WWE Rumors: Reigns vs. Lesnar Plans; Rollins vs. Shane McMahon; Randy Orton's Absence

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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Lesnar vs. Reigns Reportedly Won't Be Title vs. Title

Despite WWE teasing a potential champion vs. champion match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38, that reportedly isn't the plan.

According to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), sources have told him "multiple times" that there won't be two titles on the line when Lesnar and Reigns meet on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

When both Lesnar and Reigns were world champions leading up to the Royal Rumble, they had an interaction on SmackDown during which Brock said he wanted to have a title vs. title match against The Tribal Chief.

A wrench was thrown into that scenario at the Rumble when Lesnar dropped the WWE Championship to Bobby Lashley because of interference from Reigns.

Meanwhile, Reigns retained the Universal Championship in a disqualification loss to Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble.

On Monday's episode of Raw, Lesnar confronted Lashley and challenged him to a rematch, but Lashley declined. Instead, WWE official Adam Pearce granted Lesnar entry into the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia.

If Lesnar wins at Elimination Chamber, he will be the new WWE champion and will get to challenge Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania, as he earned a WrestleMania title match by winning the Royal Rumble.

It seems likely that Reigns will have to interfere again in order for Lesnar to lose, but that is undoubtedly possible given how heated the feud between them has been.

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WWE Reportedly Reverses Course on Rollins vs. Shane at WrestleMania

WWE has reportedly gone back on plans for a match between Seth Rollins and Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 38.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), original plans called for McMahon to be in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match, which is where his feud with Rollins would have begun.

Meltzer later confirmed a Ringside News report that McMahon is now "out" of WWE.

McMahon had been gone since losing to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania last year, but he returned as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match Saturday.

Shane-O-Mac had an impressive showing, and the assumption was that he would be back with WWE for the road to WrestleMania.

McMahon did not appear on Monday's Raw, however, and there are now questions regarding whether he will be utilized moving forward.

Meltzer (h/t Jeffrey Harris of 411Mania.com) also reported that McMahon was one of the producers for the men's Royal Rumble match and "rubbed some people the wrong way evidently."

It is unclear if rumors that people had issues with Shane's booking played a role in his being left off Raw and out of the Elimination Chamber match.

McMahon is the son of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, so it's a big surprise that he is reportedly no longer with the company.

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Orton Reportedly Scheduled to Miss Some Time

Randy Orton reportedly won't be on WWE programming for some time after missing Monday's Raw.

According to Alvarez (h/t Jenkins), a source said Orton would be gone "for a little while," although no reason for his absence was given.

Orton was an entrant in the men's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in his hometown of St. Louis on Saturday, but he wasn't on Raw two nights later even though his RK-Bro tag team partner, Riddle, had a prominent role on the show.

As part of the academic challenge between RK-Bro and Alpha Academy, Riddle competed in a scooter race with Chad Gable. The race was won by Gable after Otis attacked Riddle.

Riddle and Otis had a match afterward, and Pearce turned it into a qualifying match for the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match.

The Original Bro was victorious, which may have been done by WWE with the knowledge that Orton won't be on television for the next couple of weeks leading up to Elimination Chamber.

Orton typically takes time off at various points in the year given his status as a respected veteran, so it isn't uncommon for him to miss a few weeks at a time.

While it is an inconvenient time for him to be out considering WWE is on the road to WrestleMania, the big event isn't happening for another two months.

RK-Bro figures to be a big part of the show, and as long as Orton is back in the near future, they should have an important spot on the card.

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