10 Expectations Vs. Reality For WWE Royal Rumble 2020
6. Who Will Be Entrant #30?
Expectation:
Fans have projected a sense of grand importance on the #30 slot that is not necessarily informed by history. Tugboat appeared as the last man in 1991, the Warlord in 1992. Randy Savage appeared in 1993, and there is a lineage of game-changers to have emerged from that slot, but for every Undertaker (1997, 2003, 2007), there's a Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese (1996) or a Nia Jax (2019). In the space between, the slot is often reserved for a passé monster in order to create the thin illusion of a game-changer (Big Show (2009, 2012), Kane (2011)). The Royal Rumble isn't drawn at random, but there is a random quality to a spot often thought as vaunted.
In 2020, with eyes made desperate by hope, fans might look towards the ramp under the expectation of a CM Punk appearance. He's not coming out at #17, or something. If it's happening, it's happening last to set up Beast Vs. Best II in Tampa.
Reality:
Look in my eyes, what do you see?
A cosplay Curt Hennig, bay-bee.
Yeah it's probably going to be Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler has appeared from #30 twice, in 2015 and 2018, as part of what must be a running joke at this point.