#4 Neville defeats Rich Swann for the Cruiserweight Championship
The only downside of this result is the Cruiserweight championship feeling like a hot potato.
The title has only existed for a little over 4 months, and if Neville captures it this Sunday, that will already be the 4th champion in that span, none of whom will have held the title for longer than 60 days. But when the title change makes sense, not much else matters.
Rich Swann has been a decent champion, but Neville has felt like the guy that should carry this division from the start. Since his return at Roadblock, he has run through everyone who’s stepped in his way. He’s declared himself the “King of the Cruiserweights”, and it’s hard to disagree with him.
Neville’s heel persona has given him new life and he feels like the guy the Cruiserweight division should build around.
He should be the guy that everyone is trying to conquer. Honestly, if he wins the title this Sunday, he should hold it for a long time and only drop it once the right babyface comes along.
There’s nothing wrong with Rich Swann, but it doesn’t feel like he has the star power to be the face of the division. Neville does, and that’s why we think he’ll come out on top at the Royal Rumble.
#5 Charlotte defeats Bayley for the Raw Women’s Championship
Bayley will be the Raw Women’s champion eventually. But the Royal Rumble is not her time.
Let’s start with the obvious fact that Charlotte does not lose at pay-per-views. Streaks are made to be broken, especially in WWE, and this is no exception, but it doesn’t feel like this is not the time for it to happen.
Charlotte has beaten Sasha Banks every single time the two have faced off on PPV, so there’s no reason to believe Bayley will be successful in her first attempt.
This is a feud that figures to extend into WrestleMania since the Raw women’s division is so thin. Because of that, it makes sense for the heel Charlotte to hold the title until then so we can get the payoff that we didn’t get last year.
When Charlotte took on Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, many believed that it was the right time to put the title on one of the other women and give them their WrestleMania moment.
Instead, Charlotte retained and although the match was stellar, the result fell flat.
If WWE keeps the title off of Bayley for now, they could give us one of the best feel-good moments of WrestleMania 33 by having the huggable one win it on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
