as an unbeatable monster. The plan originally was still Wyatt vs. Reigns and Goldberg was only scheduled for Saudi Arabia. But his return to television showed he still had a level of ratings juice, at least at first, that nobody else on the roster has.”

A match of Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns would certainly be a bigger marquee WrestleMania match than The Fiend vs. Reigns. If Daniel Bryan does decide to attend this Saudi Arabia event, he could cost The Fiend the Universal Championship. During an interview I had with Goldberg on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, Goldberg stated that The Undertaker and Roman Reigns are two people he was interested in competing against following his last run. He competed against The Undertaker at last year’s Super ShowDown, and Reigns is left on his wish list.

If Goldberg vs. Reigns does occur, this would set up three blockbuster matches at WrestleMania 36 — Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre, and Daniel Bryan vs. The Fiend.