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The Road to WrestleMania has officially begun as WWE Royal Rumble 2020 is in the history books, and what a show it was! While Charlotte Flair ended up solidifying her legacy as the Greatest Women's Superstar of all time by winning the women's Royal Rumble match, it was Drew McIntyre who ended up getting his big break as he went on to have a dominating run inside the squared circle and won the men's Royal Rumble match.
The excitement among fans in the arena as well as the ones sitting at home was high as the clock counted down for the next entrant each time. Being known as the most unexpected PPV of the entire year, the Internet was full of rumors and theories as to what could happen at the show.
While some major ones did come true as we witnessed the return of the Rated-R Superstar, Edge, Beth Phoenix, Molly Holly, MVP, and many more, there were others that didn't saw the light of the day. Of course, plans change on the go in this business, hence not all rumors become news.
In this article, let's take a look at the five major Royal Rumble 2020 rumors that didn't turn out to be true. Let us know your opinions and thoughts about the PPV in the comments section below. How much would you rate it, dear reader?
#5 Victoria appearing at the Royal Rumble
A night before the Royal Rumble PPV, some eagle-eyed fans noticed WWE testing out video packages on the big screen of what were believed to be surprise entrants for the Rumble match. While the two-time United States Champion, MVP did come out as a surprise entrant, the other Superstar with the leaked entrance testing didn't show up.
We are talking about the 2-time Women's Champion, Victoria. The Women's Royal Rumble saw many surprise entrants appear, with veterans like Beth Phoenix, Molly Holly, and Kelly Kelly entering the Rumble. It's worth pondering why would WWE play her video package if she was not going to show up? I guess we'll have to wait to find out the answer!
#4 Cain Velasquez entering the Rumble
The entire situation with Cain Velasquez and his Royal Rumble appearance was weird ever since the former UFC Heavyweight champion confirmed himself to enter the Rumble during an exclusive interview with the Sun. Cain even went out to state that he's going to win it all.
“I think I’m doing it [the Rumble match], right, I think so. I can win it, hell yeah, that’s my mentality for everything. For everyone as well, that is how your mentality has to be. I’m going in to win this thing.”
Even Dave Meltzer stated that Velasquez was one of the favorites to eliminate Brock Lesnar from the match. Eventually, it was Drew McIntyre who ended up eliminating the Beast Incarnate from the match and had a massive stare-down with him.
The idea is that Lesnar becomes more and more hated, that’s why we saw R-Truth, that’s why we saw Ricochet... we are supposed to really detest Brock, because the more you hate Brock, the more you’re going to like whoever eliminates him. And they are doing this because they are not confident they will get a pop for whoever eliminates him because easily the favourite person to do that is Cain Velasquez.
Interestingly, WWE never acknowledged Cain's announcement of announcing himself into the Rumble, and one has to wonder whether Cain was supposed to let that information out and if not, did WWE punish him by removing him from the match altogether?
#3 Sting appearing to set up a match for Saudi Arabia
While WWE usually holds its Saudi Arabia mega shows after the WrestleMania season is over, this year the schedule is different as the company is all set to host WWE Super ShowDown on February 27, 2020, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
As has been the case with every Saudi show, the company is sure to call back some massive names for an appearance in the Middle East. Just a couple of days before the Royal Rumble, PWInsider reported that WWE Hall of Famer, Sting will be returning at the PPV to set up his appearance and possibly a match at the Saudi Arabia event.
Since The Undertaker was also spotted in Houston, Texas, fans again started to anticipate a clash between the two legends. Unfortunately, this was not the case as neither of the two Superstars made an appearance at the show.
Though we still have nearly a month for the Super ShowDown and it'll be interesting to see whether Sting actually returns for another match or not. Who do you see him facing, if not The Undertaker?
#2 Shayna Baszler winning the Women's Royal Rumble match
One of the biggest rumors for the PPV was former NXT Women's Champion, Shayna Baszler winning the Women's Royal Rumble match to set up a clash with The Man, Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 36. The two ladies have had quite an intense rivalry ever since Survivor Series, and the stage looked set for the Queen of Spades to have her big break.
When Baszler entered the match at the prestigious #30 spot and started tossing out Superstars one after the other, it looked all but certain that she will end up winning it. But that was not to be the case as Charlotte Flair threw her over the top rope to win the 30-women Royal Rumble match.
Nonetheless, Shayna Baszler had a great showing on the event as she eliminated as many as 8 women during her stay inside the ring, equalling the record for most eliminations in the women's Royal Rumble set by Bianca Belair earlier in the same match. This, combined with her dominating win over both the RAW and SmackDown women's champions at Survivor Series 2019, the WWE higher-ups surely see a star-in-the-making in Baszler. What do you think will her role be after the Royal Rumble?
#1 Roman Reigns winning the Men's Royal Rumble match
Much like every year, the rumor mill was full of speculations of who would end up booking his ticket to WrestleMania by winning the Royal Rumble this year. While there were occasional mentions of Drew McIntyre and an outside chance of Cain Velasquez, the man that many believed to come out victorious was none other than Roman Reigns.
The Big Dog entered his sixth Rumble match this year and ended up just short of the victory as Drew McIntyre threw him over the top rope after hitting a Claymore kick to win the match. This was the fourth occasion when Reigns ended up as the runner-up in the match.
Let's be honest, we all are happy that this rumor didn't turn out to be true as Drew needed this victory much more than Reigns to establish himself as a top babyface on the roster. Him eliminating Brock Lesnar and the post-elimination stare-down with the Beast Incarnate was one of the best moments of the show, as clearly evident by the reaction he got from the fans in attendance. It was, after all, a fan-driven change that led to McIntyre becoming the Rumble winner.
At the same time, nothing to take away from the Big Dog who pulled-off double duty on the show by first taking on Baron Corbin in a Falls Count Anywhere match and then entering the Rumble. What holds next for the Roman Reigns?
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