Which Royal Rumble Entrant Could Help WWE Top Wrestle Kingdom?

Back when I was a wide eyed ten year old wrestling fan, winning the Royal Rumble was the bee’s knees.

The winner got a coveted one on one title shot in the main event of Wrestlemania. They went on last at the biggest show of the year, just them and the champ fighting for the biggest prize in wrestling. It’s not so cut and dry these days, but the winner of 2017‘s Royal Rumble will still likely land in a featured match. This year there’s added pressure too, because, if rumour is to be believed, WWE officials are itching to top the main event of New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 11.

Rumour has it WWE did a big about face early January, scrapping a planned Wrestlemania match between John Cena and the Undertaker. In fact, almost everything which had been planned was off the table. Why? Who knows, but by sheer coincidence early January was also around the time Wrestle Kingdom 11 delivered a statement-making main event. The match between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada suddenly found itself on the end of mainstream media coverage. Already it seems to be being talked about in hushed tones.

Topping The Match of the Decade

Now, I’m not going to tell you, loyal reader, that these two things are definitely related. I lack a crystal ball and can’t read minds. What I will say is that WWE is pretty prickly about competition, and it looks like one day pretty soon New Japan could be exactly that. Not serious competition of course, and I have my doubts that even Vince McMahon is thin skinned enough to scrap an entire show just because people on the internet are talking about some match in Japan. Especially when McMahon’s got living action figures Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg to play with.

But let’s put on our fantasy booking hats and pretend for a minute, shall we? The million dollar question becomes this: who do WWE have on their roster that can one-up the Wrestle Kingdom main event? And which one of them should win the Royal Rumble?

AJ Styles, John Cena and Kevin Owens are all competing for major championships before the Royal Rumble match, so while one of them could be walking into the Mania main event as champ we can probably assume they’re out of the running for the battle royal. This leaves some pretty sparse options. Goldberg perhaps? Braun Strowman or Brock Lesnar? While these guys are definitely options with mainstream appeal, only one of them has the ability to put on a great match; and Lesnar has shown no inclination in the last year and a half that he can be bothered to do so.

The Contenders

Then who? It would need to be someone who can do everything in the ring and tell a compelling story. Dolph Ziggler and Cesaro could both deliver the match, but neither have the star power of bona fide main event players. The same goes for Rusev, who will likely spend his Wrestlemania jobbing to Kurt Angle.

No, to match Wrestle Kingdom, WWE would need to call on an elite class of performer, and right now only four names come to mind.

One of them is Seth Rollins. Yes, the same Seth Rollins who just lost his spot in the Rumble on the go home edition of Monday Night Raw. The Architect is now firmly set on a collision course with former mentor and benefactor Triple H. We all know he should have Roman Reigns’ spot, but for this year at least it’s not to be.

Now we’re down to three, but since Finn Balor isn’t really a demon he can’t actually recover from injury faster than a normal human. He’s on the bench. He’s missing the Rumble.

Which leaves two, and for my money, either guy could give us a spectacular match at Wrestlemania. First is Sami Zayn, who we must now call the Underdog of the Underground. Zayn has been one of the best wrestlers around for a little while now, and thanks to his feud with Braun Strowman he’s slowly nudging his way into the main event scene. Zayn has an exciting wrestling arsenal and a character that’s slowly getting over with fans.

The other star is Chris Jericho, best friend of Kevin Owens. Jericho is 46 and on what feels like his hundredth run in WWE. Somehow though, the 26 year veteran has found yet another way to make himself relevant. The guy is as entertaining as he’s ever been and he’s hardly lost a step in the ring (the secret is DDP Yoga, apparently).

Whoever’s carrying the belt into Wrestlemania, the right pick to win the Rumble is one of these two men. If everything goes there way Wrestlemania night they could deliver an all out classic, putting their bodies on the line. They’ll do moves you’ve never seen before. The crowd will cheer and chant, and finally one of them will trudge back up the ramp, belt over their shoulder, to a standing ovation.

And then Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg will close the show. It will be awful, but you’ll love it. It’s your own fault you can’t have nice things.