10 Things That Are Inevitable Before WWE WrestleMania 33
6. The Royal Rumble Will Be A Huge Disappointment
The Royal Rumble is widely billed as one of the most exciting pro-wrestling events of the year. It’s a unique, one-of-a-kind marquee event that takes place only once a year, and an opportunity for WWE to shake-up their main event scene with a match-up that any wrestler can theoretically win. All they have to do is dump a few opponents over the top rope and outlast 29 others: easy, right?
Unfortunately, the “anything can happen” argument continually spewed by WWE personnel in the event’s buildup just doesn’t stand up. More often than not, WWE don’t use the Royal Rumble as a tool to build a new superstar, and will elect to have one of their pre-existing main eventers win instead. The Royal Rumble is no longer a star-creating match, and the unpredictability is all but gone.
Even worse, WWE have only succeeded in infuriating their fanbase with the Rumble in recent years. You have to go all the way back to Edge’s 2010 victory to find a win that the fans were truly behind, with Batista’s 2014 triumph and Roman Reigns’ win the following year prompting particularly vitriolic responses. Triple H winning the event this year wasn’t exactly ideal either, but it fit the “anyone but Reigns” mentality that had settled in among the fanbase.
Fans always get their hopes up around Rumble time, but there’s little to suggest that WWE will elevate a Kevin Owens or AJ Styles this year. Instead, they’ll go for one of their tried and tested old hands, and it’s far more likely that we’ll see Randy Orton with his hand raised instead of a cult favourite.