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Can you believe that we are only days away from the biggest show of the month - Royal Rumble 2020? 30 Superstars will enter the ring in two separate contests to determine who goes on to WrestleMania to be featured in a massive title match!
What makes this year's action unique is that there will be Superstars from NXT as well who will be contesting for an opportunity at the coveted world titles. I do wonder if the Royal Rumble winners have a chance to challenge for the NXT men's and women's titles as well.
While that surprise would be too strange indeed, I've listed down 5 more realistic possibilities for the Royal Rumble match for your reading pleasure. These are surprises that could happen, but as always, I do not claim to have inside information, so there's no guarantee that they will.
But at the same time, they sure might!
#5 Jinder Mahal makes a big surprise return
One of the biggest problems with bringing a popular babyface back during the Royal Rumble is that the audience may not necessarily like it if they are eliminated and may actually hijack the whole match.
We saw it with Daniel Bryan when the audience let WWE know what they thought of the company's creative decisions. But Jinder Mahal is a heel and for him to return during the Royal Rumble match may not be such a bad call to be quite honest.
Mahal will obviously not win the Royal Rumble because he's not booked nearly as strongly as he used to be, back when India was WWE's most important market. But he could go on to eliminate a popular babyface like Drew McIntyre and embark on a feud with his former stable-mate. His return will not be monumental but it will certainly be quite significant.
#4 Buddy Murphy eliminates Seth Rollins and turns face
I know that this is not a decision that may go down well, but I honestly think that I can imagine Buddy Murphy turning on the Royal Rumble, proving that everything he did was a ruse. And then he could join Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, leading to a singles match with Seth Rollins at the grand show.
While people may think that this will be way too premature, we have seen a lot of short-lived alliances before, most notably Y2AJ, the group with Chris Jericho and AJ Styles that broke up very soon indeed. WWE never does groups with more than 3 people, at least in today's day and age and so it came as a surprise to many that Murphy was added to the collective, to begin with.
Buddy Murphy wrestles a very flashy style so he may not even work too well as a heel, in my personal opinion at least. He may actually work really well as a babyface.
#3 The Demon King wins the Royal Rumble match
I do realize that Finn Balor is currently in NXT but I do think that there's a very interesting possibility that could potentially take place at the Royal Rumble match. Even though Balor is one of the top superstars in NXT at the moment, one must remember that he is portrayed as being absolutely bulletproof when he is The Demon King.
I can absolutely imagine The Demon King entering the Royal Rumble match and winning the whole thing to challenge The Fiend. This will bring their story full circle because he was The Fiend's first victim, who sent him to NXT in the first place, and pit one unstoppable supernatural entity against yet another.
Will it be a step down for NXT as a brand if their biggest star is gunning for a title from another brand? I don't think so at all because that's what happens with RAW and SmackDown often.
I don't think the crowd in attendance will mind seeing Finn Balor victorious either.
#2 Mandy Rose is about to get eliminated but is caught by Otis
Every year, we see Kofi Kingston about to be eliminated but he always survives in a very unique way every single time. It's a testament to his genius that he comes up with a creative way to last in the big match every single year. But I'm certain that there may be a very unique spot in the women's Royal Rumble match as well, this year.
I can totally imagine Mandy Rose getting eliminated only to land in Otis' arms. Not only will this get a massive pop from the WWE Universe, but it will also further their ongoing romance storyline which can honestly make for good television. It could actually lead to a program between Heavy Machinery and Ziggler and Roode, going forward, considering that Dolph Ziggler has also teased a romance with Mandy Rose not long ago.
I think that this can be a very different kind of love triangle as compared to the whole Rusev-Lana-Bobby Lashley-Liv Morgan deal, honestly and speaking of only this spot, it's almost certain to be a hit.
#1 Edge returns at the Royal Rumble
Many have had much to say about Paige and Edge possibly returning at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, including our resident experts Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz, and you can catch them in conversation right here in the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast. But there's been more than one factor that has led me to believe that Edge may indeed return at the Royal Rumble.
You can check out the reasons right here, and while I may be completely off the mark, I do believe that there is a very high chance of Edge returning. Because it's not a real match per se, he could be protected, and a heel could eliminate him and earn a massive amount of heat, going forward.
I think it's very unlikely indeed that Edge wins the Royal Rumble but here's a huge chance to get a massive pop and create a brand new heel who is actually hated by the WWE Universe. Sure, the crowd may protest but the Royal Rumble can be designed in such a manner that it is forgotten soon after.
What do you guys think?
