Lars Sullivan was not supposed to get called up to the main roster in 2018. Originally, the plan had been for Lars to make his main roster debut at the Royal Rumble. Plans evidently changed when Vince McMahon saw a planned vignette for the Superstar and decided to fast-track his move to Raw or Smackdown.

The original plans for Lars were addressed recently on Wrestling Observer Live.

“That video package they’ve been airing was not going to air until after TLC,” Bryan Alvarez said. “What they were going to do was they would have the Raw people wanting Lars (Sullivan), they would have the Smackdown people wanting him and then it was all going to build up to the Royal Rumble where Lars was going to make his big decision about what show he was going to go to.”

Alvarez continued to say Vince McMahon saw a filmed vignette for Lars and was impressed. The WWE owner then made the decision for the vignettes to air earlier than originally planned.

Lars could still debut at the Royal Rumble but it would mean 2 months of vignettes airing before he does.

With Vince McMahon behind him, Lars’ character can go far. Vince has changed his mind several times in the past, however. Triple H is also said to be a supporter of Sullivan’s.