The Royal Rumble is Sunday and for only the second time the World Title is on the line in the match itself. The previous time was in 1992 when the vacated title was put up for grabs. This year Roman Reigns is defending the title in the match.
Here’s who’s in it so far:
Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Stardust, Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper, Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Big Show, Curtis Axel.
Some years the Rumble is the show and other years it’s some other match, usually a world title match. This year the two are combined into one. And whether the show is a success or not depends on a few things:
- The right guy has to win
- Having some good set pieces – dominant performances, acrobatic spots
- Surprise returnees
Number three is the easiest one. There are always some guys who have been gone just long enough to surprise you when they come back, be they injured guys or people who have been gone from the company. There are guys who’ve been injured but could come back early like Cesaro and Randy Orton, recently retired guys like Christian, and guys who have been signed but haven’t shown up yet like AJ Styles.
Number two is about the writing. With giants like Big Show and Braun Strowman in there, there should be some smaller guys getting thrown around. There needs to be one who throws out a bunch of people. Kofi Kingston will likely be in the match so you know he’ll have some kind of crazy near elimination. Last year they really failed on this one.
As for number one, that’s the toughest nut to crack. We’re coming off two straight years where the winner got booed out of the building. Ironically the guy who got booed last year, Reigns, should be able to survive this year without getting trashed. Brock Lesnar would go over fine. If Triple H is the surprise entrant and winner it’ll be ok. The key is to not have somebody like say, Sheamus emerge victorious.
Anyhow we’ll find out more tonight. I’ll do a full preview later on this week.
Stroke of Genius 