A former Intercontinental Champion was initially considered to win the 2026 men’s Royal Rumble match, before the creative team focused on Roman Reigns.
Eleven years after winning his first Royal Rumble match, Reigns finally defeated Gunther to win the crown for the second time. Leading up to the event, Triple H (Paul Levesque) and WWE creative strongly considered going in a surprising direction.
Netflix released the third season WWE: Unreal On Tuesday. One of the episodes included an interesting behind-the-scenes discussion of Braun Breaker potentially winning the men’s Royal Rumble match.
Triple H, who runs the creative team, was concerned that Breaker’s victory would be a matter of “pushing it down” the fans’ throats.
“Risk is everything with Braun Breaker, can he really do it? Can he mentally handle it? Will the fans accept it?” Triple H commented. “You have to be really confident.”
Braun Breaker was originally planned to win the Royal Rumble, but WWE creative ultimately changed course amid concerns that the push would backfire.
“Pushing it down the fans’ throats” pic.twitter.com/ZWr6J9Cm1W– Fade (@FadeAwayMedia) 21 July 2026
Reigns defeated CM Punk to win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42.
Braun Breaker missed WrestleMania 42 due to injury
(Photo by Andrew Timms/WWE via Getty Images)
Breaker was set to face Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 42, but unfortunately Breaker suffered a hernia injury during the February 2 episode. Raw. Breaker returned at WrestleMania to help Gunther defeat Rollins in their singles match.
Rollins and Breaker resumed their feud after WrestleMania, with Rollins and Breaker winning the final match at Night of Champions 2026. On the July 6 episode, Breaker and Austin Theory eliminated the Street Profits to regain the World Tag Team Championship belts. Raw.
