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The Royal Rumble has traditionally begun the Road to WrestleMania.
The victor of the 30-man Royal Rumble match has traditionally been one of the focal points on the road to WrestleMania, as they were allowed to face a champion of their choosing at WrestleMania.
In the current Brand-Split Era, WWE has moved away from this formula; rather than choose which world champion they wanted to face, the winner has faced the world champion of their brand.
In the current Brand-Split Era, both winners have been from SmackDown Live, and have challenged for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Logic dictates therefore that a Monday Night RAW Superstar will emerge victorious.
However, the statistics indicate that SmackDown Live superstars have traditionally fared better in Royal Rumble matches, with 9 out of 12 winners when the Brand-Split has been in effect being from SmackDown Live.
This article, at least, looks to buck that trend.
Keeping with recent trends, all of these superstars are established main-eventers. Furthermore, all of these superstars are believable Royal Rumble winners, and have the necessary star-power to be the focal points of WWE's most important time of the year.
So without further ado, let's get to it.
Braun Strowman
First things first.
Yes, I am aware that Braun Strowman has a date with The Beast, Brock Lesnar, for the WWE Universal Championship at the 2019 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. However, unless that match is the main event of the evening, there is no reason Braun Strowman cannot pull double duty.
Braun Strowman is a hulking behemoth of a man.
Scratch that.
As we are often reminded, Braun Strowman is a monster among men. He is, quite simply put, a terrifying physical specimen.
He has also been positioned as the top babyface on Monday Night Raw. A top babyface's championship coronation traditionally takes place at WrestleMania. They have held off on Braun Strowman winning the big one for so long, why not make him and the fans wait just a little longer?
He has already been cheated out of the WWE Universal Championship once, and has a long and storied history with Brock Lesnar. Given that WWE loves to make its top babyfaces sympathetic, why not continue this trend?
Why not have Braun Strowman lose to Brock Lesnar due to shenanigans, only to have Strowman enter the Royal Rumble match, win it, and slay The Beast at WrestleMania 35?
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins has had a very very good 2018.
He began the year as one-half of the RAW tag-team champions, had an excellent showing in the two-hour gauntlet match on RAW in February, won the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania, reformed the Shield, and won the RAW tag-team championship with Dean Ambrose.
For two-thirds of the year, Monday Night RAW was indeed Monday Night Rollins.
However, his year has somewhat fizzled out.
Seth Rollins could be the face of the entire company; he looks like a Greek God, is one of the best wrestlers in the entire world, a very good promo, and wildly popular with the fans. He just needs that little something to reach the next level.
A Royal Rumble victory would help achieve that.
Imagine Seth Rollins entering the match at number 1, and being the iron-man victor.
Imagine Seth Rollins challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 35.
Or alternatively, imagine Seth Rollins challenging Daniel Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 35.
Just imagine.
John Cena
John Cena is arguably the greatest WWE Superstar of all time.
He was a consistent draw at the top for over 10 years. He has won Money in the Bank. He has main evented 5 WrestleManias. He has won two Royal Rumble Matches. And he has won the small matter of 16 world championships, tying the two time WWE Hall of Famer, Ric Flair, for most world championships won.
The next logical step would be for John Cena to win number 17, thus breaking the record, and setting a new mark.
The logical place for such a history-making moment to take place would be at the showcase of immortals, WrestleMania.
And the logical way to get there would be for John Cena to win his third Royal Rumble match, tying fellow great, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin for most Royal Rumble match victories.
Yes, Cena is allegedly filming a movie at that time, but wrestlers have often misled their fans in order to generate a greater surprise at their return (see Jericho, Chris).
Cena could conceivably challenge either Brock Lesnar or Daniel Bryan.
John Cena winning his 17th World Championship against the greatest in-ring performer of his generation? Box office.
John Cena winning his 17th World Championship against the most dominant champion of this era? Box office.
John Cena winning the 2019 Men's Royal Rumble match? Box office.
A WWE Hall of Famer called out AEW fans HERE
