Following Seth Rollins’ shoulder injury that forced him to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship, WWE hosted a Battle Royal on the October 20 episode of Raw to decide who would challenge CM Punk for the vacant title at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Jey Uso emerged victorious, but fans quickly noticed that Bron Breakker was not part of the match.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE management made a creative decision “not to have Adam Pearce allow Breakker or Bronson Reed in the Battle Royal,” though no storyline reason was provided on television. The move reportedly ties into WWE’s long-term direction for Breakker’s main roster push.

The report notes, “Breakker is expected to end up as champion, but they have a plan of how and when to execute it.” Officials within WWE felt that the upcoming Saturday Night’s Main Event on November 1 was not the right platform for Breakker’s planned World Heavyweight Championship victory.

Meltzer explained, “it happening on an SNME show, which is a Peacock exclusive and likely won’t do big viewing numbers, was decided to not be the time or the place.” As a result, WWE opted to keep Breakker out of the Battle Royal entirely rather than have him participate and be eliminated, which could weaken his momentum.

“So if Breakker wasn’t going to win, there was no reason to put him in and get eliminated,” the report added. This strategy allows WWE to keep Breakker strong while holding off on his eventual rise to the top of the Raw brand.

During the October 20 episode, Breakker appeared alongside Bronson Reed and Paul Heyman to discuss the attack on Seth Rollins but did not compete in a match that night.