It seems to me that pretty much everybody and their mother are predicting Roman Reigns to win this year's Royal Rumble. Whether it's a big portion of the fans out there, the numerous podcasts or the various dirt sheets/websites that report WWE news, the general consensus is that Roman will win and then challenge the Fiend at Mania, ultimately being the first to defeat him and become new WWE Champion.
I ain't here to say that this isn't a possibility, nor am I that blind to not spot the obvious. For one, Roman Reigns already hinted the idea himself of challenging for the title during the backstage promo with Daniel Bryan on Smackdown this past Friday, shortly before their tag match against Corbin and Ziggler for the main event. That's as good of a "spoiler" alone to suggest Roman will indeed enter back in the title scene picture after months of WWE keeping him away from it (practically ever since his return), for obvious reasons I might add. My thinking however is, I don't find it absolutely necessary for him to win the Royal Rumble in order to so so. All bullshit aside, Roman Reigns is a big enough star to challenge for the title without having to "earn" it by winning either the Rumble or the Elimination Chamber next month for that matter. Quite frankly, I feel he's already "earned" that opportunity considering the current rediculous story line with Baron Corbin, the dog food nonsense and whatnot.
Now, as mentioned above, I ain't here to dispute the idea of Roman challenging for the WWE Championship; as a matter of fact, I consider it to be a done deal already. What I don't agree with is the notion that it will be a one on one match in which Roman Reigns will end the Fiend's undefeated run. My personal take is that Daniel Bryan will also be involved in the title match at Wrestlemania, thus making it a threeway dance and in my view, this could potentially be the perfect setup if WWE were to consider protecting the Fiend in the proccess, by having him basically lose without losing, aka dropping the belt without getting pinned. If it were up to me, whether it comes down to a one on one match with Roman or my aformentioned idea of a triple threat with DB included, I'd still have the Fiend win because I think it's about time Bray Wyatt got a big win in a big enough stage such as Wrestlemania but if we are going to do a title change anyway, I say at least protect the Fiend character by not having him eat the pin.
So, that being said, I obviously ain't picking Roman Reigns to win the Royal Rumble.
Furthermore, I cannot see Brock Lesnar winning either. Now, granted, the announcement made this past Monday on RAW of Lesnar not only entering the Royal Rumble but doing so from the number one spot does add some intrigue but putting things in perspective and taking a relaxed approach on things, it doesn't really make much sense for him to win, right? Sure, a point could be made for the "shock factor" of the situation but, really, where would the value be in that? I feel it's rather obvious that this is WWE's way of setting up Brock's Wrestlemania plan and, to be honest, I'm quite okay with it, so long as Cain Velasquez isn't involved; been there, done that and I ain't interested. Quite frankly, given it's Houston, I'd much rather it be the Undertaker (yes, you heard me right) and I'd much rather see Taker versus Lesnar part two, if this is the case, rather then a boring match with Cain that I feel very few would be interested in.
As for the winner, I think it's safe to "eliminate" Seth from the equation (again, been there, done that and twice for that matter) whilst I can't see it being Kevin Owens either. I just don't. Samoe Joe would be a very interesting choice in my opinion (I personally enjoyed that one month programme last year leading to Great Balls of Fire) but he seems to be "occupied" in this story line with KO and Rollins with AOP, plus I feel WWE would be quite hesitant given how injury prone Joe has been. On the other hand, however, if there was ever a time to give Joe a big push, I think that time is now consider this my...dark horse pick, if you will.
Had Bobby Lashley been properly booked, I personally believe him against Lesnar would be a very interesting match of Wrestlemania caliber but, again, the way they've handled him is a joke so...nope.
Another kind of outside the box pick is Big E. I mean, they did it with Kofi last year so why not give Big E a singles run and a title match at Mania against Brock Lesnar? That could be an interesting match, don't you think? Granted, chances are slim to none but throwing that out there as well.
My main pick is Drew McNtyre and, quite frankly, I don't even think there needs to be too much reasoning behind it. They clearly like the guy, they are clearly doing something with his character as of late (almost looks as if he's turning face), he defintetely has the look and skills both inside the ring and on the mic plus...it's about fucking time they gave this man a proper push. I think we've had enough of him simply winning meaningless matches on RAW, only to choke when it matters the most. What better rub, what better of a push for someone like Drew to win the Rumble and challenge Brock at Mania? I'd be down for that, how about you?