WWE Royal Rumble 2018: Predicting The Match Card After Clash Of Champions

Photo Source: WWE.com

WWE Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Randy Orton

The terrible reign of Jinder Mahal is finally behind us. After defeating Jinder in their rematch at Clash of Champions, Styles stated on Talking Smack that that was Jinder’s last chance at his championship. So, who is AJ’s next challenger?

Well, if we’re looking at the top guys on SmackDown Live, there aren’t a lot of options. AJ is done with Mahal, Rusev is now in the tag division, Owens and Styles just had a feud over the summer, Zayn is playing second fiddle to Owens, Roode, Ziggler, and Corbin are all involved in the US title picture, and Shinsuke is not built well enough yet to face AJ for his title.

So, who does that leave? Well, we still have The Viper, Randy Orton. After losing due to a fast count at Clash of Champions, Randy, who is a bit of a hothead, will undoubtedly be upset with Owens, Zayn, and Daniel Bryan.

This could lead to him completely losing his cool and turning heel by attacking everyone there is to attack. He could then become a dominant force that would be next in line to face AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble.

Or, in typical SmackDown fashion, they could keep Orton face and have him win a random #1 contender’s match. Either way, I’m expecting Orton to face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble.

Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Kane vs. Braun Strowman

Yes, it is 2017, and yes, Kane is actually going to be in a world title match. This is the same Kane that is currently running for mayor of Knoxville County. He will be in the same ring as The Beast, Brock Lesnar, and The Monster, Braun Strowman.

Originally Strowman and Kane were supposed to battle it out to decide who would face Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. However, that match ended in a double count out, so now we will most likely have both of those monsters going up against The Beast.

This match is a triple threat because of WWE’s longterm booking for Brock Lesnar. The longterm goal, when Lesnar first won the belt, was to have him face Reigns at WrestleMania 34, and that looks like it is still the plan today.

So, after Lesnar has defeated Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman individually, while beating both of them and Reigns at SummerSlam, Strowman can not afford another direct loss. I mean, after all, he is supposed to look like a monster.

So, Kane is likely thrown into the mix just so he can take take the pin from Brock. Well, at least this clash of monsters should be fun to watch.