10 Things That Must Happen Now WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Is Over
Getting WWE's ducks in a row for WrestleMania...
The 2017 Royal Rumble is in the books, and the general consensus is that it was a mixed bag. There was some great action on the undercard (though arguably not enough to offset the fact that it was stretched over nearly five hours), capped off by a John Cena versus AJ Styles WWE Championship match that's earning strong praise from just about everyone. That said, the Rumble match itself - the real draw of the Pay-Per-View - was once again a disappointment.
Fans had spent weeks marveling over how strong the lineup for the Rumble was, and speculating over who could make a surprise appearance (especially given that last year's Rumble hosted the WWE debut of Styles). In the end, though, most of the stars were eliminated unceremoniously, Roman Reigns was the big surprise, and Randy Orton - who hasn't exactly been on fire lately - won the match.
Still, what's done is done, and now the build to WrestleMania begins. The card is taking shape, to be sure, but how do we get from point A to point B? With a bunch of smaller points in between, as it turns out. Here are ten things that must happen now that the 2017 Royal Rumble is over:
10. They Finally Do Something With Seth Rollins And Triple H
It's possible that by the time you read this, this could have already happened. I'm writing this the morning after the Rumble, and Seth Rollins and Stephanie McMahon are scheduled for a face-off on this evening's Raw.
That said, it's kind of surprising that they've held off on the Rollins-HHH showdown this long, even taking into account how much Triple H likes to hear people talking about him on TV. Back in August, Triple H cost Rollins his shot at the Universal Title by helping Kevin Owens win the vacant belt, and since then, there's been no physicality between the men. In fact, their only other joint appearance came at Saturday's TakeOver: San Antonio, when Rollins crashed the event and HHH briefly came out to send security after "The Architect."
Given that the two men are scheduled to clash at WrestleMania, some further salvos need to be fired - and soon. Seeing Rollins finally get a piece of his former mentor would be a good next step, but of course, HHH needs to keep making life miserable for his one-time "chosen one" in order to get the fans interested in Rollins's revenge.