WWE has published the full bracket for the eight-man tournament that will decide Roman Reigns’ next World Heavyweight Championship challenger, and the field is made up entirely of luchadores from Raw, SmackDown and AAA.
The winner earns a title shot against Reigns on the September 14 episode of Raw at Arena Ciudad de México, the first time the show has broadcast live from Mexico City in more than 15 years.
The first round breaks down as follows:
- August 10, Raw: Penta vs. Laredo Kid
- August 15, AAA: Psycho Clown vs. La Parka
- August 17, Raw: Dragon Lee vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
- August 17, Raw: Rey Fenix vs. El Fiscal
Penta against Laredo Kid opens the tournament Monday at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. AAA hosts Psycho Clown against La Parka five days later in Torreón, before the last two first-round matches run on Raw from Buffalo, New York.
Penta And Rey Fenix Land On Opposite Sides
The seeding is where this gets interesting. Penta and Laredo Kid feed into the Psycho Clown and La Parka winner on one half, while Dragon Lee or Wagner meets Fenix or El Fiscal on the other.
That puts the brothers in separate brackets, which means the only place they can meet is the final. The two wrestled each other extensively in Mexico and on the independents before signing with WWE, but they’ve never had a singles match in the company.
They also only reunited as the Lucha Bros inside a WWE ring for the first time at the start of this month. Running that reunion straight into a one-on-one world title eliminator would be a sharp pivot on a story WWE just started telling.
Who’s Missing From The Field
Penta enters as the name most likely to go the distance, days after dropping the Intercontinental Championship to Chad Gable at SummerSlam. The bracket also confirms what was reported earlier Friday: El Grande Americano isn’t in the tournament at all, despite being floated as the favorite to challenge Reigns days earlier. He’s instead lined up against AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio at TripleMania 34.
Reigns has held the World Heavyweight Championship since April and retained it against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. The Mexico City defense caps a WWE and AAA run at Arena CDMX that includes SmackDown on September 11, Night 2 of TripleMania 34 on September 13, and Raw the following night.
Dates for the semifinals and the final haven’t been announced.
