No one is really going to know what WWE and Vince McMahon were thinking as it pertains to Brock Lesnar's defeat of Roman Reigns on Sunday until, at the earliest, Monday. WrestleMania 34 ended in mysterious fashion when Lesnar — who is rumored to be ending his stay in WWE and heading to UFC — cut open Reigns with vicious strikes, delivered multiple F-5's and then figuratively F-5'ed the crowd by retaining the Universal Title. If you look at what was "supposed" to happen, it made little sense.
With the rumors Lesnar and Vince had a real-life blow-up after the match, the outcome seems even more confusing.
But, as much as fans in the WWE Universe like to think they know what "should" happen, us outsiders really don't know much. We have no idea what Lesnar's immediate plans are. We don't know if he and WWE have worked out a new deal or if he's got a few more dates to go. We don't know if this is a long-term plan or a last-minute audible and we don't know what's going to happen on Monday's Raw until Monday's Raw comes and goes. That said, we can speculate.
In an effort to try and predict why WWE chose to go this direction, we're taking a look at a few possibilities.
Lesnar Has a New Deal
As far as we know, Lesnar is going to the UFC. Dana White has publicly said he's been told by Lesnar that The Beast Incarnate intends to return, and while White doesn't know when, it sounds like a lock. But, that doesn't mean WWE and Lesnar didn't work out a deal to have him do both things at the same time.
The idea isn't unheard of. Lesnar fought Mark Hunt while still a part of WWE and while the drug-related suspensions and fines were not good for Lesnar and WWE's image, it was excellent publicity. If WWE wants to keep Lesnar as an option for the company and they know he's going to UFC, they could either let him leave or find a way to offer a deal that permits both. Rumors were that wasn't what they wanted but maybe they wanted him leaving even less.
If this isn't true, there is always the chance Lesnar used White and the UFC to leverage a new high-paying contract. He's done so before.
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Lesnar Has A Couple More Dates
There was some speculation that Sunday would be Lesnar's last appearance. Him retaining the title almost certainly guarantees it is not. The other speculation was that he had a couple dates left (part of the fine print of his deal) that meant WWE could keep him past WrestleMania to fulfill those dates.
If that's the case, WWE may intend to use the next pay-per-view, another big show, or even Monday's Raw to remove the title from Lesnar. It could be Reigns who wins it, it could be someone else who challenges or WWE could go with a complete swerve and have a returning star like Bobby Lashley win, effectively replacing one MMA guy with another.
Stranger things have happened. If you don't think WWE would do this, considering they just gave the Raw Tag Titles to a Monster Among Men and a 10-year-old kid.
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Reigns Is In the Doghouse
There haven't been reports of Roman Reigns being punished, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible or that WWE hasn't convinced themselves he's not the man to lead the company. Despite everyone's best efforts, Reigns cannot seem to get over with the WWE audience.
If we need evidence to back up this theory, consider that the match last night was unique but it wasn't terrible. More than that, the live crowd wouldn't give either competitor a chance to perform and that can't be blamed on Lesnar, Reigns, or WWE. Both were mercilessly booed, chants of "this is awful" rang through the arena and WWE looked like it threw a last-minute change of plans at the crowd to satisfy the masses.
Who knows what's really true here, but the entire segment felt out of place from the get-go. If WWE used this win by Lesnar to troll the WWE Universe, they succeeded.
At this point, all we know is that Lesnar will have to show up again to provide more of an explanation as to what went down on Sunday or he'll need to defend his title. From there, we can keep guessing what WWE has planned, but we'll still be only guessing.