Brock Lesnar Must Not Lose at WrestleMania After Re-Signing with WWE

Ever since Roman Reigns triumphed in the Royal Rumble amid a cloud of fan discontent, the general feeling has been that he will eventually march on to WWE WrestleMania 31 and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

There are a number of reasons why that's the case. First of all, Reigns' push is clearly a severe one, with him continuing on the path he's on despite a wave of disapproval from plenty of WWE fans.

But perhaps more tellingly, the fact that Brock Lesnar's contract was up after WrestleMania seemed to give fans the biggest hint of all that Reigns would dethrone Lesnar.

However, the events of the last 24 hours have changed that dynamic completely, with Lesnar announcing on SportsCenter that he has re-signed with WWE. Therefore, it's now imperative that the WWE goes down the route of having Lesnar emerge as the victor this Sunday.

Although it would be a big setback for Reigns, defeat wouldn't be the end of his main event chance. There's every possibility that the WWE can take a step back with Reigns' character and opt for the slow build that has worked so well with other stars.

After all, it was only a year or so ago that Reigns was fast emerging as the dominant powerhouse of The Shield, playing a key role in their eventual babyface turn due to fan popularity. The modern WWE fan does not want a star forced into the main event scene; the fans want to see hard work pay off.

Reigns is still a supremely talented wrestler, and with the opportunity to work with some of the company's other big stars in the next few months, he can become a more well-rounded and credible candidate for a world title. Right now, with everything that has happened in terms of his reactions and his promo work, it just doesn't feel like the right time.

But more importantly, with Lesnar re-signed to the company, it's vital the WWE doesn't diminish the appeal and hype they have built up for him. The last 12 months have been so destructive and dominant, from his incredible victory against The Undertaker, to that astonishingly one-sided victory against John Cena at SummerSlam, right through to another impressive defense at the Royal Rumble this year.

Losing here would now make no sense with Lesnar contracted for multiple years, as Triple H noted, because it would make this dominant character build pretty pointless. As well as that, there's now the mouthwatering possibility of Lesnar defending against some other top stars, most notably Daniel Bryan.

And since we're on the topic of Bryan, with Lesnar still likely to make intermittent appearances through this new contract, there is an opportunity for Bryan and John Cena to add prestige to the WWE's midcard championships over the next few months.

With Lesnar still champion and on and off TV, the Intercontinental and United States Championships can become the cornerstone of WWE programming. We've seen the hype the WWE has invested in the IC title in the last few weeks, and that has really paid off. Having a part-time champion can work if the WWE trusts the remaining talent to promote its other championships.

There's even a notable milestone opening up that may interest those involved with the backstage politics in WWE, too. With Lesnar's reign starting to inch toward a full year, attention will drift toward CM Punk's iconic 434-day reign should he reach 12 months in possession of the belt.

If the WWE is keen to have someone overtake Punk's historic reign, then Lesnar would not be a bad choice. You could even foresee Lesnar winning, Seth Rollins attempting to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and Reigns and/or Paul Heyman preventing it from happening. Then we'd get the Lesnar vs. Rollins feud that never seemed to get given the airtime it deserved a few months ago.

All in all, with Lesnar now locked down by the WWE, there's only one way the company should look when determining the outcome of the main event, and that's Brock Lesnar retaining his championship.