by Hanley! » Jan 25, '17, 5:54 pm
You have a point with Del Rio, but that was a Royal Rumble with little star power very few established main event names. Plus with the brand split in place and Del Rio never really being considered for the actual main event, they were able to make a less conventional choice than usual. Now that the brand split is back, that same possibility exists again, but this is quite a star studded Royal Rumble with lots of golden oldies in the mix, and I don't feel they'll give a win to anyone they don't have really major Wrestlemania plans for. The winner won't necessarily main event, but I think they'll want it to be a big name and someone who'll be prominently advertised.
I never said that Joe winning would be impossible. I used the word 'unprecedented' for a reason. There's always going to be a chance that WWE will turn things around and do something different. They've just given no indication that it's going to happen this year, and the odds would be heavily against it.
Don't get me wrong, the Rumble is the show I get most excited for each year primarily because of those possibilities. Because it's such a great opportunity to do something wild and exciting. We usually know who's going to win or the two or three guys who have any shot at winning, but there are still all those 'what if' scenarios that are too tantalising to ignore. That's the reason I always get swept up in the excitement this time of year above all others. Even though I get burned more often than not. Half the time when Wrestlemania starts to roll around, I'm just waiting for it to be over so we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming again, but at Rumble time the hype is always real. It's that time of year that I let myself believe just a little that maybe this year will be different.
But at this point, I do have to try and manage my expectations too.
The Undertaker winning would really piss me off. The fans and the company need to get off this guys nuts because he's so fucking dull. He brings nothing to the table for me, and is just coasting off his name at this point. That's the one guy who would really bother me. I think Lesnar or Goldberg winning would bother me too, but not as much. At least they still do cool stuff and entertain me, even if their title feud would be likely to underwhelm the way title feuds between part-timers usually do.
I feel like Jericho is a possibility, and while I was hugely against him winning a few years ago when people had him down as the favourite, this year I'd be completely cool with it. He's had a great run on television, and the story is there to justify it. He'd be a nice option.
I don't feel strongly about Strowman either way. I don't think he's ready, but it would at least be something different. If the win was done in the right way, I'd give it a chance.
Those feel like the only real likely options right now, to me. Anything else would be out of left field. If anybody else wins, I feel it'll be a surprise entrant like a Balor or a Joe, and I don't think they'd be likely to win. Though I would endorse either of them winning. That being said, if Balor is ready to come back, I'd set him aside for an Undertaker feud instead. Rollins I feel is a better bet now that he's not actually in the match. I still don't think he'll win, but if he could find a way into the match somehow at the last minute, him winning and going to Wrestlemania would make a cool story.
Probably what I'd like to see most is someone out there like Joe winning the match. Or if Owens or Styles lost their title earlier in the show and interjected themselves into the Rumble and ended up winning. That'd just be unexpected and exciting and would create a buzz and I feel like that's what they should be going for at this time of year. Hell, you could do the same thing with Cena and it'd work pretty well.
Hopefully they set up some cool stuff on the show anyway. I'm off work on Monday and I'm going to stay up to watch it, so I'm really hoping it delivers.