Internal WrestleMania 42 plans saw a major creative shift, reportedly stemming from Roman Reigns’ career decision to delay his pivot to Hollywood and reclaim his spot atop the WWE. This change in The Tribal Chief’s career trajectory had significant ripple effects, most notably derailing a major storyline intended for Sami Zayn.
According to Self Made Pro, the internal, long-term plan for Sami was to have him win the 2026 Men’s Royal Rumble Match in Saudi Arabia. This victory was designed to propel him into a World Heavyweight Championship feud with Seth Rollins, culminating in a title match at WrestleMania 42. This story would have been the full payoff to Zayn’s rivalry with The Vision.
However, sources indicate that everything changed once Reigns expressed his desire to return to the championship picture. With Roman being WWE’s #1 draw – his storylines take priority. Due to this, the entire roadmap involving Sami and the World Heavyweight Title was reportedly abandoned.
The immediate consequence of this decision was seen in Zayn’s abrupt shift in brand affiliation. Despite building a long-term storyline on RAW opposite The Vision, Zayn was suddenly moved to SmackDown.
His storyline was re-calibrated there, resulting in a short-lived run as the United States Champion, which he won from Solo Sikoa and subsequently lost to Ilja Dragunov.
Roman was then scheduled to face Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42, but Rollins got hurt. Reigns is now focusing on his trilogy with Cody Rhodes.
As we noted in our previous article, word going on is that The OTC will win the Royal Rumble next year and face The American Nightmare for the Undisputed WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 42 – Night 2.
Earlier this year, Roman Reigns said in an interview that he has a couple of years left as an in-ring performer. He turned 40 in May.
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