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The first PPV of the year, Royal Rumble is taking excellent shape and expectations are soaring high. The fact that this PPV sets up the track WWE is going to take towards Wrestlemania, makes it a very important one. This year’s Royal Rumble looks quite different from the previous year with a lot more importance given to the Championship title. Unlike last year, where the main component of the PPV was the Battle Royal alone, this year WWE has spread the importance equally amongst all the Championships.
The WWE title match between The Rock and CM Punk will be the most viewed and is the most anticipated match of the PPV. Major credit to this goes to CM Punk who has done extremely well in not only defending the title for a year but also making himself look like a Champion with a lot of pride. The fact that he cuts extremely good promos makes it all the more obvious that he holds a lot of pride in being the Champion.
Now that the PPV is all set with WWE making the final finishing touches, here are the predictions of the matches to be held.
It is quite unfortunate that WWE has put this high calibre match on the pre-show as several fans were expecting it to be a part of the main show. Anyway, it is obvious that this match could have affected the time limit of the PPV and hence, the decision to put in on the pre-show.
Talking about the build up to the match, I expected a lot more interactions between the two wrestlers. A Championship match in Royal Rumble can look all the more effective only when it has been given the right sort of platform.
Cesaro and Miz have met each other only twice with the most prominent moment coming last week in RAW. With Ric Flair on Miz’s side, the segment looked extremely awkward with the only positive thing being Cesaro’s dominance. Cesaro gained the upper hand in that segment which indicates the possible outcome of this match.
Cesaro has been an excellent United States Champion. Miz, compared to his previous challengers like Santino and R-truth, is a much highly regarded wrestler and if Cesaro beats the Miz, he can prove himself to be a great Champion.
However, the main reason behind Miz’s face turn was because of his rumoured inclusion in Marine 3. If Miz indeed is a part of the movie, then we could see a Miz victory.
My prediction: Cesaro will retain the US title either due to interference or other unclean means
The only reason why the WWE Tag Team title has been given so much importance is because of Kane and Daniel Bryan. Both these wrestlers have been instrumental in making sure people’s attention came back to the these tag titles. But their extremely impressive on-screen chemistry has now of late come down a great deal. Even though they look a formidable tag team, it looks as though the team work has fallen over their period as champions.
On the other hand, Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes have gelled extremely well as a tag team and are proving to be worthy contenders for the title. The fact that they defeated Team Hell No a few weeks back on RAW does indicate that they have a great chance of winning the title in Royal Rumble.
No one expected Daniel Bryan and Kane to stick this long as a tag team and it is only their excellent work as a team that has allowed it to exist till now. It is high time that both these wrestlers split and started fighting as a singles wrestler. Daniel Bryan is an excellent talent and it is important that he is put in the World Heavyweight Championship scenario.
My Prediction: Team Rhodes Scholars are the new WWE Tag Team Champions
Until this week’s RAW, we were all predicting Alberto Del Rio to retain the title by a non-finish but now that the match has been scheduled to be a last man standing match, the entire scenario has changed quite a bit.
This looks like just the rematch that Big Show will be looking for because he absolutely dominated Del Rio in their previous encounter in SmackDown. There are rumours that Big Show will win the title back only to see Dolph Ziggler cashing in his MITB briefcase to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Though a possibility, this scenario looks highly mainly because of Ziggler’s present role.
Del Rio on the other hand became the WHC after defeating Big Show under the same stipulation match which gives him the upper hand. With Ricardo on his side, Del Rio looks like the person who will dominate the giant once more.
My Prediction: Del Rio retains his World Heavyweight Title (Ziggler will not cash in his MITB briefcase until Wrestlemania)
Without doubt the biggest event of the night and the toughest one to predict. There is every chance that we will see a twist in the plot. There are several ways that this match can end and most people believe it will be The Rock who will turn out victorious.
The possibilities of Rock winning are quite high. The fact that he has so confidently said that he is going to win this, does indicate he is the one who is going to emerge victorious. Also, since he is a valuable asset for WWE in terms of revenue, his victory will give WWE a lot of response after Royal Rumble.
CM Punk on the other hand has his streak on the line. His infamous streak has garnered so much attention that WWE creative team could take that into consideration and give CM Punk the victory, of course an unclean victory.
If CM Punk were to win the match in an unclean manner, it can improve his status as a heel and help set a better match for Wrestlemania compared to the so-called “Once in a lifetime-rematch” that I am so against. However, the question that remains now is who is going to interfere and help CM Punk, especially since Vince McMahon has warned CM Punk of stripping his title if The Shield interfered on his behalf. So who could help Punk out? Well, Brad Maddox doesn’t seem such a bad option at the moment. He could prove instrumental in getting CM Punk a victory again and thereby get himself a job with CM Punk.
My Prediction: CM Punk retains the WWE title courtesy interference from Brad Maddox
A WWE Hall of Famer called out AEW fans HERE
