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The Royal Rumble is just hours away now. The excitement is flowing through every wrestling fan as the most unique and exciting match of the calendar year is upon us. The men's Rumble match has been the selling point of the PPV for over 20 years and this year is the same.
The Rumble match is usually a slow build up. A few superstars start the match as jobbers, mid-carders and big names hit the ring. The slow pace then turns into a fast frenzy of action which then again slows down to just a few men and the eventual winner. Thus, the #1 and #2 entrant of any Rumble match is really important. These two superstars usually set the pace for the Rumble match and all other superstars build off of them. Finn Balor and Rusev set the pace for last year's Rumble match and Balor even pulled off the Iron Man role.
Sometimes, the first two entrants are also integrated into ongoing storylines. Roman Reigns was 'forced' to enter the 2016 Rumble at #1 by the McMahons. CM Punk suffered a similar fate in 2014 while The Miz faced the same situation in 2012. So, if two men have some previous history between them, they are more likely to enter at #1 and #2. So, let us take a look at 5 pairs of WWE Superstars who I think are most likely to enter at #1 and #2 this year.
5. Rey Mysterio and Andrade Cien Almas
Andrade and Rey Mysterio have had two amazing matches on SmackDown Live in the past two weeks. The two Lucha Libre wrestlers have amazing chemistry together and seem to do no wrong when they are in the ring. Moreover, Andrade had a great showing at last year's Rumble where he didn't look out of sorts for one second and Rey Mysterio is a Rumble legend.
If they are allowed to begin the Rumble, it will be a fitting end to their rivalry after Samoa Joe ruined their two-out-of-three falls match on WWE SmackDown Live. They can start the Rumble match with a sort of mini-match between them and one of them can eliminate the other some time into the match to put their rivalry to bed. They can also go the other way and surprise the crowd by working together in eliminating the first entrants and turning Andrade face in the process.
Andrade and Mysterio's pairing opens up a lot of doors for their futures. They can form a tag team and no one will be complaining as both are amazing performers.
4. Elias and Baron Corbin
Elias has one of the best gimmicks on the main roster. He is "A Drifter," someone who plays music from city to city which just happens to coincide with Monday Night Raw every week. He is one of the most over characters on WWE TV at this moment as the WWE Universe absolutely love him. He gets a guaranteed reaction from any crowd at any given time. Elias usually performs for the crowd in every show he is booked in. Elias will come out and sing a song for the crowd, usually poking fun at whoever he is feuding with.
So it seems only logical that WWE has Elias do the same thing at the Royal Rumble. Last year WWE innovated a very entertaining spot for Elias' performance between entrants in the Rumble match. Baron Corbin went on a rampage after being eliminated and laid out Finn Balor, Rusev and Heath Slater who were the only 3 men in the match. Elias came out next and with everyone down, performed for the crowd until the next entrant came in. WWE won't be repeating that same spot again this year and the most logical way of putting an Elias performance in the Rumble is to put him at #1. He can perform for the crowd before being interrupted by a mid-card heel like Baron Corbin and the match can begin.
With the stacked card the Rumble has, an Elias performance will be a perfect way to warm up the crowd for the Rumble and will be pretty entertaining as well.
3. Samoa Joe and Mustafa Ali.
Mustafa Ali is the newest member of the SmackDown Roster. He made his debut back in December in an amazing match against Daniel Bryan. Ali was then announced as a full-time member of the roster. He has also announced his participation in his very first Royal Rumble match. A complete white-meat babyface, Ali has won over the WWE Universe with his down to earth character and in-ring work.
If WWE wants to cement his position as an underdog a long run in the Rumble match is the way to go. And who better to begin the match with but the meanest superstar on the roster Samoa Joe. Joe has been setting up a feud against Ali on SmackDown for the last couple of weeks and they will probably begin their feud after the Rumble. So what better way to have the first confrontation between them than having them start the Rumble match. The two can work a David vs Goliath story to start the Rumble where Joe pummels Ali while Ali tries to survive. Ali can eliminate Joe late into the match to set up a future match.
WWE has an amazing talent on their hands with Mustafa Ali and if booked right, he can become one of WWE's top stars of the New Era.
2. Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman
Drew McIntyre has been on the cusp of a huge push for a while now. Although he has been pinned a few times on Raw during this time, he has retained his credibility and popularity. The people seem to be behind him and he seems to be over with the WWE Universe. But ever since McIntyre's push started he has teased a match against Braun Strowman. McIntyre has laid out Strowman on several occasions but has never had an official match with him. A WrestleMania match has been rumored and the Rumble will be the perfect place to start building towards it.
Strowman was recently removed from his match against Brock Lesnar. There are two theories behind this. Either he was simply removed because WWE felt Balor was the right choice for Lesnar's opponent or the more popular rumor is that Braun is still injured. However, he did compete on Raw this week and will probably appear in the Royal Rumble match. It is unlikely that he will win but whoever eliminates him will get a huge rub going forward. McIntyre and Strowman starting the rumble and absolutely dominating the early entrants will be the perfect way to kick off a hard-hitting Rumble match.
If some time into the Rumble, maybe at the very end, McIntyre eliminates Strowman or vice-versa, it will set up their match at WrestleMania perfectly.
1. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose
Underwhelming is the perfect way to describe Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose's feud that happened at the end of last year. Their only PPV match at TLC was met with boos and "boring" chants from the crowd. WWE quickly shelved the feud and even got the title off of Ambrose a couple of weeks ago and put it on Bobby Lashley. Seth Rollins is also the favorite to win this year's Royal Rumble and go on to face Brock Lesnar and beat him at Wrestlemania. So Rollins will probably need a huge Rumble performance.
So starting the match off with his archnemesis will be the perfect way to go. Rollins and Ambrose can both run the gauntlet and be the ironmen for the match. Rollins, particularly, can pull off an enduring performance where he goes coast-to-coast and wins the match. Moreover, this will be a very exciting way to begin the Rumble match as, regardless of what happened, Rollins and Ambrose are capable of pulling off great matches and feuds against one another. Them starting the Rumble will hype up the crowd for whatever's to follow.
Rollins' coast to coast stint will be perfect to set him up for his Mania match against Lesnar and it will also improve his stock as the new face of WWE.
A WWE Hall of Famer called out AEW fans HERE
