WWE Royal Rumble 2019: 10 Last-Minute Rumours You Need To Know
10. John Cena Is Out
Very outta-nowhere this one, as it was suggested on the go home Raw that John Cena would not actually be in the Royal Rumble. This despite his impassioned promo about not only entering the thing, but winning it and having one last shot at breaking Ric Flair's big daft made up record. Instead WWE claimed that he had picked up an ankle injury at the hands of Drew G̶a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶a̶y̶ McIntyre during their fatal-4-way last week. This, they insisted, made his participation in the match "questionable". Eyebrows, both foreign and domestic, were raised.
According to your pal and mine Dave Meltzer though, Cena was never actually scheduled to compete in the Rumble at all. Big Match John is, in fact, scheduled to start filming his new movie that Sunday instead (why you'd start anything on a Sunday is beyond me but sure, ok) and his involvement always a work as part of a larger angle.
That plan had been, we're told, to have a debuting Lars Sullivan attack Cena backstage taking him out of the match, with the long-term idea being to build towards a match between the two at WrestleMania. However Sullivan's rumoured recent personal issues look to have ruled him out of the Rumble altogether, meaning the Cena angle's largely redundant.
Rumour Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2