#1 Roman Reigns
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Realistically, there wasn’t much of a problem with Roman Reigns being in the Rumble match. In previous years, wrestlers who have fought for World Championships have entered the Rumble match later like Dolph Ziggler and Big Show in 2012.
If the problem was just the fact that he had a brutal Championship match and entered the Rumble anyway, Kevin Owens did the exact same thing last year after his Last Man Standing Match with Dean Ambrose earlier in the night; so that wouldn’t have been as big of a deal. Both those points aside, Reigns did not need to be entrant #30.
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Fans wanted surprise entrants and other wrestlers who didn’t already have matches to be showcased in the Royal Rumble. Assuming that Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Bálor were cleared for the match, there was nothing stopping the WWE from having other entrants take Reigns’ spot.
The fans already hate Reigns because of his booking and now that hate has been intensified. If he turns heel, then it was a good decision that the WWE can capitalise on. But if doesn’t, then the WWE might have killed Roman Reigns’ career and ruined any chance he had of getting over.
Replacement: Finn Bálor
Initially, this last spot was held for Samoa Joe. However, after seeing Joe’s debut on Monday Night Raw, it was abundantly clear that Joe waiting until Raw was the better decision. However, assuming that Bálor was medically cleared to wrestle, he would’ve benefitted much more in this situation; even more so if he won the match.
Bálor has defeated Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens all within the span of a month and could easily be placed right back into contention for a title match. However, a return and Royal Rumble debut would’ve been great for his career and for the fans.
Having Bálor stare down The Undertaker in the Royal Rumble Match would’ve been a moment to replay in videos forever. Plus, if a match were to be made out of it, then Bálor eliminating The Undertaker could’ve been the beginning of a great feud.
Fans would probably still have been disappointed if Orton won the match by eliminating Bálor like he did Reigns, but they could’ve pulled a 1992 and had The Undertaker eliminate Bálor or help to eliminate him.
There could’ve been a lot of possibilities with Bálor coming out to #30 and the only excuse for him not being in the match was if he wasn’t medically cleared. Aside from that, this should’ve been an easy choice for the WWE.
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