10 Shocks WWE Could Pull At The Greatest Royal Rumble

8. Friday Night Takeaway

Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Reasoned complaints were made after the post-WrestleMania Superstar Shake-up, noting that various trades and seemingly ill-thought-out switches between shows had brutally hijacked any sense of tension in some of the awkwardly-positioned Greatest Royal Rumble midcard clashes.

Seth Rollins finds himself in a fatal four-way Intercontinental Title battle featuring two opponents that wouldn't even be around to give him a rematch if he lost. Meanwhile, Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt are required to crab-walk into the King Abdullah International Arena and save Raw's tag titles from certain SmackDown Live! status if pinched by Sheamus and Cesaro.

Triple H was obviously right yet again - Kurt Angle is an idiot. Or the company are more than happy to let him be considered one, anyway.

The booking might bail him out yet - it's unlikely the belts will migrate permanently, with them all proving so vital on both shows since the original 2016 split. The company does have another pay-per-view just a week or so removed from the event itself though, and could potentially make use of the calendrical quirk to shock a few people. As a card, Backlash is a B-show in more than moniker alone, and will require the tension extracted from the The Bar and The Miz scarpering with the straps in Saudi.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett