5 Things to watch out for at WWE Greatest Royal Rumble event

The Greatest Royal Rumble is scheduled for this Friday, April 27th at the King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Obviously, WWE decided to put on this event to really appeal to the market and investors in this region, which explains why it's not only a legitimate pay-per-view but also a completely stacked card.

In a sense, WWE's plan seems to be to overload the event with as much as possible so that it is too over-the-top to not be a success, but we'll have to see if that ends up being the case.

Until then, we're left to wonder what exactly is going to happen on this show, as the build for it has been complete and utter chaos with matches being twisted around, the Superstar Shake-up and Backlash having an influence on why some of this makes no sense, and even the surprises from WrestleMania 34 having an effect on this.

Per usual, as we ramp up to this Friday's festivities, it's time for us to take a look at five things, in particular, to pay attention to and look out for when it comes to the Greatest Royal Rumble's key moments.

#5 Repercussions of Royal Rumble win

Greatest Royal Rumble — WWE seems to only be willing to advertise a few names for this, but who do you think will come out on top?

Technically speaking, this isn't so much something that could happen at the event, but something that could come about after the fact, although with little to no time before Backlash, we could see something even more immediate.

As it stands right now, the winner of the 50-man Royal Rumble match stands to gain nothing other than bragging rights and a silver trophy.

That's all well and good, but the normal Royal Rumble grants the winner a title shot of their choosing at the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania.

This is more of an equivalent of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, wherein it's somewhat meaningless and within a few days, could be forgotten about with the winner not receiving a solid push out of it.

However, watch out for the potential that WWE might have something else in the store, whether it be a title shot at Backlash or Extreme Rules or some kind of big surprise revolving around the mere idea that this wrestler has outlasted 49 other men.

It's almost impossible to tell what that could be, but don't rule out this match as being just a frivolous exercise in futility.

#4 A swerve with the Raw Tag Team Championship

All signs point to Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy winning the Raw Tag Team Championship at this event, and it would be crazy to think otherwise, given the evidence.

Not only are Cesaro and Sheamus now on SmackDown, which severely hinders the chances of them winning a Raw-branded title, but the babyface duo of Wyatt and Hardy have significantly more contenders to go up against on Raw than The Bar would.

Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, The Authors of Pain and The Revival are all potential feuds, as well as even Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, but if The Bar were to win, they'd be limited to Titus Worldwide and Heath Slater and Rhyno for options.

However, with Backlash coming just a few days after this event, there exists a possibility WWE purposely swerves everybody who is expecting a guaranteed win for The Deleters of Worlds by having The Bar be victorious here, only to have a rematch at Backlash where they drop the titles.

That would be an unnecessary extra step to take to end up in the same conclusion, but with the way WWE has booked things recently, it wouldn't be too out of the realm of possibility for it to happen, so keep your eyes peeled.

#3 The Universal Championship finishes

When it comes to Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship, there are only two potential outcomes: Lesnar retains the title or Reigns wins it.

Either one of them is something to pay close attention to, though, as they both have massive influences on the Raw roster going forward.

In one scenario, the steel cage could be a tool to have Reigns win the title without Lesnar looking all too weak—particularly if The Big Dog wins by escape, rather than pinfall or submission.

In the other scenario of The Beast Incarnate being victorious, this would be the second time in a row and the fourth time overall that Reigns came up short against Lesnar.

If Reigns is going to lose, he may do so due to interference from someone who helps Lesnar out, in order to keep Reigns from looking too weak at that point, or a clean loss could signify a change in the dynamic of pushing him as the top of the top.

On the other hand, Lesnar could also lose due to interference if a new feud is to be started out of this, which could lead to his exit from WWE.

That in itself is something to pay attention to, as a win here for Lesnar is more evidence of him staying around at least until SummerSlam, if not longer, while a loss could be the last time we see him for quite a while.

The match might not be great, and the finish itself might not be something that gets a ton of positive feedback, but the outcome of this match has immense repercussions going forward.

#2 Shinsuke Nakamura wins WWE Championship

There is a strong likelihood that the primary reason Shinsuke Nakamura failed to capture the WWE Championship at WrestleMania was that the creative team thought it wouldn't go over well if he were to win it as a babyface.

With the Greatest Royal Rumble event being on the schedule, WWE might have figured that a three-step approach would be better, wherein he would lose at WrestleMania, turn heel and then win it just a few weeks later.

Effectively, he ends up with the title just the same, but as a heel, so it avoids the chance that it comes off as trading a more popular star in AJ Styles for an unsuitable replacement if he were to have stayed a babyface.

Out of all the titles which could change hands on this show, this is the one most likely to happen, save for the Raw Tag Team Championship, of course.

Don't sleep on this being an uneventful rematch. It could have lasting effects on the SmackDown brand for months.

#1 The mid-card titles are swapped again

The United States Championship has been through quite a lot in the past few months.

Dolph Ziggler won it, then immediately forfeited it. Bobby Roode won it next and didn't have a super long title reign before he dropped it to Randy Orton, who turned around and quickly dropped it to Jinder Mahal, who only held it for a few days before being sent over to Raw in the Superstar Shake-up and losing it to Jeff Hardy, who was then shifted over to SmackDown.

Meanwhile, the title is still being defended here with the chance that Mahal could win it back and take it to Raw once more, which would prompt the Intercontinental Championship to have to go over to SmackDown with either The Miz or Samoa Joe winning the title here, or the slight chance The Miz still has his rematch with Seth Rollins at Backlash and wins it there.

All of this sounds like a big game of Jenga where one move orchestrates tons of other moves and everything could come crashing down.

Just because The Miz is on SmackDown and has made the Intercontinental Championship his focal point, don't rule out the possibility that WWE jumps through tons of hoops to put the United States title back on Mahal entirely to have a reason to give The Miz another Intercontinental title reign in return, swapping the mid-card titles between the two brands and throwing the Backlash card into disarray yet again.

Essentially, look out for the result of the first of these two matches to dictate what happens next. If Mahal is victorious, watch out for The Miz or, less likely, Samoa Joe, to dethrone Seth Rollins. Vice versa, as well, with a Mahal victory seeming like a guarantee if the Intercontinental Championship goes over to the SmackDown side.

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Edited by Shruti Sadbhav