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After 32 years, and 35 Royal Rumble matches, it’s tough to think up new ideas for the over-the-top spectacular.
We’ve seen teammates fight, celebrities enter, joint-winners and even a few dance breaks.
This year, in a break from tradition, reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar is entering the Royal Rumble. However, this bold move has been done before, just in a slightly different manner, as Roman Reigns was forced to defend his WWE Championship in the 2016 edition. Hulk Hogan entered (and won) the 1990 and 1991 Rumbles while he was WWF Champion as well, but that was before the winner of the match would earn a world title shot at WrestleMania.
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Although, there a few scenarios that have yet to occur in the Rumble, here are five fresh ideas for the Royal Rumble:
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#5 Mr. Money in the Bank wins the Royal Rumble
There are two ways to earn a guaranteed world title shot in WWE; win the Royal Rumble or win the Money in the Bank ladder match.
A few wrestlers have done both (Alberto Del Rio won both the Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank in 2011), but no one has held both honours at the same time.
Usually, by the time the Rumble comes around, the MITB holder has long since cashed-in his briefcase. Only Dolph Ziggler in 2013 and Carmella in 2018 entered the Rumble as Mr. and Ms. Money in the Bank respectively, but neither of them would score the victory in their 30-person battle royals.
The Money in the Bank event used to take place between June-July, but last year the event was moved up to May, which would mean that WWE would have to avoid having the winner cash in his or her contract for a full eight months. Edge, who was the first-ever Money in the Bank Ladder match, when it was a featured attraction at WrestleMania, held the briefcase for just about 8 months, winning it in early April and successfully cashing in just 2 weeks before the Royal Rumble the following January, so they have been able to hold off for a long period of time in the past.
It cannot happen until 2021, as both Brock Lesnar and Bayley, the 2019 winners, have already redeemed their respective briefcases.
If this year’s Mr. or Ms. MITB hold on to their briefcase until January 2021 and wins the Royal Rumble match while still in control of the contract to take a crack at the title whenever they please, some intriguing scenarios would open up.
Would the MITB holder cash in before WrestleMania? Would they use their MITB for a shot at one brand's top champion in February or March and their Rumble prize for the other brand's biggest prize in April at WrestleMania? Alternatively, the winner could take their shot at WrestleMania before cashing in the briefcase, holding onto it in case they are unsuccessful in their bid. If that Superstar's title match takes place earlier on in the show, they could surprise the winner of the other brand's championship contest later on in the evening, or even cash in immediately after defeat to get an immediate rematch. Overall, it's a very interesting concept.
#4 A title change in the middle of the match
Even though perennial champion R-Truth “undeclared” his entry after learning that Brock Lesnar had decided to enter the Rumble, the 24/7 Championship will most likely feature in this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match (and could even make an appearance in the Women's Rumble as well!). The Rumble has always been known to have at least one comedic moment, and the 24/7 Championship is available to provide an easy laugh.
WWE had the opportunity to produce a mid-match title change when the Hardcore Championship was contested under 24/7 rules in the early 2000s, and while the Royal Rumble did get “hardcore” for a brief period in the 2001 edition of the match, the title never switched hands during the Rumble bout.
It’s almost certain that we’ll see the green-strap switch hands at the Royal Rumble event, but will someone (or multiple someones) grab the brass ring, or the green belt, as it were, during one of the two eponymous matches on the show? It seems highly likely indeed.
#3 An NXT winner
We’ve seen NXT wrestlers enter both the men’s and women’s Rumbles as surprises entrants in recent years, but none of those performers has ever won the match. If someone from NXT were to make history and win, this year would be a better year than any before. In this case, if a Royal Rumble winner does come from the NXT roster, it woud most likely be Shayna Baszler.
‘The Queen of Spades’ has unfinished business with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch. ‘The Man’ leg dropped ‘The Queen of Spades’ through a table after Baszler was victorious in the Champions Triple Threat main event at Survivor Series, which saw Baszler tap out SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley, while Becky was not involved in the decision.
Baszler lost her NXT Women's Championship to Rhea Ripley last month and didn’t get an immediate rematch. Ripley has already moved on to a feud with Bianca Belair. Factoring in what happened at Survivor Series, this strongly hints at Baszler entering and possibly winning the Women's Royal Rumble to face Lynch at WrestleMania in April.
On the men’s side, Keith Lee could be a dark horse, and is CM Punk’s pick to win. The big man was very impressive in the 5-on-5-on-5 elimination match at Survivor Series where he was the final man eliminated, bested only by Roman Reigns. The deceptively agile Lee would be the ideal NXT candidate to eliminate Brock Lesnar to set up a truly gargantuan showdown at WrestleMania.
#2 A steel cage encloses the participants inside the ring
We saw the Rumble go hardcore during the 2001 edition when wrestlers such as Raven, Perry Saturn, Steve Blackman, and Al Snow introduced chairs, kendo sticks, and garbage cans into the match. We’ve also seen a ladder, surprisingly, as R-Truth mistook the over-the-top-rope match for Money in the Bank back in 2016.
What we’ve never seen is a steel cage being used in a Royal Rumble match.
For this to come into play, there would have to be a steel cage match earlier in the evening, lest it be obvious that it could somehow, for some reason, become a part of the Rumble match at the end of the night.
During the Rumble, an underhanded superstar (such as Baron Corbin or Seth Rollins) could be close to being eliminated by a fan favourite (Roman Reigns or Braun Strowman, for example). The devious wrestler would call for the cage to lower, thus protecting them from elimination. It would take very well-practiced timing to pull off without coming off as extremely contrived, but if they could pull it off, it would be a heck of a moment.
One way to win a steel cage match is by escaping the structure, but if it were to lower to the ring during the Royal Rumble match, wrestlers would be trying to stay inside the structure, creating the opportunity for all manners of unique spots and situations.
The cage wouldn’t stay lowered for the entire match, as the novelty would grow old and make it essentially impossible for the match to end, but even if just for a few minutes, the sight of a steel cage in the Rumble would be something talked about for many years to come.
#1 A "fan" makes their wrestling debut by entering the match
The clock starts ticking, “3…2…1” but nstead of panning to the ramp, the camera swings into the crowd. Just as the buzzer hits, a fan from the front row drops their popcorn, removes their sweatshirt, jumps over the barricade, and enters the Rumble!
Santino Marella famously debuted as just a fan in the front row during an episode of RAW that emanated from Milan, Italy. The crowd went nuts when this “fan” became a hometown hero when he won the Intercontinental Championship from the Samoan Bulldozer Umaga.
In this day and age, presenting a wrestler as a fan is a tricky proposition, as so many wrestlers signed to WWE are already at least somewhat known names, having either a TV experience or exposure from streaming platform wrestling for a one of the more high-profile indie promotions. Many fans would have been briefly confused, for example, if Matt Riddle had made his debut in such a manner, but it would be impossible to avoid acknowledging his prior wrestling experience for more than a very short period of time.
Back when Santino won the Intercontinental Title in 2007, even many hardcore fans were genuinely perplexed as to who this man was. Before Anthony Carelli became Santino Marella, his only claim to fame was being the guy slapped by Jim Cornette at an OVW taping back when the small promotion was WWE’s developmental territory and had very little exposure outside of local television channels. At the time, Carelli was wrestling under the name Boris Alexiev.
WWE does have a plethora of unknowns at the Performance Center, men and women without any professional wrestling experience who come from college football, CrossFit events, and other non-wrestling backgrounds. One of these rookies posing as a fan would create a memorable moment that the Rumble is known for.
What do you think? Do you have any original ideas for the Rumble match? Let us know in the comments below!
