What’s the story?
According to Allwrestlingnews, there is a rumor going around in the wrestling community that a SmackDown Live! talent might appear on RAW next week. The appearance is speculated to be a move to herald the build for the Royal Rumble event that is set to take place on January 29th in San Antonio.
The plausibility of such an appearance is entirely possible given that there is no SmackDown house show on Monday. WWE may very well use this opportunity to kick-off the buildup to the grand event.
In case you didn’t know...
Royal Rumble is touted as the place where the road to WrestleMania begins. While it may be true, the road to Royal Rumble customarily starts from the first show of the New Year.
Goldberg is scheduled to appear on Raw next week to kick-off the proceedings for the much-anticipated event. Apart from Goldberg and Lesnar, no other WWE Superstar has enlisted their name in the Royal Rumble match. And if the rumors are to be believed, this week's Raw might be the place where other Superstars begin to announce themselves for the lucrative match.
The heart of the matter
It looks like WWE is looking to kick-off the proceedings for Royal Rumble with an inter-brand one-upmanship. With SmackDown Live! talents appearing on Raw, we can expect the segment to end chaotic fashion with all the Superstars battling out against each other. The possibility of such an occurrence is viable since the WWE has no house shows on Monday featuring SmackDown Live! talents.
What’s next?
We can expect the build-up for Royal Rumble to begin on this week’s Raw. With less than four weeks left, WWE will try to maximize the promotion for the event by bringing out many surprise appearances or interesting segments relating to Royal Rumble.
There have been a few rumors flying regarding Undertaker and Shawn Michaels making a special appearance on Raw in the coming weeks. Finn Balor has also released a picture-tease of entering Royal Rumble. The following weeks are sure to be see a flurry of activity with all the talents trying to gain momentum heading into Royal Rumble.
Sportskeeda’s Take
With Royal Rumble just around the corner, it is high time that the WWE began the promotion for the event. The next few weeks will be important for every WWE fan as it will determine the course of the grandest event in pro wrestling history – WrestleMania.
All we can do is to keep our fingers crossed for exciting promos, intriguing segments, unlikely alliances and explosive face-offs. Surely, the next four weeks are going to be fun.
