Ever since Brock Lesnar made his return at SummerSlam 2021, he's been involved in a lengthy feud with Universal champion Roman Reigns. We're talking about a six-month build to their champion versus champion match at WrestleMania 38.
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Obviously in that period of time, WWE has had to move pieces here and there, sacrificing other superstars as if they were pawns, just for the benefit of the rivalry between the Tribal Chief and The Beast Incarnate. Vince McMahon focuses too much on this storyline, and consequently hurts several other feuds in the company. With that said, below are eight wrestlers WWE sacrificed for the Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar WrestleMania 38 feud.
8 Drew McIntyre
Obviously, the main wrestler sacrificed is Drew McIntyre, who is one of the top contenders to dethrone Roman Reigns, but has been in the mid-card in recent months. Fans have been waiting for a rematch between McIntyre and Reigns for a long time now, and it actually should have happened by now, but WWE keeps postponing it because of Brock Lesnar. McIntyre and Reigns were supposed to face each other at Royal Rumble 2022, but the former got injured, and the plans were canceled.
Drew McIntyre belongs in the main event picture and should be threatening Reigns' Universal Title reign. Instead, McIntyre has been in a lackluster feud with Madcap Moss and Happy Corbin.
7 Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins has also been hit hard by the feud between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Rollins was supposed to win the Fatal Four Way for the WWE Championship at Day 1, but the last-minute inclusion of Brock Lesnar changed all plans for Rollins.
Subsequently, Seth Rollins had a small feud with Roman Reigns, which led to them facing each other at Royal Rumble 2022. It was an epic match, and surely many would have been fascinated to see a rematch, but suddenly Rollins returned to Raw and forgot about the Universal Title, obviously to leave the way clear for Brock Lesnar.
6 Bobby Lashley
Bobby Lashley certainly benefited from the storyline between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, as the All-Mighty had a dream match against Brock Lesnar, and managed to defeat him to become WWE Champion for the second time in his career.
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However, from there Bobby was sacrificed, as he had an insignificant reign and had to drop the title without even being able to defend it properly. Unfortunately, right now it looks like Bobby Lashley will not be a part of WrestleMania 38.
5 Big E
Interestingly enough, Brock Lesnar has ended the reigns of every black World Champion in WWE, including Big E. WWE didn't even bother to protect Big E, as he was the one who was pinned on Day 1, to make Lesnar look even stronger.
After dropping the title, Big E was moved to SmackDown to reunite with his New Day friends and return to tag team action. It's a real shame the way Big E is being treated, and at this point it looks like he won't even get a match at WrestleMania 38.
4 Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens was one of the main candidates to have a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 38, but now there will only be one World Championship match at the Shows of Shows, and we all know who the protagonists are.
KO was certainly one of the wrestlers sacrificed. However, there is a silver lining for Owens, as there are rumors that he will face the legendary Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania. If that comes to fruition, then Kevin Owens will be very lucky guy.
3 Riddle
Riddle was initially scheduled to win the Royal Rumble match, but Vince McMahon changed the plans at the last minute and Brock Lesnar was the one who won the match and pointed to the WrestleMania sign. This was a controversial booking decision, as Lesnar didn't really need to win the Rumble, but that's a topic for another time.
Riddle would have been an ideal Royal Rumble winner, as he has the fan support, and it would have been an unpredictable outcome. Also, this could have led to Riddle becoming World Champion and even having a feud with his bro, Randy Orton.
2 Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn won a Battle Royal and earned a Universal Championship shot. Frankly that match between Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns would have been interesting, but it all turned out to be part of the Reigns versus Lesnar feud.
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On the December 3, 2021, episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Brock Lesnar destroyed Sami Zayn right before his match against The Tribal Chief, who obviously seized the moment and defeated Zayn without breaking a sweat. Sami Zayn was misused just to further develop the storyline between Reigns and Lesnar.
1 'The Demon' Finn Balor
The supernatural entity that takes over Finn Balor, The Demon, is an unstoppable force, capable of destroying any opponent. In fact, The Demon had only lost one match, against Samoa Joe in 2016.
It took five years for The Demon to be defeated again, as you surely remember Roman Reigns defeating him at Extreme Rules 2021. Obviously, The Tribal Chief has enough credibility to defeat 'The Demon' Finn Balor, but it still felt like Balor had to sacrifice himself to elevate Reigns in order to his match against Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel, despite WWE trying to protect him with that odd rope-breaking finish.
