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EditorialIf I Could Change One Moment In Wrestling History: The 2017 Royal...

If I Could Change One Moment In Wrestling History: The 2017 Royal Rumble

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We all have our favorite moments in wrestling and sometimes those moments may be just on the brisk of being perfect, but, there is that one twist or one thing that you wish the creative team would’ve done to make the moment exactly how you wanted it. We all have our fantasy bookings and if things would’ve happened like this or that, what would the current landscape of the company look like. January is one of the most exciting times for the WWE, hence the Royal Rumble. The Royal Rumble match in particular is a spectacle in itself, alongside the; WrestleMania’s, Survivor Series’s & SummerSlam traditional PPV’s that we’ve grown so accustom to.

This years Royal Rumble from the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas was the biggest Royal Rumble of all time in a building that seated 70,000 plus people. Although it did not completely fill, this was a chance for one of my fantasy bookings to come true and I wanted this to happen more than anything. I knew that it was a stretch, but this was during a time of the year where WWE could do anything they wanted and it simply would have worked.

Im pretty sure seeing that, you guys are thinking; “Oh, he thinks Braun Strowman should have won the Royal Rumble” but, I was hoping for WWE creative to hand that prestige over to Sami Zayn, not the Rumble match exactly, but the prestige that comes with the Royal Rumble, let me explain. This was my whole deal; there is always one superstar who can plays the babyface role so well and people in general love an underdog. You have a Johnny Gargano, Daniel Bryan, hell, even Tye Dillinger is considered an underdog. My point is, whenever there is a superstar in the company who can “grab the hearts” of the casuals and “smark” fans such as myself, WWE should run along with it. I saw Sami in that light. I am no fanboy of Sami Zayn, I laugh at the memes of him being an Uber driver and countless other jokes but, during this time, there were a bunch of fans, including myself who were not against Sami Zayn winning the Rumble.

At the time, Sami had been in a long, well planned feud against Braun Strowman. Strowman would destroy Sami time after time and as soon as Sami would have built momentum, he would be crushed by the “Monster Among Men”. Now, to the scenario; In the Royal Rumble, I had these four men left in the final four: Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman & Finn Balor. For those wondering about Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker who were in the Rumble, I had them taking each other out of the equation. Goldberg was up on the scoreboard in terms of “getting one over” on Lesnar so, Lesnar would get his revenge; tossing Goldberg over and being so infatuated with the fact that he just eliminated Goldberg, Samoa Joe would flip Lesnar over the top which would always leave that little piece of story-line for them to feud in the future.

Later on in the match, being the final four: Sami Zayn, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe & Finn Balor, Zayn would miraculously flip Strowman over-the-top and Strowman being so pissed that he was just eliminated by a guy who he has been destroying for months, he climbs back into the ring and tosses Zayn over the top rope. Thus, leaving Finn Balor & Samoa Joe and I’d book the returning “Demon King” to be the victor of the 2017 Royal Rumble.

At the time, Kevin Owens was the WWE Universal Champion, so the appearance at first thought of the WrestleMania main event would see Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor, but, Sami Zayn would make a plead to WWE management in Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley that he was eliminated unfairly and could’ve quite possibly won the Royal Rumble.

 

As most of you know and saw, Stephanie was not the biggest fan of Sami’s at all. Sami would have to fight tooth and nail to earn a spot in the main event of WrestleMania with Finn Balor and Kevin Owens. At WWE Roadblock 2016, creative booked Strowman vs. Sami Zayn and Zayn had to beat Strowman in 10 minutes. In my scenario, I would have took that same concept but made the match mean something at WWE Fastlane or on a episode of Monday Night RAW. If Sami wanted to get into the championship match at WrestleMania, (because Stephanie recognized that Sami could have won the Rumble, this is why she made this match) Zayn would have to defeat Strowman inside that 10 minute mark. In my dream world, Sami Zayn would overcome the odds, defeat Braun Strowman and be in the main event of WrestleMania 33 for the WWE Universal Championship alongside Finn Balor & Kevin Owens.

The winner and fallout of the match could’ve gone a number of ways. Owens keeping the Universal Championship reason being; him getting a win that big, it would erase the horrible 7 month championship reign that he had. Finn Balor; reclaiming the championship that he never lost in a predictable, yet miracle story. Sami Zayn; the underdog who went through a two month beat down psychically and mentally and at the end of it all, is the top guy in the company. In the current state of the WWE, maybe Sami has a chance with the upcoming Money In The Bank ladder match, but, I do not think WWE is as high on Sami Zayn as I am so I will hold my reservations until next time.

I always envisioned Sami Zayn walking out with the Universal Championship with a pop like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENvJrQrhehw

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