13 Ups And 16 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2019

9. Ali Being Set Up For A Run?

shinskue Nakamura Mustafa Ali
WWE.com

Sometimes you can get an idea of whether there are plans for someone based on how they perform in the Royal Rumble.

Judging by his performance, there’s a chance Mustafa Ali could be in line for a push at the United States Championship. Ali pinned WWE Champion Daniel Bryan early in his tenure on SmackDown and has been embroiled in a feud with Samoa Joe, whom he eliminated from the Rumble Sunday night.

Ali also managed to toss the new US champ Shinsuke Nakamura, which could be an indicator. Sure, he was ejected unceremoniously by Nia Jax, but Ali also lasted until the end portion of the match.

You don’t want to read too much into things, but it’s possible, so we’ll give it a little plug here just in case.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.