WWE Royal Rumble 2019: Confirmed matches and full projected card
Photo Credit: WWE.com
WWE Championship Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs Mustafa Ali
At the very beginning of this article, I talked about unlikely challengers for championships. They may be superstars who would struggle to get a title opportunity on another big event, or ones that simply have made it to that top-tier just yet. The Royal Rumble is a safe event to give them a shot on the Road to WrestleMania, as even in a loss a new face can prove themselves and show how they act when under that main event spotlight.
While often remembered for the titular match, the Royal Rumble event has been home to some spectacular championship matches over the years. Superstars like Razor Ramon, Hardcore Holly, Cactus Jack, Mr. Kennedy, Dolph Ziggler, and Mark Henry have all had championship opportunities at the Royal Rumble. We’ve also seen unforgettable classics like Cactus Jack vs Triple H in a Street Fight at Royal Rumble 2000 and the fantastic triple threat between Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Seth Rollins back in 2015.
With all of this in mind, the groundwork has been laid for an unlikely challenger to tear the house down at the Rumble. This year, that challenger should be none other than Mustafa Ali. The man once known as The Heart and Soul of 205 Live is officially part of the SmackDown Live roster as of this week, and he couldn’t have picked a better way to start things off. In a spectacular tag team contest where he teamed with AJ Styles to take on Daniel Bryan and Andrade “Cien” Almas, Ali did the absolute unthinkable.
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Mustafa Ali, a beloved cruiserweight who hasn’t even won the Cruiserweight Championships before, hit his devastating 054 and pinned the WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in the main event of SmackDown Live. Ali came up short against Bryan the week before, but with this huge win and the associated momentum on his side, there’s plenty of reason to support Ali challenging Bryan for the title. A win for Ali would be unlikely, but even in a loss WWE could help turn him into one of the biggest babyfaces on SmackDown Live while giving us what would be an instant classic at the Royal Rumble.