Paul Heyman Talks Booking WWE WrestleMania 43, Teases Cody Rhodes Vs. Roman Reigns 3

Throughout his career, WWE Manager and former promoter Paul Heyman has been vocal about planning ahead when it comes to booking and writing storylines in the wrestling business. Whether it be prioritizing long-term character development or brainstorming the biggest match that a company could produce a year in advance, Heyman believes in having a conclusion to a story to build towards, and during a recent appearance on "Insight" with Chris Van Vliet, he admitted that he's already started to think about WrestleMania 43 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"My latest obsession has been let's book out Saudi Mania. Let's get that done," he stated. "Let's start there. We'll change it every week if we have to. We'll change it every time we meet. But let's get something that we're building towards. Let's write the last page now and then let's build towards it. I would love to know what we're doing the year after Saudi WrestleMania. I'd love to have a concept for that ... Because if we know that and we have a concept for that, then it makes Saudi Mania really easy."

So far, one idea that's appealed to Heyman for next year's WrestleMania is a trilogy match between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, especially since both men have a win over each other at "The Show of Shows." That said, Heyman also considered other destinations for the match, as well as what the character dynamics could look like for Reigns and Rhodes in a third battle together.

"If they both retain the titles all the way to Crown Jewel. We get the trilogy at Crown Jewel. What an enormous main event ... Let's say we don't want to do that at Wrestlemania 43. Let's say we want to make them wait another year. What will be Wrestlemania 44? Will that be the 'Tribal Chief' Roman Reigns against 'The American Nightmare' Cody Rhodes? Will that be a return to villainous 'Tribal Chief,' head of a new bloodline Roman Reigns against the hopeful, come from behind, against all odds virtuous 'American Nightmare' Cody Rhodes? Will that be the first WrestleMania of a villainous Cody Rhodes against my righteous 'Tribal Chief' Roman Reigns? What would that look like?"

Following last year's Survivor Series, it seemed like WWE was going to pull the trigger on the trilogy at WrestleMania 42, with Reigns and Rhodes teasing the match at the end of the show. With Rhodes already holding the Undisputed WWE Title, it was assumed that Reigns would win the Royal Rumble and challenge "The American Nightmare" for the third time at WrestleMania. Reigns did win the Royal Rumble this year, but plans seemed to change on the road to WrestleMania, with the "OTC" facing CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Title, and Rhodes defending his championship against Randy Orton instead.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.