So the Royal Rumble, arguably the best actual event of WWE's calendar year, is upon us. And it is time for me to commit to my predictions and my hopes of who will win what, and pray that I do better with my predictions for this one than I did with TLC last month, because that didn't go so well. And it's important for me to get this out of the way because you're not going to get a live blog out of this one because (yes, I know how many times I've stated it but I don't care because I'm so fucking psyched) I'm going to be there. I'm sure I'll have some blurry pictures to post.
So let's get some of the easier ones out of the way first, and with that, I'll start with A.J. Styles vs champ Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship. This is Bryan all the way. There's absolutely zero doubt in my mind that Bryan will retain. First of all, they just put it on him in November, so he's not going to drop it. Second, he's just way way too good of a heel to allow Styles to take it off him when he's stopped him before. Will it be a clean or dirty win? Honestly, I'm hoping for a dirty win because I want Bryan to really solidify his heel status. And frankly, A.J. didn't do anything of significant interest in his last title run until he lost it. So it's the American Dragon all the way for me. I'm still waiting for that hemp belt, though.
HOPE: Daniel Bryan retains via dirty win.
PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan retains via clean win.
Now let's go to Shinsuke Nakamura vs champ Rusev for the U.S. title. Again, it's going to be Rusev all the way here, but I'm not 100%. It's more like 90% because I have a weird tingling on the back of my neck that Vince could look to schmozz this up. But babyface Rusev is clearly having a good time, and more importantly, we're having a good time watching babyface Rusev. And he just got the belt, so I don't really see Nakamura taking it away.
HOPE: Rusev retains.
PREDICTION: Rusev retains.
Let's move to the Fatal 4-Way for the Cruiserweight title with champ Buddy Murphy against Hideo Itami, Akira Tozawa, and Kalisto. Personally, I just hope this is a fun match, because I've completely tuned out of 205 Live since Mustafa Ali moved to the main roster, and he was the only thing keeping me watching that show. I have a feeling Murphy will retain, but this could be a good time to get a belt on Itami.
HOPE: Hideo Itami wins.
PREDICTION: Buddy Murphy retains.
Then there's the Raw Women's title match with champ Ronda Rousey vs Sasha Banks. I know there's been some various speculations on how Sasha could be the one to tap Rousey out, but Sasha has been building momentum with Bayley as The Boss 'N Hug Connection to be legit contenders for the new Women's Tag titles that will be determined at Elimination Chamber. I have a strong feeling that this is going to get schmozzed up by Nia Jax, and that will leave Sasha looking strong and Ronda undefeated as a singles competitor. Unfortunately, that would mean more of Sasha and/or Ronda vs Nia, and we just don't need that shit again. Personally, I'd love to see Ronda drop to Sasha, and if the Women's Tag titles were still just a fantasy, that might have happened, but it won't now because that's going to leave Bayley with nothing to do again.
HOPE: Ronda Rousey retains via DQ by any one of the other heels on Raw.
PREDICTION: Ronda Rousey retains with a clean win.
Now things start to get a little more opaque as far as the rest of the show is concerned, because so many of these things could go in different directions, and I honestly believe it will really depend on the match order, and this is such a stacked card, it's going to be a wild night. If they go the way they did last year, the show will open with A.J. vs Daniel Bryan, and that would be a good match to start the main show off with. But I think they'll open with the Smackdown Women's title bout, and I'm going to go into the reasons why.
This is the match that will determine the main event of Mania, and that's not hyperbolic. The biggest rivalry of the year on the main roster hasn't been A.J vs Daniel or Brock vs Braun or Brock vs Roman or A.J. vs Joe or Seth vs Dean or Daniel vs Miz; it's been the three-way feud of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda. The reason it's been so important is because it seems to be the one rivalry that was built entirely organically. Charlotte and Becky has been and still is a fire rivalry because it not only outshone everything else, but because it was the right people at the right time. When Becky invaded Raw and attacked Ronda, and then got injured by Nia Jax, I said it then and I'll continue to say it: this could be the best thing for Becky and for the fans. Becky continued to stoke the flames of their own feud on social media after being forced to miss Survivor Series and it was awesome to behold. And everyone was on board. The flames started to die down a little, but were re-lit when Ronda cost both Charlotte and Becky the SD Women's title to Asuka at TLC, it went nuclear. There was no way that this couldn't come to a head at Mania... right?
So how do you book this match at the Rumble with champ Asuka and Becky? Personally I'm looking forward to Asuka having a good long reign with the belt, and it would just seem dumb to have Asuka drop the belt to Becky at this point, but how do you protect The Man in this match? I don't know if a double count-out is going to do it. And I don't think they want to have Becky lean into going full heel by attacking Asuka and causing a DQ. Maybe it's time to turn Asuka heel? Personally, I think she'd have a lot of fun with that, and it would open up a lot of match possibilities. So that's how I'd book it. Asuka turns heel on Becky and causes a DQ. Asuka was never truly a heel in NXT, but damn, she could play heel well, particularly in her rivalry with Ember Moon. So that's how I'm going to call it. This way, it leads into a dominant heel run for Asuka, and Becky goes to the Rumble. But I just don't think they're going to play it that way. There aren't enough faces left on the SD Women's roster, because right now, all we would have is Becky, Naomi, Lana and that's it. And assuming Nikki Cross comes to SD with new hubby Killian Dane, if she remains committed to Sanity, she might end up a heel... so, I honestly don't know who Asuka could have a good rivalry with that would seem like a solid build for Mania if she were to turn heel. So this is arguably the most important match of the night.
HOPE: Asuka retains by causing a DQ
PREDICTION: Asuka retains clean
Let's move to something less important but still somewhat an unknown and that's the Smackdown Tag titles with champs The Bar facing off against "The Greatest Tag Team in the World" of The Miz and Shane McMahon. I can see this going either way. If they're committing to this bit with Miz and Shane, if they lose, it will give them something to chase. But I don't see them committing fully because Shane isn't a spring chicken anymore. When he hit that Coast-to-Coast last week, I thought for a few moments that Shane had really hurt himself. And I honestly think that the (hopefully not permanent) loss of Roman Reigns, it's forced WWE to think less in the long term, but I also see them committing to this bit as champs because if Miz is just feigning his face turn, this will lead to a match between Shane and Miz at Mania, and there could be a number of reasons that Shane's work-rate could remain low for the interim. If they take the belts, Miz could turn at Elimination Chamber and that will set the match for Mania, because I don't see a Miz face turn lasting for too long. Personally, I'm hoping for more of an implosion within The Bar, because I'd love to see Cesaro on a singles run again. He's too damn good, and he was a great babyface as a singles competitor. So maybe their loss will cause them to break up?
HOPE: The Miz and Shane McMahon win the belts, and The Bar implodes.
PREDICTION: The Miz and Shane McMahon win.
Now we get to talk about the Universal title bout between "champ" Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor, which is an affair that is mired in some mystery as far as how it will actually turn out. The question that seems like the determining factor becomes how will Finn face Lesnar at the Rumble? Will it be as the man or as the Demon? This is a very complex question that I wish had a really easy answer for, but I don't think anyone does. If he comes out as just Finn Balor, it will be relatively easy to call this in favor of Lesnar. I know that the main roster doesn't really consider things that happened in NXT as part of the story of the character, unless it's something of near-legend status, like the Bayley/Sasha Iron Woman match at Takeover: Respect or Asuka's undefeated streak. But Finn was undefeated as The Demon until Samoa Joe successfully defended his NXT title against The Demon in NXT's first steel cage match. And in the few times he's used it on the main roster, he's remained undefeated. So Finn the man is an easier victim for Lesnar. But if they decide to bring out The Demon King, and Lesnar goes over, then part of the mystique of The Demon King is shattered. But also, the pop for The Demon King's entrance would be massive, and I believe that they'd be missing a major opportunity if they don't use The Demon King. I just don't know. And then there's the push Finn has received over the last few months that is almost a mirror image of when he first hit the main roster where he had to win two matches the same night on Raw to face Seth for the first Universal title match, which became the definition of Pyrrhic victory when Finn won but had to relinquish the next night because of the injury he sustained during the match.
Now, if Finn were to win (either as the man or The Demon), that makes something potentially very cool not just the immediate future of Raw, but also for the Universal title match at Mania. Firstly, the Universal title, the title that's supposed to be the most important title in WWE, will be back on Raw on a weekly basis and that's a massive shift in the landscape because that's part of what the McMahons promised us with their "fresh start" directive, which still hasn't really been seen on Raw, but this could be the signpost that they're on their way to doing just that. And Finn has the ability to make this belt mean something again and he could have a hell of a run with it. It would completely open the field in the way that Vince stated he wanted to. But I still am very very skeptical about those claims and I don't think that Vince doesn't really want to change the status quo as much as he claims.
HOPE (x1000): Finn Balor wins the Universal Championship.
PREDICTION: Brock Lesnar retains.
So now, let's get into the Rumble matches themselves, and we'll start with the Men's Rumble. Now everyone who's anyone will be in the Rumble. Of course, there's always room for a few surprises here and there, but as far as confirmed, 20 of the 30 entrants are already occupied, and R-Truth is confirmed for the #30 spot because of The Fabulous Truth winning the Mixed Match Challenge (I don't agree with this at all as far as the MMC existing inside of kayfabe, but this is where we are). So that's 11 spots that are still up for grabs. As of this moment, which is Tuesday night at around 11:45pm EST, there might be other entrants that announce beforehand, and if there are any left, I hope they stay quiet because the best part of the Rumble is always the surprise entrants. Now, that 20 might be down to 19 due to John Cena possibly missing out (which is apparently due to a kayfabed injury, because it might be interfering with a filming schedule). We're apparently also going to be not getting Kevin Owens back because he's still rehabbing from his surgery and it is taking longer than expected, and that sucks because I need some KO back in my life. We're probably getting Sami Zayn back (yay!), and there's probably going to be EC3 and likely Lars Sullivan (hopefully, he's recovered from his rumored panic attacks that have kept him from debuting... I know how those feel, so my heart goes out to Lars if that's all true), but that still leaves some surprises coming from NXT or some legends or maybe... Kenny Omega? I honestly doubt that last one, but there's always some speculation because if you remember, Ronda Rousey was kayfabing the fuck out of it because her debut was played as if she hadn't signed with WWE, but there she was after the Rumble. So this could all be a massive swerve! What? It could happen!
Anyway, we need to talk about the potential winners here. I've narrowed the field down to two potential candidates: Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. Sure I'd love to see Mustafa Ali win and go to the Rumble against Daniel Bryan, but that's way too out there. But we have to weigh who would be a potential top guy vs who seems to be running with the most steam into the Rumble, so taking my careful calculations into account, that's how I get McIntyre and Rollins. Rollins needs a strong move to get into an awesome match in Mania, and so does Drew. If Lesnar retains, it needs to be Rollins. If Finn wins, it could be either. If you get McIntyre standing tall after the Universal title match at Mania against Finn, I probably won't be too angry because I dig the hell out of McIntyre. If you get Rollins against Finn at Mania, you get a Summerslam rematch for the title, and it could go either way, and I'd be good. If you get Rollins going over Lesnar, that's worth it. I don't see anyone else filling that slot with Reigns out. Any possible way you can get Lesnar out would be worth it, but I would rather have that sooner than later. So Finn vs Drew is already a built-in rivalry, and so is Rollins, but that would be face vs face, and honestly, that's what I'd rather see near the end. I say near the end because if you think this is going to be the final match of the night at Mania, you're definitely out of the zeitgeist. Rollins and Lesnar is another match tailor-made for Mania as well, but since it's not Roman at Mania 34, Rollins isn't going to get booed out of the building. People will want that win very badly. But if Finn goes over, McIntyre makes a much more natural heel competitor to face The Demon King.
HOPE: Drew McIntyre wins the Rumble
PREDICTION: Seth Rollins wins the Rumble
Now we have to wade into more tempestuous waters with the Women's Rumble. Right now, there's 23 entrants confirmed, with Carmella at #30. Here's where my fantasy-booking brain kicks in. So, if Becky loses her match against Asuka, she should be a #28 or 29 entrant and come in and mop up. The crowd would pop like mad, and we have our Mania main event. But there's still the question of Charlotte. The chatter surrounding this match is that it will be a Triple Threat for the Raw Women's title at Mania featuring champ Ronda vs Becky vs Charlotte. Personally, I think everyone wants a singles match between Ronda and Becky. That's sure as shit what I want, anyway. But this still means that Charlotte has to face off against Ronda soon. Now, WWE could kayfabe in a #1 competitor spot into a women's match at Elimination Chamber for the opportunity to face Rousey despite the outcome of the Rumble. It's a simple thing to do, and it still doesn't take the shine off the Rumble winner. If anything, it makes Ronda the woman to beat come Mania. I know that's pure fantasy booking, but there are a number of ways that they could kayfabe in either Charlotte or Becky into the Raw Women's title picture: they could do a trade like Charlotte for Alexa or Sasha or whatever. Smackdown needs more women competitors anyway. Becky could invade Raw again. Whatever it takes to make it work in kayfabe. So it's really down to Charlotte and Becky.
Again, the outcome of previous matches throughout the night will have an impact on whether or not Vince is going to take the safe path or the greater risk/greater reward path. He must have everyone screaming in his ear that Becky should be the one to face Ronda at Mania. And we know that Vince does occasionally listen to other voices and go with the flow of the zeitgeist. That's how CM Punk became a massive superstar. And Daniel Bryan going over at Mania 30. They must know that the real money match is going to be Ronda vs Becky. It's the best story going in, and it was something they could have let go of, but they did have Ronda interfere in the TLC match that got Asuka the belt and that extended the story and gave it the kick it needed to firmly plant it in everyone's mind. So no matter who comes it, it's going to come down to Charlotte and Becky. I wouldn't be completely thrilled with a Triple Threat at Mania, but I wouldn't exactly turn my nose down at it either. So WWE has a choice to make. They can go the somewhat safe route and have Charlotte win, or they can go with what I truly believe is an even safer bet, and that's to have Becky win.
HOPE: Becky Lynch wins the Rumble
PREDICTION: Charlotte Flair wins the Rumble
And that is that! So I'll be reflecting on this magical night on Monday so we'll see how many of these were just hopes and which were solid predictions and I'm going with hope, because hope is what keeps me going as far as WWE is concerned! Later tonight/early this morning, I'll have my recap of the go-homes in Raw and Smackdown Live, so look out for that as well! Anyway you cut it, I think I'm going to have a great time!
Until next time, kids...
So let's get some of the easier ones out of the way first, and with that, I'll start with A.J. Styles vs champ Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship. This is Bryan all the way. There's absolutely zero doubt in my mind that Bryan will retain. First of all, they just put it on him in November, so he's not going to drop it. Second, he's just way way too good of a heel to allow Styles to take it off him when he's stopped him before. Will it be a clean or dirty win? Honestly, I'm hoping for a dirty win because I want Bryan to really solidify his heel status. And frankly, A.J. didn't do anything of significant interest in his last title run until he lost it. So it's the American Dragon all the way for me. I'm still waiting for that hemp belt, though.
HOPE: Daniel Bryan retains via dirty win.
PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan retains via clean win.
Now let's go to Shinsuke Nakamura vs champ Rusev for the U.S. title. Again, it's going to be Rusev all the way here, but I'm not 100%. It's more like 90% because I have a weird tingling on the back of my neck that Vince could look to schmozz this up. But babyface Rusev is clearly having a good time, and more importantly, we're having a good time watching babyface Rusev. And he just got the belt, so I don't really see Nakamura taking it away.
HOPE: Rusev retains.
PREDICTION: Rusev retains.
Let's move to the Fatal 4-Way for the Cruiserweight title with champ Buddy Murphy against Hideo Itami, Akira Tozawa, and Kalisto. Personally, I just hope this is a fun match, because I've completely tuned out of 205 Live since Mustafa Ali moved to the main roster, and he was the only thing keeping me watching that show. I have a feeling Murphy will retain, but this could be a good time to get a belt on Itami.
HOPE: Hideo Itami wins.
PREDICTION: Buddy Murphy retains.
Then there's the Raw Women's title match with champ Ronda Rousey vs Sasha Banks. I know there's been some various speculations on how Sasha could be the one to tap Rousey out, but Sasha has been building momentum with Bayley as The Boss 'N Hug Connection to be legit contenders for the new Women's Tag titles that will be determined at Elimination Chamber. I have a strong feeling that this is going to get schmozzed up by Nia Jax, and that will leave Sasha looking strong and Ronda undefeated as a singles competitor. Unfortunately, that would mean more of Sasha and/or Ronda vs Nia, and we just don't need that shit again. Personally, I'd love to see Ronda drop to Sasha, and if the Women's Tag titles were still just a fantasy, that might have happened, but it won't now because that's going to leave Bayley with nothing to do again.
HOPE: Ronda Rousey retains via DQ by any one of the other heels on Raw.
PREDICTION: Ronda Rousey retains with a clean win.
Now things start to get a little more opaque as far as the rest of the show is concerned, because so many of these things could go in different directions, and I honestly believe it will really depend on the match order, and this is such a stacked card, it's going to be a wild night. If they go the way they did last year, the show will open with A.J. vs Daniel Bryan, and that would be a good match to start the main show off with. But I think they'll open with the Smackdown Women's title bout, and I'm going to go into the reasons why.
This is the match that will determine the main event of Mania, and that's not hyperbolic. The biggest rivalry of the year on the main roster hasn't been A.J vs Daniel or Brock vs Braun or Brock vs Roman or A.J. vs Joe or Seth vs Dean or Daniel vs Miz; it's been the three-way feud of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda. The reason it's been so important is because it seems to be the one rivalry that was built entirely organically. Charlotte and Becky has been and still is a fire rivalry because it not only outshone everything else, but because it was the right people at the right time. When Becky invaded Raw and attacked Ronda, and then got injured by Nia Jax, I said it then and I'll continue to say it: this could be the best thing for Becky and for the fans. Becky continued to stoke the flames of their own feud on social media after being forced to miss Survivor Series and it was awesome to behold. And everyone was on board. The flames started to die down a little, but were re-lit when Ronda cost both Charlotte and Becky the SD Women's title to Asuka at TLC, it went nuclear. There was no way that this couldn't come to a head at Mania... right?
So how do you book this match at the Rumble with champ Asuka and Becky? Personally I'm looking forward to Asuka having a good long reign with the belt, and it would just seem dumb to have Asuka drop the belt to Becky at this point, but how do you protect The Man in this match? I don't know if a double count-out is going to do it. And I don't think they want to have Becky lean into going full heel by attacking Asuka and causing a DQ. Maybe it's time to turn Asuka heel? Personally, I think she'd have a lot of fun with that, and it would open up a lot of match possibilities. So that's how I'd book it. Asuka turns heel on Becky and causes a DQ. Asuka was never truly a heel in NXT, but damn, she could play heel well, particularly in her rivalry with Ember Moon. So that's how I'm going to call it. This way, it leads into a dominant heel run for Asuka, and Becky goes to the Rumble. But I just don't think they're going to play it that way. There aren't enough faces left on the SD Women's roster, because right now, all we would have is Becky, Naomi, Lana and that's it. And assuming Nikki Cross comes to SD with new hubby Killian Dane, if she remains committed to Sanity, she might end up a heel... so, I honestly don't know who Asuka could have a good rivalry with that would seem like a solid build for Mania if she were to turn heel. So this is arguably the most important match of the night.
HOPE: Asuka retains by causing a DQ
PREDICTION: Asuka retains clean
Let's move to something less important but still somewhat an unknown and that's the Smackdown Tag titles with champs The Bar facing off against "The Greatest Tag Team in the World" of The Miz and Shane McMahon. I can see this going either way. If they're committing to this bit with Miz and Shane, if they lose, it will give them something to chase. But I don't see them committing fully because Shane isn't a spring chicken anymore. When he hit that Coast-to-Coast last week, I thought for a few moments that Shane had really hurt himself. And I honestly think that the (hopefully not permanent) loss of Roman Reigns, it's forced WWE to think less in the long term, but I also see them committing to this bit as champs because if Miz is just feigning his face turn, this will lead to a match between Shane and Miz at Mania, and there could be a number of reasons that Shane's work-rate could remain low for the interim. If they take the belts, Miz could turn at Elimination Chamber and that will set the match for Mania, because I don't see a Miz face turn lasting for too long. Personally, I'm hoping for more of an implosion within The Bar, because I'd love to see Cesaro on a singles run again. He's too damn good, and he was a great babyface as a singles competitor. So maybe their loss will cause them to break up?
HOPE: The Miz and Shane McMahon win the belts, and The Bar implodes.
PREDICTION: The Miz and Shane McMahon win.
Now we get to talk about the Universal title bout between "champ" Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor, which is an affair that is mired in some mystery as far as how it will actually turn out. The question that seems like the determining factor becomes how will Finn face Lesnar at the Rumble? Will it be as the man or as the Demon? This is a very complex question that I wish had a really easy answer for, but I don't think anyone does. If he comes out as just Finn Balor, it will be relatively easy to call this in favor of Lesnar. I know that the main roster doesn't really consider things that happened in NXT as part of the story of the character, unless it's something of near-legend status, like the Bayley/Sasha Iron Woman match at Takeover: Respect or Asuka's undefeated streak. But Finn was undefeated as The Demon until Samoa Joe successfully defended his NXT title against The Demon in NXT's first steel cage match. And in the few times he's used it on the main roster, he's remained undefeated. So Finn the man is an easier victim for Lesnar. But if they decide to bring out The Demon King, and Lesnar goes over, then part of the mystique of The Demon King is shattered. But also, the pop for The Demon King's entrance would be massive, and I believe that they'd be missing a major opportunity if they don't use The Demon King. I just don't know. And then there's the push Finn has received over the last few months that is almost a mirror image of when he first hit the main roster where he had to win two matches the same night on Raw to face Seth for the first Universal title match, which became the definition of Pyrrhic victory when Finn won but had to relinquish the next night because of the injury he sustained during the match.
Now, if Finn were to win (either as the man or The Demon), that makes something potentially very cool not just the immediate future of Raw, but also for the Universal title match at Mania. Firstly, the Universal title, the title that's supposed to be the most important title in WWE, will be back on Raw on a weekly basis and that's a massive shift in the landscape because that's part of what the McMahons promised us with their "fresh start" directive, which still hasn't really been seen on Raw, but this could be the signpost that they're on their way to doing just that. And Finn has the ability to make this belt mean something again and he could have a hell of a run with it. It would completely open the field in the way that Vince stated he wanted to. But I still am very very skeptical about those claims and I don't think that Vince doesn't really want to change the status quo as much as he claims.
HOPE (x1000): Finn Balor wins the Universal Championship.
PREDICTION: Brock Lesnar retains.
So now, let's get into the Rumble matches themselves, and we'll start with the Men's Rumble. Now everyone who's anyone will be in the Rumble. Of course, there's always room for a few surprises here and there, but as far as confirmed, 20 of the 30 entrants are already occupied, and R-Truth is confirmed for the #30 spot because of The Fabulous Truth winning the Mixed Match Challenge (I don't agree with this at all as far as the MMC existing inside of kayfabe, but this is where we are). So that's 11 spots that are still up for grabs. As of this moment, which is Tuesday night at around 11:45pm EST, there might be other entrants that announce beforehand, and if there are any left, I hope they stay quiet because the best part of the Rumble is always the surprise entrants. Now, that 20 might be down to 19 due to John Cena possibly missing out (which is apparently due to a kayfabed injury, because it might be interfering with a filming schedule). We're apparently also going to be not getting Kevin Owens back because he's still rehabbing from his surgery and it is taking longer than expected, and that sucks because I need some KO back in my life. We're probably getting Sami Zayn back (yay!), and there's probably going to be EC3 and likely Lars Sullivan (hopefully, he's recovered from his rumored panic attacks that have kept him from debuting... I know how those feel, so my heart goes out to Lars if that's all true), but that still leaves some surprises coming from NXT or some legends or maybe... Kenny Omega? I honestly doubt that last one, but there's always some speculation because if you remember, Ronda Rousey was kayfabing the fuck out of it because her debut was played as if she hadn't signed with WWE, but there she was after the Rumble. So this could all be a massive swerve! What? It could happen!
Anyway, we need to talk about the potential winners here. I've narrowed the field down to two potential candidates: Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. Sure I'd love to see Mustafa Ali win and go to the Rumble against Daniel Bryan, but that's way too out there. But we have to weigh who would be a potential top guy vs who seems to be running with the most steam into the Rumble, so taking my careful calculations into account, that's how I get McIntyre and Rollins. Rollins needs a strong move to get into an awesome match in Mania, and so does Drew. If Lesnar retains, it needs to be Rollins. If Finn wins, it could be either. If you get McIntyre standing tall after the Universal title match at Mania against Finn, I probably won't be too angry because I dig the hell out of McIntyre. If you get Rollins against Finn at Mania, you get a Summerslam rematch for the title, and it could go either way, and I'd be good. If you get Rollins going over Lesnar, that's worth it. I don't see anyone else filling that slot with Reigns out. Any possible way you can get Lesnar out would be worth it, but I would rather have that sooner than later. So Finn vs Drew is already a built-in rivalry, and so is Rollins, but that would be face vs face, and honestly, that's what I'd rather see near the end. I say near the end because if you think this is going to be the final match of the night at Mania, you're definitely out of the zeitgeist. Rollins and Lesnar is another match tailor-made for Mania as well, but since it's not Roman at Mania 34, Rollins isn't going to get booed out of the building. People will want that win very badly. But if Finn goes over, McIntyre makes a much more natural heel competitor to face The Demon King.
HOPE: Drew McIntyre wins the Rumble
PREDICTION: Seth Rollins wins the Rumble
Now we have to wade into more tempestuous waters with the Women's Rumble. Right now, there's 23 entrants confirmed, with Carmella at #30. Here's where my fantasy-booking brain kicks in. So, if Becky loses her match against Asuka, she should be a #28 or 29 entrant and come in and mop up. The crowd would pop like mad, and we have our Mania main event. But there's still the question of Charlotte. The chatter surrounding this match is that it will be a Triple Threat for the Raw Women's title at Mania featuring champ Ronda vs Becky vs Charlotte. Personally, I think everyone wants a singles match between Ronda and Becky. That's sure as shit what I want, anyway. But this still means that Charlotte has to face off against Ronda soon. Now, WWE could kayfabe in a #1 competitor spot into a women's match at Elimination Chamber for the opportunity to face Rousey despite the outcome of the Rumble. It's a simple thing to do, and it still doesn't take the shine off the Rumble winner. If anything, it makes Ronda the woman to beat come Mania. I know that's pure fantasy booking, but there are a number of ways that they could kayfabe in either Charlotte or Becky into the Raw Women's title picture: they could do a trade like Charlotte for Alexa or Sasha or whatever. Smackdown needs more women competitors anyway. Becky could invade Raw again. Whatever it takes to make it work in kayfabe. So it's really down to Charlotte and Becky.
Again, the outcome of previous matches throughout the night will have an impact on whether or not Vince is going to take the safe path or the greater risk/greater reward path. He must have everyone screaming in his ear that Becky should be the one to face Ronda at Mania. And we know that Vince does occasionally listen to other voices and go with the flow of the zeitgeist. That's how CM Punk became a massive superstar. And Daniel Bryan going over at Mania 30. They must know that the real money match is going to be Ronda vs Becky. It's the best story going in, and it was something they could have let go of, but they did have Ronda interfere in the TLC match that got Asuka the belt and that extended the story and gave it the kick it needed to firmly plant it in everyone's mind. So no matter who comes it, it's going to come down to Charlotte and Becky. I wouldn't be completely thrilled with a Triple Threat at Mania, but I wouldn't exactly turn my nose down at it either. So WWE has a choice to make. They can go the somewhat safe route and have Charlotte win, or they can go with what I truly believe is an even safer bet, and that's to have Becky win.
HOPE: Becky Lynch wins the Rumble
PREDICTION: Charlotte Flair wins the Rumble
And that is that! So I'll be reflecting on this magical night on Monday so we'll see how many of these were just hopes and which were solid predictions and I'm going with hope, because hope is what keeps me going as far as WWE is concerned! Later tonight/early this morning, I'll have my recap of the go-homes in Raw and Smackdown Live, so look out for that as well! Anyway you cut it, I think I'm going to have a great time!
Until next time, kids...
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