The 2016 Royal Rumble may have been a night of shockers, but when it came to very top of the card, the biggest surprise was that there were no surprises at all. Heading into the event, Triple H was heavily rumored to be making an unannounced return in the Rumble match, winning and setting up a clash with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. While it was hardly the most exciting 'Mania main event the company could deliver, Reigns's assault on "The Game" at TLC seemed to make the bout inevitable. In the Rumble, things played out just as expected - Reigns was booked to look strong, but Triple H entered at #30 and claimed both victory and the WWE Championship. Furthermore, an anticipated confrontation between The Wyatt Family and Brock Lesnar played off exactly as expected. When The Wyatt Family attacked Lesnar on Raw it was ostensibly a set-up for a Royal Rumble face-off, but fans feared it was the opening salvo in an underwhelming WrestleMania feud. Those fears were proven right when The Wyatt Family eliminated Lesnar from the Rumble (after he'd already eliminated them), setting up a second big match for 'Mania in a way anyone could have predicted. While it's true that WWE's roster has been decimated by injury, the rumored 'Mania matches were still pretty disappointing. They've now been essentially confirmed in uninspired fashion. When WWE could have most used a surprise, the company failed to deliver.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
