More Backstage Details on When Roman Reigns Decided to Remove Himself From WrestleMania 36

— The story with Roman Reigns pulling out of WrestleMania 36 is that he showed up to Orlando to shoot the contract signing angle and was fully expecting to wrestle Goldberg for the Universal title at WrestleMania. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that while “details are sketchy”, what appeared to happen is that The Miz showed up to the tapings sick and ended up being flagged and pulled from any future events. The Usos – who were to face Miz and Morrison – then spoke to Reigns about the situation and whether they talked him into not wrestling or he made the call himself after their conversations, he ultimately pulled himself off the PPV.

— The company as of press time has yet to announce the change for the title match and it sounds like they will do it tonight on Smackdown – the day before WrestleMania is set to begin airing. As a result, for much of this week, Reigns has been taking heat for skipping the event even though internally, it is certainly not going to be held against him. Reigns ended up being more upset at this criticism rather than the lack of an early announcement or a company statement explaining his absence.