WWE Royal Rumble 2020: Predicting 3 Men’s Rumble winners before TLC
By Mark Justice
2.) Kevin Owens
It is completely appropriate to believe that the WWE will screw Kofi Kingston yet again not because he lacks talent and/or does not deserve such an opportunity but most likely because of his skin color and/or compact body mass. With the company more inclined to not pull the trigger on Kofi Mania, KO Mania may very well be in the works for the road to WrestleMania 36.
Earlier this year, Chris Jericho revealed on Busted Open Radio (per WrestleTalk) that three years ago, Kevin Owens was set to defend his Universal Championship against his then-best friend, Chris Jericho. Unfortunately, their match was unjustifiably relegated to a mid-card United States Championship feud once Goldberg dethroned Owens at Fastlane 2017.
Although Owens dethroned Jericho to win the United States Championship at WrestleMania 33, it was not exactly the KO Mania the WWE Universe imagined. The match and the victory simply did not mean as much since it was not the championship that he spent an entire half-year building up with Jericho.
On the other hand, when Owens won the Universal Championship on the Raw after SummerSlam 2016 thanks to Triple H turning on his golden boy, Seth Rollins, the victory was monumental and set the pace for a new era that was worth experiencing. On top of that, it foreshadowed exactly the feud in the works today: Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins.
Maybe the long overdue KO Mania will finally come full circle in 2020. Triple H even gave a pep talk to Owens on the road to Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble, just like he did for Rollins before Rollins won the Rumble in 2019. It is very likely that the same fate will be in store for Owens, who is now in the main event scene of Monday Night Raw as one of the hottest babyfaces in the WWE today.
If he were to win the Rumble, he should challenge Brock Lesnar in a first-time feud for the WWE Championship, which has eluded him his entire career. Better yet, he could target his grand slam in the WWE against Lesnar at WrestleMania 36, just like Rollins did last year at WrestleMania 35.
On Raw two weeks ago, Rollins made the claim during his town hall meeting that Owens wants to be him. Since their paths seem so similar, this claim is not too far fetched but there’s still no doubt that Owens could take 2020 by storm with an epic Rumble victory in January and his very first main event match at WrestleMania 36.