It’s that time of year again. We’re getting ready to go full on into WrestleMania Season. I consider WrestleMania season to start with the Royal Rumble. Some like to say it’s prior to that but that’s neither here nor there. The Royal Rumble is the first event that really has WrestleMania implications so, before the landscape of WrestleMania starts to take shape, we should start by looking at The Royal Rumble.
There are really only 2 or 3 intriguing things about this year’s Royal Rumble. The Triple Threat World Title Match, the Royal Rumble itself, and the anticipation of whether or not Sting will show up. In fact, outside of the Tag Team Title match between The Usos and Miz & Mizdow, I don’t know of any other confirmed matches for the Royal Rumble PPV aside from the above mentioned.
So, if the road to WrestleMania starts at the Royal Rumble, then let’s take a look at some of the different roads we can take.
TRIPLE THREAT WORLD TITLE MATCH
Everybody has predicted their scenarios on this one, so I’ll do my best to not rehash anything. The way I see it, this match will have to take place before the Royal Rumble match itself. Simply because, if it doesn’t, then you can pretty much eliminate Brock Lesnar from future considerations. That’s just how I feel about it. If the Rumble closes the show, Brock Lesnar is your likely winner, allowing both Cena and Rollins to enter the Rumble. So my scenario is this.
Brock retains the title after Seth Rollins screws something up. The Authority, who is totally beside themselves, get Rollins to cash in his MITB. He attempts and fails. HHH and Stephanie McMahon have no idea what their gonna do. So, Rollins gets a late entry into the Rumble after beating up Xavier Woods or something. He gets into the Rumble as #30 and still gets eliminated by the eventual winner (to be revealed later in this article). Now what will the Authority do? That’s the story as we move toward Elimination Chamber (or whatever the new name of the PPV is).
The other side of the coin is, what if the title match closes the show instead of the Rumble? If that’s the case, a Seth Rollins successful cash-in is the most likely scenario. Preferrably it would happen after Brock gets the win, so Cena doesn’t have a 10 second title reign to tie Ric Flair’s total of 16 championships. Then, they can start to maneuver Cena into another direction and Brock can disappear, without the title, until the build up of his special attraction match at WrestleMania.
ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
It’s the Royal Rumble. It’s one of the most uniquely intriguing matches in WWE history, a gauntlet style battle royal with 30 participants. Most years, there are surprise entrants, shocking returns, legends, so on and so on. This year, it doesn’t seem to be as intriguing. That’s possibly because there are only 2 or 3 potential winners here. There will be no swerves or surprises like Sheamus eliminating Jericho a couple years ago. The winner is going to Main Event Wrestlemania and the lack of real story lines going on in WWE right, that really limits the potential. So, how I see it, the 3 potential winners, which won’t include Rollins or Cena, are Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, and Bray Wyatt. There is always the potential for a Randy Orton return and he certainly is warranted some consideration here because he’s a true super star who’s Wrestlemania Main Event worthy.
I’ll make a case for each of the above potentials and also some potential angles I’d like to see develop.
DANIEL BRYAN
Daniel Bryan has made his return after a long absence from a severe neck injury that could’ve ended his career. He’s healed and is now back and ready to take the WWE by storm. I’ve been saying, upon his return, that this should be utilized to set him up for a feud with somebody leading into Wrestlemania. But that’s for another day. Today, we’re going to break down the possibilities of Bryan winning the Rumble.
I personally feel like he’ll come in around the middle of the pack, which is to say #13-#20. He won’t have to spend a ton of time in the Rumble but enough to showcase him and have him in the mix from the meat of the match until the climactic ending. Bryan wins when it comes down to him, Wyatt, Reigns, and Ambrose. Reigns and Ambrose show brotherly sportsmanship in the Rumble since it’s every man for himself, and they are battling on one side. Bryan eliminates Bray on the other side, then runs over and eliminates Ambrose and Reigns at the same time for the win. He wins, setting him up for a title match at Wrestlemania. In my scenario, he’s slated to fight Seth Rollins in a title match that won’t close the show in lieu of a special attraction match, possibly Cena vs The Rock III.
ROMAN REIGNS
Nobody likes it but WWE is putting the machine behind Roman Reigns. Many people feel he would work better as a silent destroyer rather than trying to cut promos. The thing is, whether he’s still green or not, he’s a big boy with athleticism and he’s directly related to The Rock. He’s a next generation guy who WWE may be ready to move forward with. He’s the type who won’t be a transitional champion, but someone who will be at the top for many years. (something I can’t confidently say about Daniel Bryan).
He’ll enter the Rumble late, possibly #27, which has the most Royal Rumble winners at that entry, and it’ll come down to Reigns, Bryan, Sheamus, and Orton. Bryan will eliminate Sheamus while Reigns eliminates Orton. Sheamus will turn heel and come back in to screw Bryan over and Reigns will pick up the pieces to win. Now, with a Reigns win, it makes for 3 intriguing possible matches. How great would it be to see Reigns vs Lesnar? Obviously it would be great to see Reigns vs his former Shield brother, Rollins. But the most intriguing would be a Reigns vs Cena, Wrestlemania Main Event. A huge potential to pass the torch here that could resemble Hogan vs Warrior. Reigns vs Cena is the only match I see that could close Wrestlemania. Reigns versus either Lesnar or Rollins, would fall behind the same special attraction match.
BRAY WYATT
Bryan Wyatt is coming off a feud victory over Dean Ambrose. They’re setting him up for something big. It could be a Rumble win. It could be a match with The Undertaker. Either way, if his time is to come, now is the perfect time to pull the trigger. I don’t feel he is the anchor type to carry the WWE for a long time, but there are definitely decent feuds that he could be involved in.
He’ll also enter late, right around #23-#27. Not too late though, so his presence will be there for enough time. It’ll come down to Bray, Reigns, Orton, and Bryan. Bray will go to the outside without elimination and Orton, Reigns and Bryan will eliminate each other, ultimately setting up Bray to re-enter since he was never officially eliminated, and finish off the remaining man, in this case, Randy Orton. Bray will go on to face either Cena or Rollins, though I must admit a war of words between Bray and Heyman would make for some nice build-up. Bray will face the champion in a match that won’t close the show, due to the special attraction match to close things out.
A LITTLE BONUS
Since I broke down my thoughts on how the Rumble could play out, let me extend on that for a quick minute and talk about the major players involved who don’t win the title or the rumble.
If Daniel Bryan wins the Rumble, and goes on to face Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania, look for Brock Lesnar to face The Rock in a special attraction match. Look for Cena to face someone like Rusev or a heel Sheamus. Look for Roman Reigns to battle a heel Ambrose. And look for Bray Wyatt to feud with and ultimately battle Orton at Wrestlemania. If Bryan faces Cena, keep everything else the same except forget Rusev and Sheamus and have a Shield Triple Threat. If Bryan faces Lesnar, then Cena vs The Rock III.
If Roman Reigns wins the Rumble, and goes on to face Cena or Brock at Wrestlemania, look for The Rock to face whoever isn’t fighting Roman Reigns. Look for Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton or Undertaker. Look for Rollins vs Ambrose or Orton (if Bray fights Undertaker). And look for Daniel Bryan to get involved in a feud with Jericho setting up a potential show-stealing match at Wrestlemania.
If Bray Wyatt wins the Rumble, and goes on to face John Cena, look for Brock Lesnar vs The Rock. Look for Daniel Bryan to face Jericho. Look for a Shield Triple Threat. If Wyatt somehow faces Lesnar, replace Brock with Cena vs The Rock. I can’t see how a Wyatt vs Rollins match could possibly work.
There you have it. Eight days before the Royal Rumble and I think I covered every angle. I didn’t mention Sting and his match because we don’t know yet. A lot seems to pointing toward a Sting vs HHH match at Wrestlemania. I am still hopeful for a Sting vs Undertaker match as well. Also, if there is anyone else you feel I didn’t mention, such as Ziggler, Ambrose, or Rusev, it’s because I don’t feel they have a shot at winning the rumble.
I hope you enjoyed my breakdown of the Royal Rumble and Road to Wrestlemania. In a way, I think all of these scenarios works in one way or another. Let me know what you think.
