WWE Royal Rumble Preview

PRE-SHOW: THE DUDLEYS vs. DARREN YOUNG and DAMIEN SANDOW vs. ASCENSION vs. MARK HENRY and JACK SWAGGER: FATAL FOUR WAY MATCH

This is the pre-show match for the Royal Rumble pay per view. Usually, the WWE likes to have a fan favorite win the pre-show match in order to start the show on a positive note. It gets the fans excited for the matches ahead. When I look at this Fatal Four Way contest, I noticed that there are three baby face tag teams in the match. Since the only true tag team, from a baby face perspective, in the match is Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley, they should probably take the victory. WINNER: THE DUDLEY BOYS

BECKY LYNCH vs. CHARLOTTE: DIVAS CHAMPIONSHIP

I think this is the toughest match to call. On one hand, you have Charlotte, who won the Divas Championship at the Night of Champions pay per view in September. Holding the title for four months seems like a good time for the title to change hands. If Becky Lynch doesn’t win the title after already failing in her quest to become the next Divas, will her stock drop causing her to be looked at as “just another girl on the roster?” At the same time, something tells me that the big Divas title change will be Sasha Banks winning the belt at WrestleMania XXXII. While I think Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks is a WrestleMania worthy Divas match, I feel that the WWE would rather Banks defeat the top heel in the Divas division at WrestleMania. That would be Charlotte. WINNER: CHARLOTTE

USOS vs. THE NEW DAY: WWE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

If Charlotte has held the WWE Divas Championship for a long time, then the New Day have held onto the WWE World Tag Team titles for an eternity. They won their second Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam, and haven’t looked back ever since. Over that time, the New Day have lost non-title matches to Sin Cara and Kalisto, as well as the Usos. The New Day have been the most over acts in the WWE in 2015. However, the WWE’s creative is starting to over expose the three-man act. While I like long title reigns, they WWE’s tag team division is lacking in depth. It’s a far cry from the golden age of tag team wrestling in the eighties or the Monday Night Wars era in the late nineties/early 2000s. The WWE needs to keep what few tag teams that they have as strong legitimate competitors. In order to do this, the New Day can’t run through every team in the division. I believe that they will not. WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPS: THE USOS

KALISTO vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO: UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP

With John Cena being put on the shelf, Alberto Del Rio needed a new opponent to feud with. Instead of facing a Dolph Ziggler level wrestler, the WWE decided to elevate Kalisto. It was a smart move, because the WWE needs to build more stars. They started out by having Kalito beat Del Rio in a non-title match, and followed it up with him winning the United States championship on RAW. The plan was going perfectly, until the WWE fell into their usual 50/50 booking pattern, and had Kalisto drop the title back to Del Rio the very next night at the SmackDown! tapings. They should have at least allowed Kalisto to hold the championship until the Royal Rumble. Instead, Kalisto is “just another guy” again. This guy will just be a stepping stone to a feud with someone higher on the card for Del Rio. WINNER: ALBERTO DEL RIO

KEVIN OWENS vs. DEAN AMBROSE: INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP LAST MAN STANDING MATCH

This match could go either way. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either wrestler show up on RAW with the Intercontinental Championship. Originally, I was thinking that Kevin Owens would win the title back. However, the WWE threw a monkey wrench into my prediction when they decided to make the match a last man standing match. I normally don’t like Last Man Standing or I Quit matches, as I think they lack the drama of a normal contest. However, from a working standpoint, some Last Man Standing matches were pretty good. Case in point, the Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H Last Man Standing match from a Royal Rumble gone by. I could see this ending the same way, where neither man gets up at the count of ten. Even though, I would probably book the match that way in order to continue the feud and show that both men are on the same level, I don’t think the WWE will go in this direction. I think Ambrose will keep the belt, and both wrestlers will move onto different feuds that will take them into WrestleMania XXXII. WINNER: DEAN AMBROSE

ROYAL RUMBLE BATTLE ROYAL

This is a two-man show. Will it be Roman Reigns or Triple H as the victor? Sure, Brock Lesnar is a dark horse. However, after the Wyatt Family put a beat down on Brock Lesnar on RAW, I think this is building to the Wyatt Family eliminating Lesnar in the Royal Rumble to set up Brock vs. Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania XXXII. There are two directions for the WWE to take at the Royal Rumble. They can have Triple H win the Royal Rumble and become the new WWE World Champion where he would defend the title against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania XXXII. If they do that, I’ll throw the logic card out there. Why would the Authority give Roman Reigns a shot at the belt in the main event of the biggest show of the year? From a storyline standpoint, this makes absolutely no sense. I think the WWE will go a different, more logical route. Roman Reigns will run through all 29 other competitors and retain the championship in the Royal Rumble. The next night on RAW, Triple H will come back and insert himself as Reigns WrestleMania opponent since no one else could get the job done. WINNER: ROMAN REIGNS