Daniel Bryan announces his entry into the 2015 Royal Rumble. Photo/wwe.com
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]how of hands, who’s excited for Royal Rumble next Sunday?
Okay, obviously, I can’t see who all raised their hands because this is the Internet and unlike the NSA, I can’t tap your webcams. So I’ll just go on good faith that most everyone is excited for the actual Rumble, and maybe the triple threat match between Seth Rollins, John Cena and Brock Lesnar.
This truly is an unpredictable event in the fact that when it comes to Rumble, there are so many strong candidates that predict all we like, it’s not entirely cut and dry who is set to win, unlike last year, where we all knew that Batista was set to win, but it didn’t quite sink in until the last minute. Dolph Ziggler has been on the receiving end of an amazing push; Dean Ambrose has had a fast and organic rise to the top unlike any we’ve seen in quite some time; Luke Harper is coming into his own as a singles competitor and is proving to be quite the beast. Really, the possibilities are endless.
Up until Daniel Bryan made his announcement of his entry into the Rumble, everyone was calling that Roman Reigns was a surefire win, despite IWC outcry of him being a little too green still to be put in the championship picture.
However, now, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will win and who will be the World Heavyweight Champion after the close of events on March 29th. This year’s ride on the Road to Wrestlemania is sure to be an interesting one.
The strongest candidates for winning the Rumble itself are of course, Reigns and Bryan. Up until DBry’s triumphant return, my predictions had been as such: Cena wins his TLC Match (I was right there), Lesnar retains at Rumble and Reigns wins the actual 30-man battle. Both face off at Wrestlemania, Lesnar drops to Reigns, and Rollins cashes in either at the Raw after ‘Mania, or waits until the clock is ticking down on his MITB contract, allowing Reigns to test his skills as champ and giving their feud time to actually build into an amazing climax where Rollins wins the belt and we see a resurgence of his feud with Ambrose for said title (let’s ignore the fact that Ambrose may or may not be ready for that belt, this is fantasy here!).
Throwing Bryan into the mix and making the Heavyweight Championship match a triple threat match just made the entire event even better and entirely worth watching. I want to see Bryan walk out of ‘Mania with that belt and get the long awaited reign he truly deserves, I really do. The likelihood of this happening is probably close to 100%.
But with the way Rollins is being catapulted to the top, if he won the belt at Rumble and retained at Wrestlemania, don’t you think that could set up for an amazing battle between the two? The matches would write themselves! Don’t believe me? Just check this out and see for yourself: http://youtu.be/JhywAx6jy4I (opens in a new window)
But why should we want to see Bryan lose at Wrestlemania? Two reasons:
- To let Rollins truly get to test his chops as a heel champ for a solid period of of time. By this time, The Authority will most likely be completely destroyed and it’s the greatest time to see Rollins go truly solo.
- The best reason: to see Daniel Bryan triumph and get that gold at the event that all of this started at in the first place – SummerSlam. A TRUE ending to his Cinderella story.
Think about it for a second, folks. Lesnar retains the title at Royal Rumble, but it’s a beast of a match. He’s left weakened, vulnerable. Rollins cashes in immediately after the loss, capitalizing on Lesnar’s current physical state and walking out with the ultimate gold. Watch, Daniel Bryan will either be the 2nd entrant or the 27th entrant (since that seems to be the lucky number) into the actual rumble and survive to the end. We get the Bryan vs. The Authority angle, only now, the stakes are higher and the focus is on Rollins. Sting is in the picture, and will undoubtedly be focusing on Triple H and thwarting his every move and it’s starting to turn into the locker room vs. The Authority. Most likely, Trips will put Sting over; we’ll finally see the end of his tyrannical reign. But in that title match, he will get the last hurrah and cause Seth to retain. Seth goes off by himself, The Authority is no more, and we’ll get to see both of these amazing talents thrive all their own.
Of course, I’m no booker and I’m most likely talking out of my arse with my predictions, as there are plenty that can be cooked up involving Reigns instead of Bryan. I’m looking at golden possibility here, the final wrap to an angle that has had the audience captivated for the better part of two years and took the world of pro wrestling by storm.
Do you feel that there could be a better outcome, or have other predictions? Leave some feedback in the comments. Let’s get some debate going as we’re heading into the Road to Wrestlemania!
