WWE Royal Rumble 2015 Preview and Predictions
All things won’t be so brotherly as the Road to WrestleMania will be mapped out
It’s about that time again.
Sunday (January 25th) will mark the 28th time that WWE will host the ever entertaining Royal Rumble event, live from Philadelphia, PA at the Wells Fargo Arena. The second straight year Pennsylvania has hosted the event, it would be one year after the Pittsburgh debacle that nearly derailed the entire WrestleMania 30 build. Now with all the chips on the table and a nearly complete healthy roster on deck, the winner is surprisingly in the air. It’s been a while since I have been really excited for a WWE Pay-Per-View such as this, despite only two matches worth investing for. So let’s get to the card and hand out these predictions:
Triple Threat Match For The WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Brock Lesnar © vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins
For so much flack we give the WWE Creative team these past four months, every once and a while they can get it right and the build of Seth Rollins for this Triple Threat Match with Brock Lesnar and John Cena has been tremendous. He has looked so comfortable around the top players and is poised to be a Main Eventer in the next few years. His insertion into the match also breathed life into the title program and with the potential face turn of Lesnar (and return of Randy Orton), who knows who’ll come out on top.
The initial backstory of this match goes all the way back to Night Of Champions, where Seth Rollins cost Cena his match against Lesnar and Curb Stomped both men in the process. In between the months were events where Rollins was in cahoots with Paul Heyman (secretly) and feuding with Cena where he won every match except the Tables Match at TLC. As aforementioned before, Rollins grew into a well-verse mic worker and had consistently good matches every week. Lesnar on the other hand is on his way out of the company and now WWE has to rush his face run destroying Big Show and Kane in his wake.
Aside from Lesnar and Rollins being awesome, the storyline with The Authority and John Cena has been absolutely stupid. It wasn’t until this past Monday when everything made logical sense with Cena putting his title shot on the line at the expense of bringing Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, and Ryback back to the roster. For a dude that was never there to help his partners out during Survivor Series, he really cared for him here or they have nothing for Cena at all up until WrestleMania.
Thankfully, Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, and Seth Rollins made the build for this match compelling and the 3-Way should be pretty damn great. In front of a hostile Philly Crowd however, WWE should tread lightly on how this match will be placed on the card and its finish. It was all but a foregone conclusion that Cena becomes a 16th Time World Champion and I still believe that because of the all too important X-Factor in this Authority storyline: Randy Orton.
I always found it strange that WWE fumbled the use of Orton during his renewed popularity of the RKO Vines and much of that is due to ill timing (movie filming, septum injury), but he could have always did a random run in and RKO Seth to a huge pop and keep his heat sizzling. Of course it’ll finally come to a head on Sunday when he causes Seth a chance at the WWE Title and give Cena an opportunity to win the title once more. It adds a new chapter into The Authority feud with Orton aiding a long time rival just to gain revenge.
The 30-Man Royal Rumble Match: Winner Receives a WWE Title Shot At WrestleMania 31 (Confirmed Names As Of This Writing: Roman Reigns, Big Show, Rusev, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose, Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, The Miz, Damien Mizdow, Bad News Barrett, Fandango, R-Truth, Goldust, Stardust, and Justin Gabriel)
The match that many will be ordering this PPV or attending a friend’s house for is the match where there was a clear-cut choice six months ago.
If you were to say that someone other than Roman Reigns would be the Royal Rumble winner in August 2014, you would’ve been a fool. Now, there’s the chance we can all still be fooled but man Roman has been hurt tremendously since his return in December. He’s been hampered with these terribly written promos by Vince McMahon himself (to which I believe is another hidden sabotage job on any and every NXT success story to keep them from superseding WWE’s Superman in John Cena). He’s still good in the ring, but his stock in being a main eventer has taken a dent. Add in a returning Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, and Dean Ambrose as rampant crowd favorites and things are looking very familiar to last year.
As it stands right now there are 18 confirmed names for the Rumble, leaving 12 to be filled with a few more midcarders like Luke Harper and Jack Swagger, a NXT hopeful in Sami Zayn, and some surprise entrants along the way. Since Philly is the home of Extreme, don’t be surprise we see one-off appearances from Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer (and another return on the show as well). I can also see the returns of Bo Dallas, Sheamus, David Otunga, and Zack Ryder even it’s just for that night. The Rumble is always known for its entertaining guest spots and the big pop it brings to a crowd so at least three names should be on there.
As far as the winner goes, I already wrote that it’s going to come down to four (or five choices) and that all involves the decision of the WWE Title Match. Going into the Rumble, you have Bryan that’s an overwhelming favorite for winning it with Roman Reigns following suit. As always there is the chance in Ziggler winning it, but I highly doubt it will go in that direction. So we’re left with two options: WWE’s heir apparent that is liked by many but will be despise by the smart crowd or the underdog that never got his true run.
Then there is the one, true dark horse in this match and that’s the man who has been on a roll in Bray Wyatt. Quiet as kept, Wyatt has been booked just as strong post-Cena feud despite not being involved in any high profile programs. He has yet to take a pinfall on television and completely dominated his entire feud with Dean Ambrose. Up until this week, he was the one man cutting promos on the Rumble and there’s the strong possibly of Bray reaching the final four. However, much of this is due to an apparent showdown with The Undertaker at WrestleMania and not being in the title picture.
That being said, I hope WWE does the right thing and give it to Bryan or we really may be stuck with this.
WWE Tag Team Championship: The Usos © vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow
Now we get into the undercard and it’s going to be fairly forgettable like this tag feud here involving the champs and challengers who have faced each other in a variety of ways (14 times in 6 weeks if I recall correctly). While Damien Mizdow has been making due with what’s been given to him and consistently one of the more entertaining acts on WWE television, it sucks that he is stuck in midcard purgatory for life with the Midcard Purgatory King, Miz.
There’s not too much to say about this match other than the fact that there’s still an angle with Naomi and Jimmy Uso but I guess they done away with that as well. The matches haven’t been all that great either, but The Usos are hard workers and can make anything slightly passable. Expect for them to retain in a fairly short match.
Total Divas Explode: The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie) vs. Natalya & Paige
In the unfortunate bathroom break death slot will be four talented divas having a tag match the crowd will not care for (and strangely chant “CM Punk” to). All of this is circling around the Total Divas show where Paige is now a cast member and coincidentally strikes up a friendship with Natalya. The Divas Title is involve in here somewhat, but instead of putting the title on the line in a 4-way we get this. Not that it matters though as I’m certain Paige is gonna turn on Nattie and cost her the match because DIVAS.
Tag Team Match: New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) vs. The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor)
Returning to the ring almost after a year, The New Age Outlaws are set to face a team that was doomed from the very onset of their WWE debut, The Ascension. While I was never a big fan of the team to begin with, the way they have been portrayed on WWE television has been comical. Their promos reek of cartoonish fuckery, the face paint and shoulder pads make them out to be cosplaying L.O.D during WrestleMania Weekend, and the crowd gives them X-Pac heat every time they’re out in the ring. It’s not entirely their fault though; after all they were buried deep beneath the Earth when they were destroyed by their opponents, the APA, and n.W.o in embarrassing fashion.
I guess its Vince’s sick way of giving young dudes the rub (or once again, his blatant sabotaging of the NXT product to ironic degrees), but I’m certain The Ascension will get the victory. The Outlaws can still work well in the ring as shown, but man they’re going have a tough time. Oh and I’m sure The Dudleyz will destroy The Ascension for more of that ‘rub’ too.
Pre-Show Six-Man Elimination Tag Match: The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E, & Xavier Woods) vs. The Brass Ring Club (Adam Rose, Cesaro, & Tyson Kidd)
The Brass Ring Club — which is an insider on Vince McMahon’s outlook on the young roster and in particular, the three men that represents the stable — have been a thorn in the side of The New Day since the latter’s debut. The New Day themselves haven’t been setting the world on fire since their repackaged return to WWE TV and that’s because their gimmick sucks. Sure, it’s getting pops by the crowd but it’s very hard to take three guys very seriously if they don’t act….well, serious. Shitty gimmicks aside, this match might turn out to be the third best of the night, but that’s not a hard task looking at this card. Cesaro, Kidd, and Kofi remains to be three of the most undervalued workers the WWE has and I’m sure they are going to have their working boots on to have a quality match. The elimination stipulation could benefit having less Rose and Woods (the latter suffering from an ankle injury) and more time for the workhorses to cook.
If given enough time it could potentially steal the show, so I have The New Day winning with Kofi and Big E being the sole survivors.
All photos and videos are credited by WWE.com unless otherwise noted. Also, from now on this is where many of my quips and ramblings of pro wrestling will appear until further notice. Oh, and the photoshopped poster for WrestleMania 31 is utterly fake but it can really happen.
- New Update: There’s now 27 confirmed entrants into the Royal Rumble, leaving 3 spots open and no truly special surprises. Maybe just RVD, Bo Dallas, and Orton after all lol.
- Update #2: Or not
Happy reading.
