Goldberg has had quite a few months, hasn’t he?
He started as a man who was returning simply to have his “last match” with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2016. It seemed he was destined to lose to Brock, hopefully, have a good match and ride off into the sunset. But all of that changed in one minute and 26 seconds when Goldberg squashed Brock Lesnar.
It was shocking and made it quite clear Goldberg was here to stay.
It is painfully obvious that the WWE wants you to believe Goldberg will win the Royal Rumble. He has had some interesting interactions with all of the major stars of the Raw brand in the last few weeks. If you end a show with a stare down with the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, it is pretty obvious you are one of the major favorites to win the 2017 Royal Rumble.
So who can stop the seemingly unstoppable Goldberg? I present my list of top five men who could eliminate Goldberg from the 2017 Royal Rumble:
#5 Dean Ambrose
This list can’t contain just wrestlers from Raw, right? SmackDown seemed to be an afterthought in the lead up to the Rumble match. Despite this, I still believe that SmackDown has some potential Rumble winners in Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. But I believe the “Lunatic Fringe” has the best shot at Goldberg from the brand.
It seems pretty transparent that Brock and Goldberg will interact at some point. But another interesting player to get in their way would be Dean. It is safe to say Dean didn’t have the best match with Brock at WrestleMania 32 and it would be beyond interesting to see him interact with Brock at the Rumble.
Since Dean’s character thrives on being unpredictable, he could take the opportunity against both Brock and Goldberg to shock the world and eliminate Goldberg in the Rumble at that time. It would be a much-needed shock and add instant credibility to the Intercontinental Champion heading into WrestleMania season.
He certainly has enough star power to deserve the elimination and build on that moment.
#4 Braun Strowman
Strowman has been pushed as a major player on the Raw brand in the last six months. He has had multiple interactions with the other favourites of the Rumble and has always come out of those occasions still looking strong.
The WWE has a terrible habit of pushing part-timers for WrestleMania at the expense of the full-time stars. If the WWE was smart, they would take this opportunity to build a monster heel for the future.
Based on his previous build, Strowman would seem to fit that bill. He would stand up nicely to Goldberg and it would be a star-making moment if he could eliminate him.
#3 Chris Jericho
It is interesting that a lot of Jericho’s focus has been on his involvement in the WWE Universal title. It seems an afterthought that he is involved in the Rumble match himself. With his popularity and constant involvement in the main event scene, it would seem he would be a threat to eliminate any of the top stars and win the Rumble match.
The other reason Jericho is a favourite to eliminate Goldberg is their long and storied history together. Goldberg personally squashed Jericho’s push in WCW. When Goldberg had his first run in WWE, Jericho was on the losing end of their feud.
#2 The Undertaker
I’ll admit that it was pretty special to see the three-person face-off between Goldberg, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar on this week’s Raw. All three of them seem among the favorites to win the whole thing. We will surely see them fight in the Rumble match itself. I mean we didn’t see the fight on Raw, we must see it on Sunday.
Undertaker has many strong potential matches for WrestleMania 33. One that would be most interesting for the fans to see would be against Goldberg. It is original and would be one of the best money making matches for the biggest stage possible.
What is one of the best ways to get there? Have ‘Taker eliminate Goldberg from the Rumble thus ending Goldberg’s Universal Title dream. That would seem a good way to start the Road to WrestleMania.
#1 Brock Lesnar
This is so obvious, isn’t it? The WWE seems to have been building the Goldberg-Lesnar match at WrestleMania 33 since the moment Lesnar was beaten at Survivor Series. It seems there is no better way to get back to that point other than at the Royal Rumble.
One of the major disadvantages of Brock getting squashed at Survivor Series is it runs the risk of destroying his credibility as a monster forever. If Brock doesn’t eliminate and destroy the man who shocked him in November, how will he ever be seen as the Beast again? That is why I fully expect Brock to be throwing Goldberg over the ropes on Sunday.
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