Why Did Roman Reigns Not Face Bray Wyatt A.K.A The Fiend at WrestleMania Despite Attacking Him at SummerSlam 2020?

It’s been just a couple of days since the WWE Universe was hit with the devastating news of Bray Wyatt’s tragic death. He passed away after suffering a major heart attack on 24 August. WWE ensured that the late superstar was given a fitting tribute on SmackDown the very next night by dedicating the entire show to him.

Fans got very emotional during the tribute. Many people on social media fondly remembered Wyatt’s in-ring career but a few others started debating about missed opportunities one in particular with Roman Reigns. It was against Wyatt’s Fiend persona that Reigns won the Universal Championship after entering a match between him and Braun Strowman. Fans never got to see Wyatt exact revenge for his title loss as Reigns and he remained on separate lines.

We look back at how Reigns and Wyatt crossed paths three years ago and what could’ve been had WWE given Wyatt the rematch for his Universal title. Many people believe a WrestleMania main event match between Reigns and Wyatt could have been fitting but why did WWE didn’t go ahead with that?

Roman Reigns took a hiatus from the WWE before WrestleMania 36

Let’s go back to the year 2020, Roman Reigns was about to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36. But later, Reigns pulled out of the event and took a hiatus owing to safety concerns surrounding the COVID pandemic.

That led to Braun Strowman replacing Reigns who beat Goldberg to win the title at WrestleMania 36. Post that Bray Wyatt aka The Fiend challenged Strowman for the title leading to a heated feud that went on all the way till SummerSlam.

Then at SummerSlam, The Fiend beat Strowman to become the new Universal champion. But immediately after the match, both the wrestlers were attacked by ‘The Tribal Chief’ who made his return to the WWE after a gap of almost 6 months.

Reigns’ strategic attack on the two wrestling heavyweights post their SummerSlam bout led to a feud that would eventually get settled at Payback 2020.

Roman Reigns became the new Universal champion at Payback while Bray Wyatt got drafted to RAW

Braun Strowman would eventually get a title shot against The Fiend at Payback. And while this was supposed to be a Triple-Threat match Reigns showed up late in the match signing the contract on the spot and getting himself involved in the match with the help of Paul Heyman.

Reigns eventually won the match by pinning Braun Strowman. Thus he became the new Universal champion and started his three-year-long championship reign that night.

Post the title loss The Fiend got into a feud with Kevin Owens and then was later drafted to RAW. Thus Wyatt never got a chance to continue his feud with Reigns for the Universal championship. This could be seen as a missed opportunity as there was a lot of history between the two from their SHIELD and Wyatt Family days when the factions feuded with each other. Eventually, Wyatt was released by WWE in 2021, before being brought back late last year.

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Wyatt’s only feud in his second run before his saddening demise came against LA Knight.

But do you guys think that Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt should have continued their title feud all the way up to WrestleMania 37?