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Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez joined WWE last year. His first match was against Brock Lesnar, and while many assumed that Velasquez would be the man to dethrone Lesnar and win the WWE Championship, the victory did not come to fruition. Velasquez lost his debut match at the hands of The Beast in Saudi Arabia at last year's Crown Jewel event.
Since then, we haven't seen him in the ring due to an injury. He was recently interviewed by The Sun, and when asked about his Royal Rumble status, he said this:
I think I'm doing it right, I think so. I can win it, hell yeah, that's my mentality for everything. For everyone as well, that is how your mentality has to be. I'm going in to win this thing.
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The very question that comes to mind now is whether or not Velasquez is really going to win. Last time he made a promise to the WWE Universe he failed to fulfill it. Are things going to be different this time? Here are 5 signs why they may not be.
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#5 A face-to-face with Brock Lesnar is the main reason why Cain Velasquez is entering the Royal Rumble match
Rey Mysterio brought Cain Velasquez to WWE as an ally, and it quickly led to a WWE Championship match against Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel. The storyline betwen Mysterio and Lesnar, which is how Cain's debut came to pass, was incredible and the fans were extremely invested in it.
WWE doesn't have enough time to seemlessly put together something like this in order to create enough buzz for a one-on-one match at the PPV. Velasquez was previously rumored to face Lesnar at Royal Rumble, but he hasn't shown up on TV in months. During that time, Lesnar threw his name into the hat for the show's eponymous match, thus completely nixing the opportunity for Brock vs. Cain II.
Entering the Rumble match is probably the best way to continue his rivalry with The Beast, which WWE will surely pick back up at some point in 2020. Between UFC and WWE, the men have a 1-1 record against each other. A rubber match between them will decide who the supreme fighter is. This makes it likely that Velasquez’s Royal Rumble appearance is only happening so he can confront Lesnar during the 30-man bout instead of wasting a match without proper build.
#4 Roman Reigns is destined to win the match
Roman Reigns is likely set to win the Royal Rumble match. Going with the same theory here as in the linked article, we can say that Cain Velasquez isn’t going to win the Royal Rumble because The Big Dog will do it instead.
Reigns has been away from the WWE and Universal Championship scene for a while, and a second Royal Rumble victory would bring him right back to the top, where he is destined to return. This could lead to what many would call a dream match against The Fiend at WrestleMania 36 with the Universal Championship on the line.
This time around, most fans wouldn’t disagree with us that Roman Reigns deserves to win the Royal Rumble and challenge for the Universal Title. Roman is the biggest name prepared to take on The Fiend come WrestleMania. Right now, Bray Wyatt is feuding with Daniel Bryan but after their clash at Royal Rumble, The Fiend can set his eyes on Roman Reigns, a man he has unfinished business with. If Roman wins the Royal Rumble match, the clash is immediately set in motion.
#3 He isn’t in a position for such a high-profile win
When Velasquez made his WWE debut during the FOX premiere of SmackDown, he gained quite a lot of momentum. His association with Rey Mysterio and the attack on Brock Lesnar that sent the WWE Champion running cemented him as a big threat to The Beast. However, after a tap-out defeat in 2-minutes' time at Crown Jewel and his subsequent disappearance from television, he has no momentum whatsoever.
We know that Royal Rumble is one of the most exciting pay-per-views of the year and the fans may be extremely unwelcoming of a former UFC Champion winning the battle royal unless he proves that deserves it, both in storyline and reality. Velasquez has only wrestled one match for WWE and it wouldn't likely be a wise move to have him win the Royal Rumble match this early in his run, especially if he's only going to be working on a part-time basis. WWE has to build his character first before giving him such a huge victory. Although it is possible that Velasquez will be one of the final remaining Superstars at the end of the match, chances are that he would get eliminated only by someone who’s more valuable than him to WWE, be it a rising star like Drew McIntyre or even Brock Lesnar himself.
#2 Potential criticism from the WWE Universe
As we said earlier, WWE needs to build some momentum around Cain Velasquez before he wins a match as important as the Royal Rumble. There isn’t enough time left right now to build Velasquez’s character and thus we can assume that he isn’t going to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match this year.
Taking his statement into mind, we will notice that there are many things that don’t sit well with the circumstances. We agree that Cain Velasquez is a big name, but that name was not built within the wrestling business. He is an outsider looking in, and is unproven as a major star. He has only wrestled a single match in the company and has been on the sidelines ever since he tapped out to Brock Lesnar.
If he wins the Royal Rumble match, it would likely result in a massive backlash from the WWE Universe, who are expecting a different winner, one who they have been watching every week and one they know is going to be sticking around. This is a big reason why, at this moment, Vince McMahon probably won't allow Velasquez to win the Royal Rumble. He is a babyface right now and WWE will not want him to receive negative reaction from the crowd -- they don't want to re-live what happened in 2015. It could even spell the end for Cain before his run truly begins, thus putting a rubber match with Lesnar in jeopardy of not happening at all.
#1 Cain promised to win, but so has everybody else
Every man and woman who claims entry into the Royal Rumble promises that he or she is going to win it. It doesn't matter if it's Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, or Otis from Heavy Machinery; all of them have promised to walk out victorious and move on to a championship match at WrestleMania. We know that out of 30 Superstars, only one is going to make good on that promise.
WWE obviously can’t allow everyone to win the Royal Rumble match and because of this, we can’t truly believe in Cain Velasquez's statement given to The Sun. Even Paul Heyman’s spoilers are proved to be false sometimes!
While we don’t know who is going to win the Royal Rumble match, we do know that Roman Reigns continues to be the heavy favorite. He's made his promise, just like everyone else, but the former Universal and WWE Champion is much more likely to follow through -- probably more likely than any of the 29 ofher men who will step into the ring on January 26.
Do you think Cain Velasquez is actually going to win the Royal Rumble match? Have your say in the comments below!
