WWE Rumors: Creative Plans For ‘Royal Rumble’ Leak Out – NJPW Stars To Debut, Effect On ‘Fastlane,’ Possible Winner

Injuries have caused a lot of plans that WWE had in place to be scrapped, and that is especially true for WrestleMania 32. John Cena’s recent injury caused plans to take an even bigger hit. Now, plans are finally starting to come together and just in time for the Royal Rumble, which is less than two weeks away. Creative ideas are starting to leak out and tell about big debuts coming in the rumble match, the possible winner, and what effect it could have on WWE Fastlane.

PW Insider is reporting that there was a huge creative meeting while WWE was in New Orleans this week for Monday Night Raw. The actual booking of the Royal Rumble match has now officially started so enough time can be had to make changes and other such things for the event on January 24.

This meeting was to determine entrant order, eliminations, surprise entrants, and even the overall winner.

As of the time that meeting was held, none of the New Japan Pro Wrestling talents had yet signed deals with WWE. Rumors are still going around that there are ongoing talks with both AJ Styles and Luke Gallows at this time, and they could technically start with WWE immediately as they are free agents at this time.

It’s very possible that one or both could show up in the match. If only one were to do so, Styles would be expected to be the one.

WrestleZone has reported that Shinsuke Nakamura is heading to to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando in early February. Nakamura has already been stripped of his titled by NJPW and his contract is up soon. Bullet Club member Karl Anderson’s contract with NJPW is also up on Feb. 1 so that means neither of them will be in the rumble match.

As for the winner of the match and who walks out of the Royal Rumble as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Cageside Seats is reporting that is still expected to be Roman Reigns. Apparently, WWE has no plans on taking the title off of him just yet.

Now, this is something that could change a lot before the actual Pay-Per-View. Even if the creative team has Reigns winning the match as of tonight, it could change 30 times or even during the rumble match itself.

With the road to WrestleMania 32 officially underway, the rumble match is usually the first big step followed up by a slower February and then the big event, which this year is in early April. F4W Online is stating that WWE is planning on making Fastlane bigger and more important this year.

Last year’s main event match was Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan and the right to main event WrestleMania was on the line. For the second Fastlane in WWE history, expect the evtn on Feb. 22 to have much more at stake.

Apparently, the events that take place at the Royal Rumble are going to setup a major match or two for Fastlane. WWE officials seem to want the February PPV to feel more like a major event instead of just a filled between two of the company’s biggest events of the year.

As of now, it’s already known that both Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho will be at the event either wrestling or at least just appearing.

The creative plans for the Royal Rumble are really beginning to be put in place and what happens next Sunday will have a huge impact on both Fastlane and WrestleMania 32. The winner may be known now to some, but with a week and a half still until the event, anything can change.

[Image via WWE]