Thursday brought about a huge announcement from Vince McMahon, but rumor has it that something even bigger could come for the WWE this weekend. The Royal Rumble is set to take place on Sunday, and there are still a lot of slots open for more entrants to take part in the match. Plenty of rumors are swirling, and one of the biggest is that Daniel Bryan could return, enter the match, and possibly even win the whole thing.
As recently reported by the Inquisitr , the betting odds over the course of the past month have had Daniel Bryan anywhere from the third favorite to the number one choice to win the Royal Rumble . This was mostly due to there being discussions by WWE creative to have Bryan return and win the match.
Of course, the company has still not said anything about that happening and there has been no word on Bryan even being medically cleared to compete. Now, there are even more rumors that Bryan is going to be in Sunday’s match and this latest speculation actually has him winning in a very interesting fashion.
According to the Wrestling Observer , by way of Wrestling Inc. , there have been discussions of Daniel Bryan getting involved in the Royal Rumble and winning it without ever taking a single bump. It’s not known if this is the way WWE wants to carry out the overall conclusion of the match, but it’s an option.
Now, as of the beginning of this week, Bryan had not yet been cleared to return to the ring, and it wasn’t thought that would change before the Royal Rumble . If that is the case and WWE chooses to go ahead with him winning the match, they’d have to know that he would be cleared soon, though.
The winner of the Royal Rumble match receives an automatic title shot in the main event at WrestleMania 34 , and if Bryan wins that but can’t wrestle, it makes the outcome pointless. If he wins the shot and ends up giving it to someone else, it also makes the Royal Rumble pointless.
As of Thursday afternoon, there are only 17 confirmed names for the Royal Rumble match as shown on the official website of WWE.
- John Cena
- Finn Balor
- Randy Orton
- The Miz
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Bray Wyatt
- Elias
- “Woken” Matt Hardy
- Apollo Crews
- Titus O’Neil
- Aiden English
- Rusev
- Baron Corbin
- Big E
- Kofi Kingston
- Xavier Woods
- Tye Dillinger
That leaves a lot of opportunity for surprise entrants which will likely consist of current WWE superstars, past legends, and perhaps even a debut or two. With that much unknown about who all will be in the Royal Rumble match, it isn’t out of the question for Daniel Bryan to be medically cleared and return. The rumors state he could even win it without taking a single hit, but that would even be a smart move? Only time will tell as one of the biggest events of the year is coming on Sunday.