WWE Rumors on Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk and The Rock's Impact on WrestleMania 41

Given the uncertainty of The Rock's status for WrestleMania, WWE has an alternative plan in place for Roman Reigns on the biggest show of the year.

Per Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), WWE has "adjusted" WrestleMania plans for the possibility of a Reigns vs. CM Punk match on the show:

"We'd heard a number of weeks ago that this wasn't particularly the plan, but had been adjusted of late. We're told that CM Punk had also hoped for the match. ... We're told that this is a drastically different direction than what had been planned for both talent even a couple of months ago, none of which involved the Rock. It was noted to us that if The Rock informs WWE of involvement in WrestleMania, much of the card could change, including this."

WWE is "keeping its options open" in the event The Rock's schedule lines up for him to take part in the show. There have been reports for some time that the Great One is not currently planning to be involved at WrestleMania.

There have been hints that WWE could be building toward a Reigns-Punk match at some point. They were on the same side in the main event at Survivor Series: WarGames, with their team beating the Bloodline when all five members of their squad hit Solo Sikoa with their finishing moves. Reigns pinned Sikoa to get the win for his team.

Despite being teammates in the match, there was some dissension early when Reigns prevented Punk from entering and ordering Sami Zayn to go in. They did come to a mutual respect at the end of the bout by shaking hands.

Paul Heyman would figure to be a huge part of any feud between Punk and Reigns. CM Punk has said he only took part in the WarGames match as a favor to Heyman, who now owes him a "favor."

Rock's entire situation is odd right now. He made a random cameo at the end of Bad Blood following Reigns and Cody Rhodes defeating Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, but there has been no follow-up to that at all thus far.

Prior to that, Rock's last appearance on television was the Raw after WrestleMania when he teased a match with Rhodes. The Bloodline angle makes sense for him to challenge Reigns at some point, but the entire timeline has been jumbled along the way.

If Rock were to take part in WrestleMania, it wouldn't be a surprise if Punk were swapped into a title match against either Rhodes or Gunter. Rhodes would be the bigger match of the two, but Gunther would be elevated into a more prominent position by working with Punk on the marquee show of the year.

All of these questions could start to get answered when Raw debuts on Netflix on Jan. 6. Reigns is wrestling Sikoa for the Ula Fala in a Tribal Combat match. If The Rock interferes in that bout, it could be a strong indication he will be at WrestleMania.

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