8 Ups And 12 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2021

2. A Controversial Choice

If you were to look at the men’s Royal Rumble field, there really weren’t a lot of viable choices to be the winner and become a world title contender at WrestleMania 37. Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton and maybe Bobby Lashley could have pulled it off.

But the decision to pull the trigger on Edge, a Hall-of-Famer who was retired for nine years before returning last year until he got injured, is a baffling one. He has no existing feud with either current world champion, so unless they’re making a switch or manufacturing a rivalry, the storyline is a redemption arc for the Rated-R Superstar.

That’s not a terrible angle, but it just doesn’t work at this stage. Edge is closing on 50 and got injured just three matches into his comeback last year. He’s at best a part-timer who should be trying to have great matches with as many superstars as possible while he has the opportunity.

It’s tough to write this as a legit fan of Edge, and it’s understandable in a sense that WWE would try to capitalize on one of its bigger stars from the past, but there’s a huge difference between the two Rumble winners: One is a rising star, and the other is a fading one.

Here’s hoping this analysis proves wrong.