8 Burning Questions That Need Answering At WWE Royal Rumble
2. How Snarky Will Philly Be?
Philadelphia has a reputation for being a snarky, smarky wrestling city. They boo the good guys and cheer the villains. They love to be contrarian for the sake of it, so its possible we could see the Philly crowd do something unconventional, like actively root for a total, off-the-radar underdog to win the Rumble. Its a fair bet that fans will be in full form regarding Daniel Bryan, cheering him wildly and losing their collective minds if anyone other than him wins the Rumble. Last years Rumble was held in cross-state rival city Pittsburgh, and the fans there nearly brought the PPV to a grinding halt during the WWE World Heavyweight Championship title match and the Rumble itself. Poor Rey Mysterio was booed so vociferously that he might never return to the Steel City again. Whoever eliminates Bryan might fall into that category. So the question becomes, if Bryan is not winning the Rumble, will WWE actually use the crowd to their advantage and have someone like a Rusev toss him? If the company was looking for an alternative feud for Bryan, having him avenge his Rumble elimination by beating an undefeated Rusev wouldnt be a bad way to go, and the Philly crowd would give him nuclear heat. Of course, this means theyll have Roman Reigns eliminate him on his way to victory and wonder why hes being booed.
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.
