12 Biggest "What If" Scenarios In WWE WrestleMania History

It’s hard to fathom, but the global pandemic might have inadvertently and indirectly led to the creation of arguably the biggest ongoing storyline in WWE: the Bloodline.

Let’s back up: Heading into WrestleMania 36, Roman Reigns was programmed to face Goldberg for the Universal Championship. However, the pandemic led Reigns, who had just returned to WWE the previous year after battling leukemia, to step away from the company and pull out of Mania. Braun Strowman would take his place and win the title from Goldberg.

Reigns would return at SummerSlam five months later, aligning with Paul Heyman and turning heel. He would win the Universal Championship the following week at Payback, kicking off a 1,316-day reign and giving rise to the Tribal Chief character.

However, had Roman not left WWE prior to WrestleMania 36, none of that might have happened. He almost certainly would have defeated Goldberg for the title as a babyface and then gone on to defend it against the likes of Strowman and Bray Wyatt. He would have continued to be a weekly presence, making it difficult for a shock heel turn as it unfolded in the “prime universe.”

It’s possible that WWE might have booked a Reigns/Heyman partnership even if Roman never took a hiatus, but his five months away and shock-and-awe return provided the hard reset his character really needed, which allowed the heel persona an opportunity to succeed. An ever-present Reigns might never have turned heel in that manner, and the Bloodline might not have become a thing, as WWE was booking on a week-by-week basis during the pandemic.

Rightly curse the pandemic all you want, but it’s entirely possible that it helped birth the Tribal Chief and the Bloodline saga WWE fans still soak up nearly five years later.