News regarding the creative decision to have Roman Reigns defeat CM Punk at WWE WrestleMania 42

As seen during WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday, Roman Reigns defeated CM Punk to become the new world heavyweight champion. Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com noted the following about the creative decision…

“Reigns was always to come out as champion since long-term plans have been made for him in that position, which included a title feud with Gunther. It was possible and apparently talked about that Punk could beat Reigns and then lose the title at Backlash, so they’d be ‘even’ when it was over but Reigns would end up as champion, as a way to protect Punk’s position.”

Meltzer gave the Reigns vs. Punk match a five-star rating.

Meltzer also noted that when Pat McAfee reportedly opted out of post-WrestleMania storylines, the decision was made to tease Punk vs. Cody Rhodes. However, a potential SummerSlam encounter between them has not been confirmed.