There is a great amount of concern within WWE that the fans won’t get behind Roman Reigns before the Royal Rumble event on January 25, 2015. As a result, WWE is considering two other names that may win the 30-man main event instead of Reigns.
During last night’s RAW , the fans didn’t seem as into Roman Reigns as WWE would like them to be, and if this continues to be the case, WWE could have Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler win the Royal Rumble and go on to face the WWE champion at WrestleMania 31 .
Davel Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer noted that Dean Ambrose is more likely to win the Royal Rumble match than Dolph Ziggler, if WWE chooses not to go with Reigns. Meltzer also believes that it would take a Daniel Bryan-like crowd reaction for Dolph Ziggler to even get WWE to strongly consider having Ziggler win the Rumble.
WWE fans have been begging for a new face of the company for some time now, and everyone was hoping that it would be Daniel Bryan after his WWE championship win in the main event of last year’s WrestleMania . Unfortunately, Bryan was seriously injured, and even if he wasn’t, the plan has always been to have Roman Reigns win the Royal Rumble and walk out of WrestleMania 31 as the new WWE champion.
If Roman Reigns isn’t the 2015 Royal Rumble winner, that could mean that WWE could have Brock Lesnar lose the WWE championship before WrestleMania 31 , either by being defeated by John Cena at the Royal Rumble event or by Seth Rollins successfully cashing in his Money in the Bank contract at some point before WrestleMania .
With Brock Lesnar likely leaving WWE to rejoin the UFC immediately after WrestleMania , WWE could be looking to take the championship off of him to avoid fans turning on the WrestleMania main-event, due to them knowing that Lesnar is leaving WWE after the match.
If Brock Lesnar loses the WWE championship before WrestleMania 31 , and WWE has Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler win the Royal Rumble match, WWE could still do the long-expected Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar match and have Reigns defeat Lesnar before he makes his UFC return.
Having anyone other than Roman Reigns winning the 2015 Royal Rumble is an idea that’s pretty far-fetched, but WWE is preparing a backup plan. The company learned their lesson from last year’s Royal Rumble disaster, and they don’t want history to repeat itself. But, as of right now, Roman Reigns is still expected to win the 2015 Royal Rumble and walk out of WrestleMania 31 as the new WWE champion.
[Images via WWE ]