Backstage Notes on Late Changes for WWE Day 1

– Fightful Select has a report on all the backstage and internal changes for last night’s WWE Day 1 event. As previously noted, Roman Reigns announced his COVID-19 diagnosis and withdrawal from the card yesterday, scrapping his scheduled Universal title match with Brock Lesnar at the last minute. This led to Brock Lesnar being added to the WWE Championship match shortly before the show started.

The talent roster reportedly knew about the changes to the card at approximately 5:00 pm EST. About an hour later, WWE confirmed the news that Reigns had tested positive for COVID-19, and the main event was subsequently changed to have Lesnar involved.

Due to the scrambling and late changes, a number of match times were adjusted, new segments were added, and new video packages were made to assist the card losing the Universal Championship match. The roster was reportedly informed in the mid-afternoon that the WWE Championship match was changing to a 5-way bout. However, the wrestlers were not told about the original plans for the winner before that time.

Sources for the report stated they believed Big E was originally scheduled to win the WWE Championship match. However, that report noted that is not yet confirmed.

Most of the matches before the main event during the TV broadcast, including ring entrances, are said to have lined up with the times they were allotted for backstage. The main event was reportedly slated to run for 30 minutes. The revised WWE Championship match went nowhere near that length and ran just over eight minutes. The segments and times were reportedly set around the time Brock Lesnar was added to the internal listings. It’s unknown why the main event time was adjusted.

Additionally, WWE said to have internally listed Brock Lesnar as a SmackDown wrestler last night. This is despite Lesnar being mentioned onscreen that he is a free agent. That was the case during the latest WWE Draft as well. Also, the WWE Championship is currently a Raw-branded title.

With regards to the changes, behind-the-scenes sources felt that Big E did not receive consistent booking as WWE Champion. Multiple people who are involved are said to have gone “above and beyond” the call of duty to try and make sense of things happening onscreen to the best of their abilities.

You can read 411’s full recap and review of WWE Day 1 RIGHT HERE.