Botched Spot

Who doesn’t love the Royal Rumble? It’s my favorite Pay Per View of the year, even more than Wrestlemania, and the reason why is that the Rumble promises potential. Up until the end of the show there are still so many possibilities and things that could happen in the WWE. You want Dean Ambrose to main event Wrestlemania even though he’s been on a losing streak? Sure, maybe it could happen! You want to see Jericho return to his full time status? Maybe he’ll be a surprise entrant and stick around for a while! Sure, you’ll come down once Orton wins it and the biggest surprise entrant was Santino, but right now there’s still all kinds of hope! Let’s dive into these predictions and see what’ll happen:

A New Day vs. The Masters of the WWE Universe… and Adam Rose
Wrestling in anything but the World Title match and the actual Rumble match itself at the Royal Rumble is about the most thankless job a wrestler can have. Although I’m sure these men will find their way into the Rumble match anyway, because where would Kofi be without his once-a-year Rumble spot? I predict that A New Day will win and maybe tease a heel turn a little bit more… did you catch it when Xavier said that they would put everyone in the hospital on the last episode of Raw? I think A New Day heel turn is coming and it might be at the expense of the Bunny.

The New Age Outlaws vs. The Road Warriors 3.0
Wow, The Ascension really took it on the chin, didn’t they? I still like them though and have hope that they’ll find their way. Their promos are terrible and the red face paint is eye-roll worthy, but they were enjoyable in NXT and I think if they weather out the shoulder pad storm they’re going through they’ll be okay. I think The Ascension has to win this match after the beating they took at the hands of a bunch of retired wrestlers last Raw, so I’m predicting them to win.

Tyson’s Wife and the Glampire vs. The Bella Twins
Man, what happened to the Divas division? Not long ago they were in major storylines and having multiple matches with storylines attached to them and now they’re in this throw away tag match. I predict the Bellas will win because the Paige/ Nattie tag team really has no history other than in Total Divas clips.

The Usos vs. The Miz and Mizdow in their best of 75 series
I think we’ll see The Usos retain after some major dissension between Miz and Mizdow, which will culminate in them eliminating each other at the Rumble. I’m not really sure what else to say about this match. I feel like the Usos could face any other team and it would feel like the hundredth time we’ve seen it.

The first match people actually want to see, an hour and a half into the show (for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship!)
I’m entirely too excited for this match. Just by adding Seth to it, the WWE have increased my interest a hundred fold. Typically Money in the Back winners have gone on a losing streak before cashing in and winning, so it’s been refreshing to see Seth earn a title shot even without the briefcase.

This match is still a doozy to predict though. One issue is not knowing for certain when Brock’s WWE contract is up. If he is guaranteed to work at ‘Mania it seems like he would retain his title for sure, and possibly go on to face Bryan or Roman. I could also see John winning the title and keeping it to defend against Rusev at Wrestlemania. Rollins could technically still hold onto his briefcase until after Wrestlemania and all the way until the next Money in the Bank PPV, if memory serves. I think the most obvious outcome for this match, and the one I’m going to predict, is John Cena winning and then Seth immediately cashing in his briefcase to win the title.

My only concern is that I see Rollins being in a similar situation as CM Punk a couple of years ago when he dropped the title to the Rock at the Rumble so that Rock could defend it at Wrestlemania against Cena, or as Edge when he dropped the title at the Royal Rumble in 2006 so Cena could defend it against Triple H at Wrestlemania 22. Like they’re trying Rollins out in this main event heel role, but maybe they’re not 100% committed. Even so, I’ll predict that he walks out the champion.

The Bootista Memorial Battle Royal
Alright, so this is an extremely hard match to predict, so I’m going to look at the wrestlers most likely to win.

-Daniel Bryan: While I would love for Bryan to win, I don’t see it happening this year. And I’m okay with that. He had a huge moment last year that would be impossible to top, so I don’t see him in the main event of Wrestlemania again. Also his name keeps getting brought up on WWE TV as someone who is very likely to win it, so I think the WWE is trying to work us over.

-Roman Reigns: While he’s constantly brought up as the person Triple H and Vince want to push, I don’t think they’ll go through with it. He just hasn’t gotten the reactions that he would need to be the champion, and I think putting the belt on him now would just make people hate him for it.

-Rusev: A month ago I would’ve bet money that Rusev would win and go on to face Cena at Wrestlemania, but I just don’t see it anymore. His impressive win streak has turned into a meh-inducing “never been pinned” streak, which is far less cool. The fact that he just lost to Ryback on Smackdown (albeit by countout) tells me that the luster is wearing off of him.

-Randy Orton: This is probably one of the stronger choices because he’s been off TV for so long, and not because of an injury, but rather because they’ve been saving him for something. In fact, considering that Randy already has a built in feud with Rollins, I feel confident in saying that Randy Orton will win the Rumble and go on to face Rollins at Wrestlemania!

Well, that’s the Royal Rumble! There are a lot of potential outcomes and only a couple that I really hate, so that’s a good thing for me. My only problem is going to be sitting through the gauntlet of tag team matches in order to get to the main event and the Rumble. I’m sure the Usos and everyone else will bring their A-game, but the two main events are the ones I really care about.