What’s the story?
WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative, Triple H, recently spoke to IGN while promoting WWE Studios’ latest animated film, Surf’s Up 2: Wavemania. Apart from discussing the film, he also spoke about this year’s Royal Rumble match and his thoughts on Kurt Angle being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
In case you didn’t know
‘The Game’ won last year’s Royal Rumble match, which was for the WWE World Heavyweight title, and became a 14-time world champion in the WWE. He entered the match at the #30 spot and eliminated Dean Ambrose last to earn his second Royal Rumble victory overall, the first coming in 2002.
The pay-per-view will take place on 29 January at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The venue will be hosting the Royal Rumble after a gap of 20 years. The last Royal Rumble at the Alamodome happened in 1997 and was won by none other than ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.
The heart of the matter
In Triple H’s opinion, the 2017 Royal Rumble is among the most star-studded ones ever with the likes of Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker having confirmed their entry. To add to it, there are also superstars such as Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt and several others who will feature thereby making it one of biggest Rumble matches in history. Here’s what he had to say:
“This year's Royal Rumble is one of the biggest, most star-studded Rumbles that I can recall. Just look at the people who have thrown their name into the Rumble so far. You've got Goldberg and Lesnar and the Undertaker.
When you start to look at that level of talent and then also see the Bray Wyatts and the Randy Ortons and everyone else that's going to be a part of it, it really is one of the biggest Rumbles I can think of.”
According to ‘The Cerebral Assassin’, there have been some Royal Rumble matches where it has been slightly easier to predict what will happen. However, he feels that it could head in a number of different directions this year and we may see unexpected things happen. Triple H stated:
“Sometimes there's a year in the Rumble where you think 'Okay, I can see this or that happening. This seems like where the Rumble might be headed.' But this year, it's really tough to call. I can see this year going a lot of different ways and I think it's going to go in a way that nobody expects.”
On Kurt Angle’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, ‘The King of Kings’ said that he deserves it a lot. He referred to Angle as one of the most impactful and iconic characters in WWE history. Triple H showered further praise on ‘The Wrestling Machine’ by pointing out how he came in with no prior knowledge of the business but quickly became one of the top performers in the ‘Attitude Era’.
He was quoted as saying this:
“I think it's a very well deserved induction into the Hall of Fame. We've had an association with Kurt for a long time but when Kurt was here in the WWE, he was one of the most impactful and memorable and iconic characters probably ever.
One of the things that always stands out for me is that I was here when Kurt was coming out of the Olympics and training. And having never done this before, he went from zero knowledge of our industry to being one of the most incredible performers in the ring in the time frame of the Attitude Era where, you know, he was in there with some of the best in the world.”
What next?
The feud which has been in the making for a long time between Triple H and Seth Rollins will possibly culminate in a WrestleMania match. However ‘The Game’ may try to send Rollins a message at the Royal Rumble by making his presence felt.
Sportskeeda’s Take
With a blockbuster lineup in place, this year’s Royal Rumble match promises to be one to remember for the WWE Universe. Going by the WWE’s reputation of taking people by surprise, we may be in for something completely unexpected on 29 January.
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