Every year, WWE stacks the deck when it comes to Royal Rumble entrants; however, a top Raw star could be left out of the annual elimination match. The Royal Rumble has become an event that has been exciting for more than determining the No. 1 contender for the Universal or WWE Championship at WrestleMania , but also for the WWE Universe to see what surprise entrants are returning for one night. Over the past few years, names such as “Diamond” Dallas Page, Godfather, Boogeyman, Diesel, and Booker T have all created a special element to the Royal Rumble , with the latter two receiving resounding ovations in 2011. In 2016, AJ Styles made his highly anticipated debut, lasting nearly 30 minutes before getting eliminated by Kevin Owens.
Although these are memorable entrances, sometimes there are contenders who the WWE are not as happy with. For instance, when Rey Mysterio was entrant No. 30 at the 2014 Royal Rumble , he received perhaps his worse reception in WWE history, as people were hoping for Daniel Bryan to take that spot. One of the most hated moments in Royal Rumble history was when Roman Reigns won the match in 2015 in Philadelphia, PA. Even with the assistance of The Rock, Reigns received a chorus of boos when his hand was raised. In fact, many could credit that very moment to when Reigns started to get unanimously booed from crowds all over the country.
It looks as if WWE could possibly learn from this mistake and have other plans for The Big Dog. According to the Wrestling Observer Live , Reigns could be left out of the Royal Rumble match altogether, and defend his Intercontinental Championship instead. This would remove the reaction that he could get once again from Philadelphia, and continue his successful path to getting cheered by the WWE Universe.
Since the plan is still to have Reigns compete against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 , the decision could be for him to win the No. 1 match for the Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber , which would lead to the match against Lesnar on April 8 in New Orleans, LA. In order to maintain the fan support, this would be a much better option than putting him in the Royal Rumble match, and especially winning it.
[Featured Image by WWE]
