Royal Rumble Forecast

Couple of quick thoughts before the 2015 Royal Rumble kicks off. I have a combination of predications and wishful thinking of things I'd like to see happen, yet could be considered realistically in line with the direction that WWE has been moving in.

Coming out of the Royal Rumble match and triple threat title match, I would like to see and consider it plausible to see a Daniel Bryan Vs Seth Rollins for the WWE World Championship main event Wrestlemania 31. The seeds for this idea were planted firmly while listening to Jim Ross' excellent podcast where he envisioned the same scenario. He has no apparent inside track, just a lot of experience and knowledge about the business, and many other scenarios involving Roman Reigns and/or Lesnar in the mix have arisen as well.

What I like about the idea of a Bryan/Rollins setup is that it puts two wrestlers who are on the rise in the spotlight. Both have been over with the fans, Bryan's momentum only hitting the brakes after time being taken away for surgery, in their respective roles as baby face and despicable heel. Both can put on an extremely impressive technical match with years of indie experience to draw on, and this is widely known to audiences watching them for the past 1 - 2 years. It would be a credible win for either of them, and would show that WWE is putting a concerted effort on promoting the future instead of constantly falling back on the past. Whether all of the powers that be at WWE are really down with that last sentiment, I'm really not sure.

So where does that put the others in the main event picture is the next logical question. Reigns seemed the next most likely to be pushed to the number 1 spot, but signs suggest that WWE  is aware of what other insightful fans have been saying: He's not ready. I look back to the amazing feud between The Shield and The Wyatt Family, and think this would be a perfect time to rekindle heat between Reigns and Wyatt, leading to a match between them at Wrestlemania. The 6 wrestlers involved in that series of matches brought so much energy to it, bringing down the house each time. Reigns and Wyatt were always positioned as the clear leader of each group. WWE could play it smart and bring those past battles into focus as a partial cause for whatever may lead Wyatt to attack Reigns, like say screw him over in the Royal Rumble match tonight. Bray has such a strange peripheru role, sometimes just kinda being there until he decides to go after someone based on some half-baked philosophy he is given to justify it. But looking at his eventual win in that unfortunate program with Dean Ambrose, he did come out on top showing that he is in one of the top heel slots. I echo the sentiment of others that it would be interesting to see a Roman Reigns heel change, but don't see it happening with WWE putting so much spotlight on him as a face.

It's been suggested that Cena go on to face, and probably defeat Rusev at Mania. It makes perfect sense to me, keep Cena out of the main event where smart marks will groan, and give him a through and through heel like Rusev to vanquish and make it a feel good moment. At the same time, if they put Rusev over Cena, even better.

Brock Lesnar is the trickiest part of the puzzle. In my ideal world he would be winning and moving on to main event Wrestlemania. He is the most compelling talent to watch and by far the most phsysically impressive. But his days at WWE would seem to be numbered with no sign of him staying with the WWE instead of going with offers from the UFC. Still, this still would seem to have a question mark at the end of it, especially with Brock coming across like a face at the end of the last RAW. Could that have just been to give Rollins the come back victory after being knocked around by Lesnar?

Well, going with the idea that his days are numbered, it would make sense to take him out of the main event picture. 'Have heard the possibility of Heyman turning on him. I hope that doesn't happen. It could be interesting, but to me Heyman has always been loyal - even when he turned on CM Punk, it was after CM Punk said he wanted to go in a direction without Heyman. I don't think a betrayal would really make sense. Phasing Brock out as a face could leave the door open for a huge eventual comeback that would get fans clamoring for it. At the same time, he could make another star. If, for instance they put him in a program with Ryback....I don't love it, and cannot imagine Ryback winning, but if they are as high on him as it seems, a solid match with Lesnar would make him appear stronger.

Keep in mind, Randy Orton is very likely to be somewhere in the mix, as this would be the time for him to return. Do they trust him? He did seem to be getting a lot of positive buzz as soon he put his hands on Rollins and Hunter. Would they have enough faith to enter him in the Rumble as a surprise entrant and go all the way, for a match against Rollins at Wrestlemania?? If we get Rollins/Oron at Mania, I really think it's not fresh enough to be the main event. Put it ont he undercard and move forward with Bryan and Lesnar, a match I'd love to see but don't expect. Otherwise, look to hear a lot of 'No! No! No!' coming out of Philadelphia.