As we near closer to the 2020 edition of WWE’s Royal Rumble PPV, the prime candidate to win the Men’s Rumble is Roman Reigns.
WWE Royal Rumble 2020 is arriving to a television set (or arena, if you plan to attend) near you sooner and sooner as the clock ticks. Just over a month away from the event, there are plenty of possibilities for who could win the Men’s Rumble.
Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens … a lot of strong candidates heading into the match, but only one specific candidate stands out in my eyes as a clear cut winner: Roman Reigns.
Roman Reigns has an interesting history with the WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View, to say the least. His first year at the PPV saw him participate in the match of the same name. While he did not win, he was a runner up against that year’s winner, Batista, and went on to break the record for the most in-ring eliminations at 12.
The Big Dog then had his time in the sun the following year when he won the Royal Rumble match in 2015. Unfortunately, he failed to win his promised main event at WrestleMania the following April, thanks to an intervening Money in the Bank cash-in from Seth Rollins.
The following year’s Royal Rumble, Roman wasn’t so lucky in a Rumble where his WWE Championship was on the line. He was one of the last men eliminated.
Then, in 2017, not only did he fail to beat Kevin Owens for his Universal Championship earlier in the night, but he couldn’t win the Rumble match later on despite arriving at entrance #30. He was the last man eliminated by Randy Orton. He gave yet another runner up performance in 2018, last being eliminated by Shinsuke Nakamura this time.
He missed 2019’s Rumble to recover from a real life cancer diagnosis, but this time in 2019, he has what it takes to win the whole thing. Here’s why:
He’ll get a better reaction than he got in 2015
As previously mentioned, the first and only Rumble match which Roman Reigns has actually won in the past (so far at least) was in 2015. However, readers may recall that the night he won was not quite the ideal coming out star making performance Roman (or anyone in his position) would have asked for.
In front of a harsh Philly crowd, still reeling from seeing a more ideal crowd favorite in Daniel Bryan being eliminated early on, Roman Reigns was thrown the loudest of boos from the moment he entered the ring to when he had his hand raised by his perplexed cousin Dwayne.
Thankfully, in the time since 2015, WWE have been a lot more careful in how they book Roman Reigns and throughout 2019, has gotten far more positive reactions than he has received in recent memory, especially in comparison to the reaction to his Royal Rumble win four years ago.
Even though that win was four years ago, one has to believe that both WWE and Roman Reigns would like to have a do-over of some sort, just on the off chance that a Rumble win for The Big Dog would be better received now.
He’s the top star
Yes, that’s right. Roman Reigns is still the top star in WWE.
Well, on the male side of things, at least. Because let’s face it, if we’re talking who’s the biggest Superstar in WWE, overall, Becky Lynch takes that mantle easily, but as far as the men are concerned? The Big Dog is still The Big Dog, even without being in the main event picture since his in-ring return last February.
There’s a reason why Roman is still the go-to guy to send to all the media events and why he occupies one-half of the WWE 2K20 cover art. It is because he remains the top male star in the company; to the point that no other man compares to his star power.
Look at past top stars who have won the Royal Rumble. John Cena. Stone Cold. That one racist dude who always wears a bandanna (his name escapes me at the moment). What do they all have in common?
That’s right, they all have multiple Royal Rumble wins under their belt. Since Roman Reigns’ name does not look out of place at all next to such names, it almost seems blasphemous that he still only has one Rumble win to his name. But that can be rectified next month in 2020.
To beat The Fiend
To call Bray Wyatt’s Fiend “unstoppable” would be an understatement. Anyone who has stepped in The Fiend’s way has been decimated relentlessly without so much as getting a scratch on Bray Wyatt’s monster.
The Fiend defeated Finn Balor with ease and sent the former Universal Champion packing to NXT, driving him mad into a heel turn in the process. Then, in both Universal Title encounters with Seth Rollins, The Fiend took 907 Curb Stomps and was hardly down for a count of one before winning the title.
Now, as he continues terrorizing both The Miz and Daniel Bryan, it seems as though no one on either the Raw or SmackDown roster has what it takes to believably put up a fight against The Fiend. Well, no one except The Big Dog.
Admit it, you are at least a wee bit curious as to how an encounter between Roman Reigns and The Fiend could go down. One man seems literally unbeatable while, for a number of years, Reigns had Cena level heat for “overcoming the odds” time and time again. It’s interesting to imagine just who would come out on top in this one.
A match with such a humble curiosity is better suited for a Mania stage and the easiest way to get there is for Roman Reigns to win the Royal Rumble to catapult him back into the main event spot where he belongs.
Comeback arc comes full circle
Speaking of where Roman Reigns belongs, that brings us to the next reason why he needs to win.
Oct. 22, 2018 remains a bittersweet day in wrestling lore as it was the day that Roman Reigns relinquished his Universal Championship, citing a real life battle with leukemia as the reason for his ensuing hiatus from the sport.
Four months later, far earlier than any of us would have expected, it felt like music to our ears to hear Reigns return to the ring with a live microphone in his hand to say “I’m in remission.”
Since then, rather than immediately jump back into the main event title picture, he has spent the entirety of his return in upper midcard feuds with the likes of Drew McIntyre, Elias, Shane McMahon and most recently and currently, Baron Corbin.
Almost a year later, it is time for Reigns to return to the main event picture where a main event caliber Superstar like himself belongs.
His comeback would feel even sweeter if he not only gets a positive ovation upon winning the Royal Rumble (something he was booed mercilessly for four years back), but does so and goes on to win the title he never lost at WrestleMania.