Original Plans for Ambrose Turn, Samu Reveals Cancer, Vince Note

Right after defeating Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler to win the Raw Tag Team Championships, Dean Ambrose shocked everybody by turning on Seth Rollins. According to Jon Robinson, author of WWE’s Creating the Mania: An Inside Look at How WrestleMania Comes to Life book, Ambrose was actually supposed to betray his Shield brothers last year. Robinson said on the Smark to Death podcast that Rollins and Ambrose would then go on to feud until they faced each other at WrestleMania 34. Unfortunately, the injury that Ambrose received last year prevented the match from taking place, but Roman Reigns was always set to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship during the evnet. Perhaps these two now former friends will do battle at WrestleMania 35 in April if they can continue to avoid injuries.
Earlier this week, Roman Reigns surrendered the Universal Championship and announced that he will be taking a hiatus from the ring due to the return of his leukemia. The devastating illness to Reigns has caused several members of the pro wrestling world to react and send positive messages to the former world champion. As if that was not enough, another member of Reigns’ family, former WWE Superstar Samu Anoa’i, just revealed on Facebook that he is battling stage four liver cancer and is currently awaiting a transplant. Samu has worked in promotions such as WWE, WCW, and ECW over the course of his career. Samu’s full statement on the matter can be found by clicking on this link.
After Vince McMahon appeared on Truth TV during SmackDown’s 1000th episode last week, it was reported that the cameo marked the first time that he has been present for a SmackDown show in several weeks. According to PWInsider, the WWE Chairman was also not present for any of this week’s television events. This seems to be further evidenced by the fact that McMahon was never shown backstage showing his support for Roman Reigns following his leukemia announcement. McMahon has typically been heavily involved in handling all of WWE’s main shows for years now, but this could be another sign that Vince may be in the process of releasing some of his responsibilities to others in the company.