WWE Royal Rumble 2018 Predictions: A Phenomenal Night?
Roman Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble Match. Can he repeat? Source: WWE.com
Men’s Royal Rumble Match
This year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match can go in so many different directions. Right now there’s two front-runners and one dark horse, in my opinion.
My first front-runner is Roman Reigns.
It has been speculated since WrestleMania 33 last year that Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship would headline WrestleMania 34. Having Roman win this Rumble would be an easy way to set up the rematch between himself and Brock. Roman and Brock have unfinished business from their WrestleMania 31 main event where Seth Rollins famously cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to pin Roman for Brock’s WWE Championship.
Since we never got a true winner back at WrestleMania 31, I could definitely see us getting this rematch at WrestleMania 34 so this set-up makes perfect sense. The obvious problem is that the live crowd will most-likely reject a booking decision that allows Roman to win the Rumble again (we’ve already been down that path back in 2015).
My second front-runner is Shinsuke Nakamura.
Assuming that AJ Styles retains the WWE Championship at this show, a Nakamura win sets up a match that die-hard pro wrestling fans have wanted to see under the WWE umbrella since both men were signed to the company.
For those that don’t know, AJ Styles and Nakamura had a classic match at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship with both making the move to the WWE right after. We were even teased at this potential match-up with both men squaring off in the center of the ring in this past year’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
Nakamura vs. Styles is a match that the WWE audience deserves to see on the biggest stage possible and WrestleMania 34 seems like the perfect place to make it happen. The timing of this potential match couldn’t come at a better time for Nakamura because he’s somewhat lost in the shuffle on SmackDown right now.
A Rumble win immediately skyrockets Shinsuke’s credibility once again and he and Styles could put on an absolute classic against each other for the WWE Championship. I think that Nakamura needs this win more than everyone else in this match to help re-gain the momentum he had during his run as NXT Champion.
My dark horse is Dolph Ziggler.
Do I really think Dolph is winning this match? Not really.
WWE has done a fantastic job of conditioning myself (along with most of the audience) that Ziggler is not allowed to advance past a certain mid-card status. We did however see a glimmer of hope with Dolph’s recent US Title win & subsequent self-vacation of that title.
Most fans assume that Dolph will pop back up in the mix to challenge new US Champion, Bobby Roode in what would be considered a type of title-unification match. But wouldn’t it be a great and unexpected moment if Ziggler was a surprise entrant in the Rumble and somehow got the win? There has never been any doubt that he’s one of the best in-ring workers of his generation. Maybe a win at the 2018 Royal Rumble finally cements him as the main event-level talent that we all know he can be.
Next: 5 Royal Rumble Eliminations That Must Happen
That all being said, I think Nakamura has the most to gain and WWE would be crazy to pass up an opportunity to have him challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34.