Ever since Roman Reigns attacked Triple H and sort of demolished him, the COO of WWE has not been seen on television. Rumors have been flying that this is leading to a big feud between Reigns and Triple H once he returns to WWE TV. Well, it looks as if those rumors are strengthening and leading to a situation where Triple H won’t just enter the Royal Rumble , but win the whole thing as well.
This past Monday night, Vince McMahon decided to stick it to Reigns by making him defend his WWE World Heavyweight Title in this year’s Royal Rumble match. That means he has to defend it against 29 other superstars or at least outlast all of them.
So far, there are only 10 names in the rumble match itself according to the preview on WWE.com , and Reigns is one of them. More names are going to be added, likely this week on Monday Night Raw , but there could be some unannounced names to make way for surprise entrants as well.
Here is who is in so far:
- WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
- Big Show
- Chris Jericho
- Curtis Axel
- Ryback
- Dolph Ziggler
- Bray Wyatt
- Braun Strowman
- Luke Harper
- Erick Rowan
One of the original rumors going around was that Roman Reigns was going to hold onto the WWE Title into WrestleMania 32 and face off with John Cena. Now, Cena is out for months due to injury and WWE could end up going with another idea that was thrown around, and it’s for Reigns to take on Triple H.
Originally, Triple H was rumored to throw his name into the Royal Rumble match and win it so he could get the main event spot at WrestleMania . Well, McMahon and Triple H apparently feel as if there is something in reversing the order in which things are to be done.
All Wrestling News is reporting that Dave Meltzer of the Observer believes that the rumble is simply going to be used to further the Triple H/Roman Reigns feud. Since WWE is still working on getting Reigns over with the fans, it makes more sense to have Trips win the title now, and have Reigns take it back at WrestleMania .
“It makes it real interesting. We know that Roman Reigns and Triple H is going to happen. But now, there’s the idea that Reigns beats 28 guys, then Triple H beats him to win the Rumble.”
Not only would this give Triple H the belt, but it would make Reigns the underdog yet again and have him chasing the WWE Title once more. Reigns overcoming all of the adversity of The Authority and winning the title at WrestleMania 32 makes it even more impressive and puts him over on a bigger scale.
Now, this may make a lot of sense, but it’s also all preliminary.
No matter what, Roman Reigns vs. Triple H is going to happen one way or another, but there are a lot of wild cards added to the WWE Title picture now. This could change the feud and have it possibly not even be for the belt anymore.
John Cena going out with an injury threw a big monkey wrench into things.
On Monday Night Raw , Brock Lesnar is returning to WWE television and is sure to be a major player in the main event scene. He’s going to get a huge reaction from the crowd and it could lead to the company wanting to place him into a feud for the WWE Title.
Then, there is the whole thing with the stars from New Japan Pro Wrestling heading to WWE and some possibly showing up at the Royal Rumble . If AJ Styles shows up at the PPV in two weeks, expect him to make a major impact and be thrown right into the main event picture.
Of course, there are some other names and factors that could play into things as well, but the Triple H and Roman Reigns’ storyline actually makes a lot of sense. Triple H winning the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble may be exactly where the company is heading, and it’s all in helping build up Roman Reigns to be a major babyface.
[Image via WWE]