Big E has revealed the original plans for his WWE title reign.
The former New Day star won his first and only WWE title by cashing in his Money In The Bank contract on Bobby Lashley during the September 13, 2021 episode of Raw. He held the title for 110 days before Brock Lesnar took the belt off him at the Day 1 PPV on January 1, 2022.
While speaking to Sam Roberts for a new interview promoting his upcoming book, the WWE star explained the original plans for the end of his title reign. Bie E revealed that Seth Rollins was actually the one who was supposed to defeat him at Day 1, leading to a WrestleMania rematch between the two:
The plan was, what we were moving towards initially, was it was supposed to be me and Seth in a singles match at Day 1. I was going to drop the title anyway. So I was supposed to drop the title to Seth. We come back in at WrestleMania, we do it again, and I regain the title.
My Career Is Over: Big E
The Day 1 PPV saw the former WWE Champion defending his title against Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, and Kevin Owens. The Beast Incarnate ended up pinning Big E clean to take the title off him in this main event, which was a huge surprise as Lesnar had only been added to the bout at the last minute after his original opponent Roman Reigns tested positive for COVID.
The 40-year-old gave us an inside look at the chaos of the WWE title scene under Vince McMahon’s creative team as he explained how his singles match morphed into a fatal five-way:
We had a lot of lead time before Day 1 on January 1st. So creative, the office, was like, ‘Okay, well, we need a filler program.’ So then KO [Kevin Owens] got added. Then it became a three-way thing for a little bit. Then Bobby needed something to do. Vince loves Bobby. So Bobby’s inserted. So it was supposed to be a four-way at Day 1.
Then Roman is sick, now Brock’s in. So this match that was supposed to be a singles, where I dropped the title at Day 1 and regained it at WrestleMania, doesn’t even look anything close to that anymore. And by the time we get to WrestleMania, my neck is broken. My career is over.
Big E was moved back to SmackDown after his WWE title loss, where he reunited with Kofi Kingston. He ended up suffering the neck injury that ended his career only a couple months later, during the March 11, 2022 episode of the Blue Branded Show.