THIS Superstar Was Originally Meant To Win Men's WWE Royal Rumble 2022

This former NXT star was due to win the Rumble and head for a 'Mania main event.

Jan 31, 2022 January 31st, 2022

In somewhat surprising news, Riddle was at one point scheduled to win the men's Royal Rumble this past weekend.

As per Mike Johnson at PWInsider, the original winner of the men's Rumble contest was indeed slated to be the Original Bro.

By all accounts, it appears that this plan was in place up until the week of the Royal Rumble PPV. With plans changing at several times during the week of the Rumble, the final call was clearly made to have Brock Lesnar enter and win the 30-man bout.

Before the decision was made to go with the Beast Incarnate as the victor of the men's Royal Rumble, there was even at one point a pitch to have Randy Orton win the match. Despite this, the Viper's RK-Bro teammate was still the frontrunner until the final call was made to go with Lesnar.

Added to this, the ever-reliable @WrestleVotes has reported that there is a desire to make the inevitable match for a World Title as and when Team RK-Bro eventually split. Said split was due to happen ahead of last year's SummerSlam, before then being planned to play out in time for WrestleMania 38.

Now, it remains to be seen when that break-up will happen, with WrestleVotes indicating that parts of the WWE creative team are keen to keep Orton and Riddle together as a tag tandem for now.

WWE had plans since the pairing began last spring for Riddle vs Randy Orton @ SummerSlam, which didn’t happen. Plan was to hold off til Mania. I’m told now only a handful of creative members want to spilt them, w/ the idea that if the match happens, it should be for the WWE title
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— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) January 31, 2022

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

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