5 fresh ideas for the Royal Rumble

#1 A "fan" makes their wrestling debut by entering the match

Santino debuted as a "fan" and won the IC Title on the only RAW taped in Italy

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.

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What do you think? Do you have any original ideas for the Rumble match? Let us know in the comments below!