Louis Dangoor of WrestleTalk.com noted the following regarding Braun Strowman winning the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 36:
“Our sources have told us that reason WWE opted to have Braun win the title on Saturday night is because Goldberg’s final WWE appearance and match of 2020 was set to be at Wrestlemania, and the Hall of Famer had no intention of adding more dates to his current deal.”
Dangoor wrote that the original plan was for Goldberg to put over Roman Reigns. Once Reigns pulled out of the match, Jeff Hardy was reportedly considered as the replacement but the company ultimately went with Strowman.
In regards to internet speculation that there’s backstage heat on Reigns for pulling out of the match, Dangoor noted that Vince McMahon and other officials were “very accepting” of Reigns’ decision.
