The 2016 Royal Rumble is almost here, and there are so many different predictions and predictions out there from different people. Some think they know what will happen and some go way out on a limb with their guesses. The overwhelming feeling, though, is that the winner of the Rumble match will be someone not entirely expected by the fans and not overly welcomed either: Roman Reigns.
There have been so many rumors floating around as to who could possibly win the match. A lot of them lean toward Triple H winning the whole thing and taking home the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Another popular rumor is that Bray Wyatt will win the match, the title, and WWE will go in a different direction entirely.
Now, one of the biggest rumors going around as the Pay-Per-View draws closer is that Roman Reigns will enter the Royal Rumble match as the WWE Champ and in the number one spot. According to Cageside Seats , it is expected that no matter what, Reigns will also win the match and leave with his title still over his shoulder.
Some may not think that Reigns winning the match is overly “unexpected,” but WWE is trying to make everyone believe that it is.
The Authority has stacked the deck against Reigns by making him defend his WWE Title against 29 other superstars. They’ve also made it extremely difficult for him by giving him the number one spot in the match and forcing him to outlast everyone else who enters that ring.
Casual fans will look at those odds as almost insurmountable and not possible for him to make it out of the match with his belt. Sure, others who have drawn number one have won the match before, but it wasn’t easy.
WWE wants you to believe that Reigns winning the Royal Rumble isn’t even close to possible and that he’s the ultimate underdog.
There are a lot of superstars in the Rumblematch and many that haven’t even been announced yet. WWE.comhas revealed the list of those who are officially entered in the match, and there aren’t a lot of names as of yet.
- WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, No. 1 entrant
- Brock Lesnar
- Sheamus
- Chris Jericho
- Stardust
- Bray Wyatt
- Erick Rowan
- Luke Harper
- Braun Strowman
- Dolph Ziggler
- Ryback
- Big Show
- Curtis Axel
Still a lot of slots open, and that leaves the door open for plenty of surprise entrants from the current WWE roster, past stars, legends, or even NXT stars. Even though WWE always says “anyone could win,” some names are just obviously not going to make it.
PW Mania believes there are four main candidates to win the rumble match and leave with the WWE World Heavyweight Title: Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, or Triple H. These are the four names that virtually all predictions have as their top choices.
WWE likely knows that, too, and could very well swerve everyone by doing something totally unexpected. Then again, to the smart wrestling fans, an unexpected or more so, unwanted choice to win the match is Roman Reigns and that may be the direction that WWE goes in.
Remember this scene from last year’s Royal Rumble? Remember how loud the boos were as they rained down on Reigns for winning the whole thing?
WWE is pushing Reigns to the moon again and this time, the fans have gotten behind him a little bit more. There are more than enough fans out there who don’t want him to win the Royal Rumble and won’t be happy if he does. Still, it certainly does appear as if that’s the direction that WWE is heading and it could very likely backfire — again.
[Image via WWE]