WWE Royal Rumble 2018: 11 Things That Must Happen

by John Bills

1. Shinsuke Nakamura Must Win The 2018 Royal Rumble

Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

As of right now, Shinsuke Nakamura is the overwhelming favourite for the 2018 Royal Rumble. This is less to do with how Nakamura has been booked on SmackDown and more to do with WrestleMania assumptions/delusions. Roman Reigns will likely challenge Brock Lesnar in the main event, but Elimination Chamber being a RAW event gives The Big Dog an alternative route to The Conquerer.

The Rumble winner will likely challenge the WWE Champion at ‘Mania, and fans have been clamouring for an AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match since both men arrived in WWE. The Phenomenal One is currently in possession of the prestigious title, leading many to assume that The King of Strong Style will prevail on Sunday night.

The lack of alternatives makes Nakamura an even stronger favourite heading into the Rumble. The fact that Daniel Bryan is currently joint-second favourite tells you all you need to know. Dolph Ziggler and John Cena are also very high up with the oddsmakers, showcasing the lack of obvious winners outside of the youngest IWGP Champion in history.

Predictable isn’t always a bad thing. Shinsuke Nakamura must win the 2018 Royal Rumble and go on to face AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34. It would give Nakamura the major pay-per-view victory he needs following his nightmare feud with Jinder Mahal, and set up a huge match for the biggest show of the year.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.