10 Wild Outside Bets To Win WWE Royal Rumble 2021

8. Lana

Ricochet WWE
WWE.com

WWE has placed an ordinate investment in Lana in 2020.

Well-earned niceties out of the way - Lana was a very effective heel valet a few years back - it's all very weird, because there's no endgame of which to speak. She happens to not be a very good wrestler.

If those words read as familiar, that's because they are: Triple H said precisely that to John Cena back in 2006, so it's not as if WWE minds. But Lana is a different kind of not good, and understandably so; she's only worked a couple of hundred matches, and when she's asked to do the job on the flagship, she tends to blow spots regularly. She's hardly in there with a ring general that can help her along and obscure her flaws.

She's in there with Nia Jax. Nia can only help her walk with the aid of a crutch after she breaks her leg. Given their respective experience level and injury record, it is statistically miraculous that Lana hasn't suffered an injury.

The arc is weird. Lana has only just shown that she has a bit about her after playing a woefully oxymoronic entitled underdog. It hasn't worked, but perhaps the plan all along was for that win over Nia Jax to imbue her with a sense of overconfidence that may mutate into arrogance, drawing the ire of Asuka or some sh*t who knows.

Look. She's all over RAW and it's hardly going to be Reckoning at this point, is it.

Probability: 50%

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!