He’s a contributor to the Forbes SportsMoneyBlog, where he focuses on the WWE, NBA and NFL.Professional wrestling runs in the family for two of WWE’s longest serving wrestlers. Unless WWE throws us a major curveball with a returning Finn Balor or a debuting Samoa Joe, it's possible that the most entertaining aspect of the Royal Rumble, the popular "surprise entrant," will be absent from the match altogether.īlake Oestriecher is an elementary school teacher by day and a sports writer by night. It's been rumored that " WWE won't use many surprises in the Royal Rumble match" because, given the size of WWE's roster and the way the WrestleMania 33 card appears to be shaping up, there may not be very many spots available for what would be considered surprise entrants. What about a rekindled NXT rivalry like when Sami Zayn showed up and eliminated Kevin Owens? Doubtful. Will we get a debut that rivals that of Styles last year? Probably not. We might see Triple H enter the match, but most fans expect that.
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With a Royal Rumble match already loaded with both part and full-time talent, you have to wonder if this is one of those years where there won't really be many, if any, truly surprising entrants. We should see Styles defending the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, which is something that probably isn't going to happen if he loses the belt to Cena at Royal Rumble.
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We all know Cena is going to win his record-tying 16th World title at some point, but now is not the time.
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Styles was the best thing about WWE programming in 2016, and if he drops the belt to Cena at the Royal Rumble, that almost guarantees that he won't be in SmackDown's biggest WrestleMania match, which would be very unfortunate. So, let's get this straight: AJ Styles carries SmackDown on his back for the better part of a year, only to lose the WWE title right before WrestleMania? This is about one PPV consistently focusing on one superstar that the fans are rejecting and the detrimental effect it has on WWE's overall product. This isn't even about hating on Reigns, who is a better wrestler and performer than people give him credit for. Although it's not like Owens has been booked well as Universal Champion, having Reigns win the title at the Royal Rumble makes the pay-per-view all about him for the fourth straight time and virtually ensures he'll be in a main event World title match for a third straight year. This year, Reigns probably won't be in the Royal Rumble match itself, but he's going to face Kevin Owens for the Universal title and is widely expected to leave that match as champion. The last three Royal Rumble matches were all about Roman Reigns, who went on to main event each of the last two WrestleManias in a World title match. Roman Reigns Wins The Universal Championship This is the perfect year for a new name, someone like Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman or even Finn Balor, to win the Royal Rumble, which is something that simply won't happen if WWE goes the predictable route and has Undertaker win instead. That all starts at the Royal Rumble, where WWE shouldn't do what it's done each of the last four years and book the most predictable outcome possible for the 30-man Rumble match, where established stars like Batista, Triple H and John Cena ended up being victorious. At some point, though, 'Mania has to stop being about names from the past and start being about guys who will carry the future. WWE is, yet again, relying heavily on part-time veterans to carry WrestleMania, as evidenced by the expected major roles for Lesnar, Goldberg, Triple and The Undertaker himself. It wouldn't surprise anyone if that happened, but that doesn't mean it should. The Undertaker will be participating in his first Royal Rumble match since 2009, so naturally, he's one of the odds-on favorites to win the match and go on to main event WrestleMania 33.
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No need to have them bury the entire roster in the process. Letting them toss each other out of the match is enough.