Backstage Report On Internal WWE Reaction To Royal Rumble, WrestleMania Spoilers

Living in the age of social media means that things are inevitably going to be spoiled, ruined, or leaked in some capacity, and that's possibly what happened with WWE's plans for the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. It was recently reported by "Sports Illustrated" that WWE's Rumble plans had Intercontinental Champion Gunther winning the men's match, then choosing Seth Rollins as his preferred opponent for WrestleMania. The report also stated that Cody Rhodes, the man many fans want to see 'finish his story,' would not be around the title picture or main event of WrestleMania, leaving his story unfinished.

This was apparently news to people within WWE, according to a new report by Fightful Select. As of last weekend, the active plan for Seth Rollins at WrestleMania was for him to face CM Punk, that is if he is healthy enough, given that he recently announced he tore his MCL and meniscus in a match against Jinder Mahal. As for the recent face-off between Rhodes and Punk on "WWE Raw," a segment that led to much speculation this signaled a new plan for the two men at WrestleMania, it was designed to set up a future match between them. However, it's a match that can be executed at any time. Rhodes' plans for WrestleMania were not confirmed by the WWE source Fightful spoke to.

As for plans regarding Gunther, Fightful reported that WWE were very high on "The Ring General," and see big things for him in the future, but were left confused and befuddled by the reports that he was going to face Rollins at WrestleMania. WWE sources are still fond of Sports Illustrated as a publication, as well as author of the report Justin Barrasso, but admitted they were confused by multiple elements of the story. Fightful also noted that the planned creative could well be altered due to the Sports Illustrated report, presuming it had been true. For what it's worth, Barrasso has since walked his reporting back.