UPDATE: According to the WON, original plans for SummerSlam had AJ Styles set to win the new WWE Universal Title as a SmackDown championship. Raw was originally going to get the WWE Championship and SmackDown would have had the Universal Title with Styles becoming the inaugural champion.
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins would have been the WWE Championship match, and Reigns’ Wellness violation was what caused the change as WWE wanted to punish him by pushing him lower on the card.
Other changes for the show included Finn Balor originally being set to face Chris Jericho and a planned Baron Corbin vs. Kalisto match being dropped due to there already being so many matches on the show.
ORIGINAL: There was a meeting backstage about an hour or two before the Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton match at SummerSlam to talk about the finish. Triple H, Mark Carrano, Lesnar and Paul Heyman are said to have been at the meeting. There’s no word yet on whether Orton was there, but it would make sense.
The finish, which saw Lesnar assault Orton and leave him down in the ring, was heavily debated, discussed and negotiated before the match.
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