WWE Rumors on Brock Lesnar-Backlash, Alexa Bliss’ Return, Recent Name Changes

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

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Lesnar Reportedly Not Booked for WrestleMania Backlash

Brock Lesnar reportedly won't be at the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view next month despite previously being advertised to appear.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), WWE never had plans for Lesnar to wrestle at WrestleMania Backlash, and he was never booked for the show in any capacity.

Lesnar last appeared on WWE programming in the main event of WrestleMania 38, which saw him lose to Roman Reigns in a WWE Championship vs. Universal Championship title unification match.

After nearly making Reigns tap out and then attempting to hit him with an F-5, Lesnar got caught with a spear out of nowhere and was subsequently pinned.

During the build toward WrestleMania, Lesnar had turned babyface and was doing some of the best work of his career in that role.

Clad in a cowboy get-up, Lesnar was cutting entertaining promos and receiving big reactions from the WWE Universe for weeks on end.

The challenge now for WWE is determining how and when to bring Lesnar back in the fold, as that will play a role in whether the momentum he had gained can be maintained.

Going after Reigns when he returns would make sense, but if the plan is to keep both titles on Reigns moving forward, Lesnar would have to lose again, which would be far from ideal.

Because of that, WWE may be hard at work figuring out a new opponent who would make sense for Lesnar to feud with when he ultimately does re-enter the fold.

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Bliss to Be Positioned as Babyface Upon Returning

WWE is reportedly planning to position Alexa Bliss as a fan favorite when she returns to television.

According to Meltzer (h/t Mukherjee), WWE will present Bliss as a babyface when she comes back, although it remains to be seen when that will happen.

Bliss has been off WWE programming since February when she made it to the final two of the Elimination Chamber match to determine the No. 1 contender for the Raw Women's Championship before getting eliminated by Bianca Belair.

Alexa was not part of the WrestleMania card, leading fans to wonder why she wasn't part of the plans during the most important time of the year on the WWE calendar.

It turns out that Bliss' impending nuptials may have had something to do with it, as she and musician Ryan Cabrera got married last week, just days after WrestleMania.

Before competing at Elimination Chamber, Bliss hadn't had a match since September of last year when she lost to Charlotte Flair at Extreme Rules.

In the weeks prior to Elimination Chamber, WWE aired vignettes in which Bliss was talking to a therapist in an effort to free her from the bond to her evil doll, Lilly.

It didn't seem as though much was accomplished in the vignettes, but that didn't matter to fans, as she received a hugely positive reaction at Elimination Chamber.

Bliss has consistently been among WWE's most successful and popular Superstars over the past several years, so cementing her as a babyface would make plenty of sense from WWE's perspective.

Reason for Recent WWE Name Changes

WWE chairman Vince McMahon is reportedly behind the decision to change the names of several Superstars in recent weeks.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestlingInc's Marc Middleton), WWE recently sent a memo to the roster that included a "decree" from McMahon, stating that the company doesn't want its wrestlers using their real names or names they used previously on the independent scene.

If that is indeed the case, the most obvious examples of that being put into action are changing WALTER to Gunther and Pete Dunne to Butch.

Other recent changes include Raquel Gonzalez to Raquel Rodriguez, Marcel Barthel to Ludwig Kaiser, Raul Mendoza to Cruz Del Toro and Austin Theory to just Theory.

WWE owned all of those names, and Raquel was permitted to keep her real first name, but Theory, whose real name is Austin White, had to drop the Austin.

It was noted that there are some obvious exceptions to the rule, including Cody Rhodes, who recently returned after six years away from the company, and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson.

Many of the name changes corresponded with a Superstar getting called up from NXT to the main roster, as WWE typically chooses to present people differently on Raw and SmackDown.

Regardless of the rationale, it has been difficult to keep up with all of the changes over the past couple of weeks, and it stands to reason that there could be more on the way as call-ups continue.

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