WWE Royal Rumble: 10 Potential Winners of the Men’s Rumble
Credit: WWE.com
Bray Wyatt
Speaking of bad booking, Bray Wyatt might as well be the poster child for that, and his former tag team partner’s injuries haven’t helped things either. Cageside Seats reported Wyatt’s return was slated for “sooner rather than later” only a few weeks ago, and the former leader of The Wyatt Family has remained active and cryptic on Twitter as of late. Prior to his current absence, Wyatt was teaming with “Woken” Matt Hardy in an unorthodox but successful tag team. They managed to capture the Raw Tag Team Championship but later lost the titles to The B-Team.
Matt Hardy quickly departed to deal with some nagging injuries, and potentially retire depending on who you ask and when, which left Bray Wyatt on his own. Rather than rush things, Wyatt has taken some time off after Hardy’s absence. While it’s possible he could be recovering from some nagging injuries of his own or WWE is simply waiting for the right time, there aren’t many better times to return than for the Royal Rumble.
While Bray has had his fair share of slight character tweaks and refreshes over the years, another one wouldn’t be detrimental, and he’s kept the same core character throughout even the toughest periods. Two years ago, Bray Wyatt came within only a few eliminations of winning the Royal Rumble. During that period, Bray had managed to bring the unpredictable Randy Orton into The Wyatt Family. Wyatt was the next to last man eliminated, being thrown out by Roman Reigns, but Randy Orton was able to then eliminate Reigns and pick up the win for The Wyatt Family.
Bray captured the WWE Championship the next month at Elimination Chamber, but went on to lose the title to Orton at WrestleMania 33 in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Worst Worked Match of 2017. His rivalry with Orton went on to be named Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Worst Feud of the Year for 2017. It wasn’t a good first run as champion by any means, but that doesn’t mean Wyatt couldn’t be set for a breakout year in 2019, and a win at the Royal Rumble would certainly dispel any questions about Wyatt’s readiness to be back in the title picture.