WWE News: Vince McMahon Makes Huge Change To ‘Royal Rumble’ Match
Each and every year, WWE superstars throw their hat into the ring in hopes of winning the battle royal at the Royal Rumble. If they can do that, they’ll win a spot in the main event at WrestleMania and a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Well, Vince McMahon dropped a bombshell on Monday Night Raw tonight by making a major change to the match that will completely alter the wrestling world.
In the main event on Monday night, Vince McMahon was the special guest referee as Roman Reigns defended his WWE Title against Sheamus. When all was said and done, Reigns retained his title, but he stayed under the skin of The Authority, as recapped by WWE.com.
That was when Vince McMahon grabbed a mic and made a huge change to the Royal Rumble match that shocked everyone. He now said that Roman Reigns will not only be in the 30-person match, but he will defend his title against 29 other superstars.
As announced by @VinceMcMahon, @WWERomanReigns will defend his title in the #RoyalRumble Match! #RAW https://t.co/hYw4diFurt
— WWE (@WWE) January 5, 201
Now, this won’t be the first time that the WWE Title will be on the line in the rumble match, but it will be the first time it’s being defended.
As pointed out by WrestleZone, the WWE Title was up for grabs to the winner of the match back in 1992, but it was vacant going into it. It wasn’t held by anyone as it is now by Roman Reigns. Ric Flair ended up winning the match and the title that year.
Now, there are less than three weeks to go, and 10 names have been officially announced for the rumble match as per WWE.
- WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
- Big Show
- Chris Jericho
- Curtis Axel
- Ryback
- Dolph Ziggler
- Bray Wyatt
- Braun Strowman
- Luke Harper
- Erick Rowan
Bray Wyatt has announced for the last couple of weeks that The Wyatt Family plan on “taking everything” at the Royal Rumble. It’s not known what other matches may end up being on the card, but all four family members in the match gives them a big advantage.
It’s likely that The New Day could also end up joining the match, and Kofi Kingston recently talked about putting the “New Day” rule into place for it. They are another group that could really take advantage of banding together in the match.
Adding even more excitement to Vince McMahon’s big change for the Royal Rumble match is that Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE television was also announced tonight. It’s very possible that he could end up joining the match too, and going after the belt he never technically lost.
It’s unknown how this will affect WrestleMania 32 and the main event spot, which is always awarded to the winner of the rumble match. Once the champion is determined, there may be a match at WWE FastLane in February to determine the number one contender.
Vince McMahon knew that he needed to shake things up to boost sagging ratings in WWE, and this major change to the Royal Rumble did just that. Roman Reigns has the world against him, and his title to defend against a huge part of the roster.
[Image via WWE]
