Hi everyone, Bryan here….
It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year! No, not the holidays! It’s time for the Royal Rumble, which takes place in January and paves the way for the main event at Wrestlemania every year. Well at least for the last 30 years it has. The Royal Rumble is a Pay-Per-View put on by WWE every year with the Royal Rumble match consisting of 30 superstars entering the ring every 90 seconds. The only way to be eliminated is if you’re thrown over the top rope and your feet land on the ground until one is left in the ring standing. That one winner goes on to the main event at Wrestlemania to challenge the Champion on the grandest stage of all.
This year, for it’s 30th anniversary, the Royal Rumble will be held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, which holds around 70,000 people. Normally, those size arenas and stadiums are reserved for Wrestlemania only, but for some reason, WWE has set this monster venue for the 30th Royal Rumble. This has got my rumor mill running at full speed on who will show up, who will surprise us, and who will win. There are tons of potential outcomes, but only a few of these possibilities should actually happen. As of this time, there are a total of 18 superstars who have announced that they will be in the Rumble, leaving 12 remaining spots.
That being said, Kevin Owens, John Cena, Roman Reigns, and AJ Styles already have singles matches that same night, and it is unlikely that they will put themselves in the Rumble. It could happen for sure, but it’s unlikely. Over the past few years, WWE has relied on veteran talent to win the Rumble matches, which of course transfers over to the main event of Wrestlemania. This has caused discord with fans, because while it’s great to see the veterans come back for these big events, it does NOT allow the new talent to shine, or even pass the torch to the upcoming talent who will carry WWE into the future. John Cena, Triple H, and Batista have won recent Rumble matches, and while that might seem cool, it leaves no chance for the new talent to rise up.
Yes, I know Roman Reigns has won very recently, but the WWE fans are vehemently against him. It’s not because he’s terrible. On the contrary, he is an excellent performer and all around fun guy. He’s just been shoved down our throat in such a way that we were told verbatim on what to feel for him. It’s not good. So who could win the 2017 Royal Rumble this year?
As of this moment, Kevin Owens is the WWE Universal Champion and AJ Styles is the WWE Heavyweight Champion. At the Rumble, Owens will have a match against Reigns, where as AJ Styles will have a match against John Cena, both of which are for the Championship belts. John Cena is looking to win his 16th Championship, which will tie Ric Flair. It will happen, but this is not the time. AJ Styles needs to keep this belt, because he has been the best thing in the WWE for one year, or well, since he debuted a year ago at the Rumble match. It would be horrible to see an aging Cena take the belt and go to Wrestlemania as the champion. We’ve seen that too many times. On the other hand, Kevin Owens has been a great champion and a great heel. Reign is supposed to be the good guy here, but everybody hates him, and if he wins here, I can almost see where they take the Wrestlemania event, although I wouldn’t particularly enjoy it.
That being said, let’s get to the Rumble match itself.
Goldberg and Brock Lesnar
Goldberg and Brock Lesnar have entered the Royal Rumble. Goldberg has re-entered the WWE and had one match against Brock Lesnar last month that last less than a minute, in which Goldberg beat Lesnar. It was one of the biggest shocks in the WWE, as Lesnar has been unbeatable for the last couple years. That, and Goldberg is 105 years old and can only truly wrestler for a few minutes before his body, mind, and heart give out. While the idea of Goldberg winning the Rumble is great, it shouldn’t happen, because again, he can’t have a long lasting match, and the main event at Wrestlemania should last at least 30 minutes.
It’s just not in the cards. Then there is Brock Lesnar. He can go the distance and destroy anyone. He would be an amazing main event, but again, it’s unlikely to happen, because there is nobody for him to face other than Goldberg. So my prediction is that Goldberg and Lesnar will face off in the Rumble match chaos, eliminate each other, continue fighting, and have a fierce head-to-head battle at Wrestlemania, sans a title belt option. It would certainly be better than last year’s match between Lesnar and Dean Ambrose at Wrestlemania.
The Undertaker
It certainly has been a while since The Undertaker has been in a Rumble match. About 7 years to be exact. Interestingly enough, The Undertaker appeared on television a couple of weeks ago and announced “He was Back” and that he’s entering the Rumble match. Now, Undertaker is pretty much undefeated at Wrestlemania, minus the loss to Brock Lesnar a few years ago. At the Royal Rumble, Undertaker has only won a single match, and that was ten years ago. He’s 51 years old right now and is probably going to officially retire very soon. The rumors have been suplexing themselves in that Undertaker wants to have his last match be at Wrestlemania against John Cena.
However, at the time of this writing, Cena is NOT in the Rumble, but he does have a title shot at the Rumble against AJ Styles. It would be horrible for Cena to win at Rumble, but it would make him tie with Ric Flair for holding the championship belt 16 times. If this happens and Undertaker wins the Rumble, you have your main event at Wrestlemania. It sounds good on paper, but again, you have two old veterans main eventing the biggest PPV with the other talent left by the wayside. And let’s not forget that last year’s Wrestlemania match with Undertaker was solely fun because of Shane McMahon – not Undertaker. I don’t think Undertaker will be winning this Rumble.
Chris Jericho and Seth Rollins
These two are some of the BEST wrestlers of all time. Jericho has been in the business a long time where Rollins is still in his prime. Jericho is Best friends with the current RAW champion Kevin Owens, but as the past has told us, Jericho likes to double cross his friends. I think there will be a match involving Owens and Jericho at some point, but I don’t think that will happen because Jericho wins the Rumble.
It will happen sometime between now and Wrestlemania, because I do think Owens will lose the belt. Rollins on the other hand has a bone to pick with Triple H, who I think will put himself in the Rumble match yet again. Rollins and Triple H were best friends, but Triple H betrayed Rollins and literally handed the championship belt to Owens, which is why Owens is still champ. Rollins wants revenge on Triple H, but again, it won’t happen, because any of these people will win the Rumble.
Braun Strowman
This guy is 6’8 and almost 400 pounds of muscle. He was the new member of the Wyatt Family for a while, but he was transferred to RAW during the draft and has been dominating ever since. He’s been a force to be reckoned with as he has yet to be pinned or tap out to anyone, basically making him undefeated. Strowman has a very STRONG chance to win here and I hope he does, because it would be a great main event at Wrestlemania for him to challenge a newly crowned Roman Reigns.
Cesaro
Cesaro is simply phenomenal and the crowd is behind him completely. He has been given the shaft over the past couple of years, but is now Tag Team Champs with Sheamus. If anyone deserves a title shot at Wrestlemania – it’s Cesaro. He really is the Swiss Superman and is probably the strongest guy – literally – in the business. I just don’t know if Triple H or Vince McMahon have the balls to make this happen. I hope it does though.
Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
These two could very well be the only two surprise entrants in the Rumble. Balor had the WWE Championship for a day, but had to give it up, due to an injury that has left him out of the ring and television since last summer. He just might be cleared to fight next week and has a good shot of reclaiming his title against Kevin Owens at Wrestlemania.
Samoa Joe could make his WWE debut at the Rumble. This guy has been in the wrestling business a long time and is a tough as nails scary guy and one hell of a wrestler. If he debuts in a good spot this year, he has a real chance of taking the Rumble and destroying anyone who gets in his way. If he doesn’t win, it’s said that Shawn HBK Michaels wants his last match to be with Joe. Go figure and Suck it.
Kurt Angle
He will be indicted into the Hall of Fame this year and could very well be an entrant in the Rumble. I hope so.
-Bryan Kluger