At last November's Survivor Series: WarGames, WWE set the stage for Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns III at this April's WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas. The creative has since shifted, with the OTC 1 now taking aim at CM Punk's World Heavyweight Championship.
Rhodes, meanwhile, will likely face Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu in a Triple Threat match. Much has been said about frustrations within WWE due to plans continuously changing, and it seems there's now been a shakeup for Brock Lesnar, as well.
Despite teasing Lesnar vs. Oba Femi during the Men's Royal Rumble, Dave Meltzer is now reporting that WWE is planning to pit The Beast against the Megastar, LA Knight.
With an assist from Rhodes, he eliminated Lesnar from the 30-man match. If this is the intended plan for him at the Show of Shows, then we can likely expect it to be made clear when Lesnar returns to RAW on February 23.
"The Brock Lesnar direction for Raw is likely to be teased at the 2/23 Raw in Atlanta when he returns," Melter wrote in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter. "There was a tease at the Royal Rumble of Oba Femi and after the Rumble we were only told that it was not a sure thing yet."
"We do know that in the lineup in late January for the show, that Lesnar was listed as facing LA Knight. But in the Rumble, nothing memorable was done in that direction while the Lesnar-Femi face-off was set up to get a big reaction and actually got the biggest reaction of the show except for Brie Bella," he added.
Earlier this week, it was reported that WWE held an all-departments meeting to discuss low ticket sales for WrestleMania. As of late January, the company was pacing around 10,000 fewer tickets sold compared to WrestleMania 41 at this same point a year ago.
Melzter believes that's led to the entire card being reevaluated, and Allegiant Stadium has since revealed that they're now offering 25% off select tickets for the two-night Showcase of the Immortals.
WWE isn't as hot as it was this time last year, and a lot has happened since then to hurt the company's standing in the eyes of fans (John Cena's final year in WWE is one such example, but so too are the creative decisions made with many Superstars up and down the card).
Stay tuned for updates.