WWE Royal Rumble 2018: Predicting The Quality Of All 6 Matches
3. Brock Lesnar Vs. Kane Vs. Braun Strowman - Universal Title Triple Threat Match
The build-up promises proper, full-on, smoke-and-mirrors furniture destruction. On the January 8 RAW, Strowman, in an OTT stunt even by his blockbuster standards, pulled down the RAW set and crushed his opponents underneath it. It was a more spectacular burial than DX subjected The Revival to.
Logic dictates that you cannot follow that with a plodding bout of ring-based action, even if the prospect of a WrestleMania X-Seven-esque backstage melee is fanciful - but the presence of Kane looms over everything. Few take him seriously as a threat, much less a viable winner - and, consequently, this might compel WWE to go overboard in presenting him as a threat, wasting the opening act with his sluggish stalker routine. Even if he is (sensibly) sidelined via an early table spot, the No Mercy main event doesn't inspire much hope. Conversely: Kane, even beyond his prime, is decent value in multi-man affairs - and if this is even a pale, slower imitation of SummerSlam's berserk headliner, there is decent value in that also.
"Brock Lesnar walks into the Royal Rumble with only one cliffhanger in mind," Paul Heyman said, on that same episode. "Will Brock Lesnar pin Kane, will Brock Lesnar pin Braun Strowman, or will Brock Lesnar stack them on top of each other and pin them both?"
Obviously, the answer is Kane. Good wrestling is predictable, and casts a logical outcome in doubt in the midst of a dramatic match - but this will have to emphatically surpass expectations to do just that. Swayed by the build - WWE has done reasonably well to quell the Finn Bálor protests - this has slight potential to better the sum of its parts.
Anticipated Star Rating: **3/4