WWE Royal Rumble: 10 Potential Winners of the Men’s Rumble

Credit: WWE.com

Buddy Murphy

This is my longshot pick for the Royal Rumble, but it’s more possible than you might think at first glance. If you’ve caught glimpses of 205 Live or just seen Murphy’s title defenses on recent pay-per-views, you know just how devastating “The Juggernaut of 205 Live” can be. He’s been tearing through opponents left and right, and it seems no one can knock him off the top of the mountain on 205 Live. While not done as frequently in WWE, a superstar dominating a lower weight class or division only to move up to the World Championship picture is nothing new in wrestling.

We’ve seen several stars in NJPW make the move over the years, most notably Kenny Omega back when he took over Bullet Club from AJ Styles. In Impact Wrestling, then-X Division Champion Brian Cage took advantage of “Option C.” After dominating the X Division throughout the year and remaining undefeated in singles competition, he voluntarily relinquished the X Division Championship to get a shot at the Impact World Championship.

We’ve also seen signs that WWE is open to this kind of move, specifically with the move to bring Mustafa Ali from 205 Live and make him a centerpiece of SmackDown Live. After a strong showing against WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, Ali was made a permanent member of the roster and even pinned the WWE Champion just last week in tag team action.

With Ali paving the path to move from 205 Live to one of the primary shows, Buddy Murphy could be poised to do the same. If WWE really wants to push their “fresh start” and “new faces” policy, perhaps nothing would be fresher than the current Cruiserweight Champion winning the Royal Rumble. Buddy Murphy definitely has the hard-hitting potential to take on heavyweight opponents, and it would immediately become one of the biggest Rumble wins in modern history.