From the WWE Rumor Mill: EC3 to be a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match?

What's the story?

The Renegade Wrestling Revolution promotion in Houston, Texas has announced that former Impact Wrestling star Ethan Carter III has pulled out of their January 28th show that he was previously scheduled for.

In case you didn't know...

The former world champion is now a free agent after Impact Wrestling granted him an early contract release. EC3's last Impact obligations wrapped up this past week when he finished up a round of tapings which saw him pick a briefcase in a 'Feast or Fired' match that resulted in him getting fired.

The heart of the matter

Here's the full announcement from the indy promotion, posted on January 11th indicating that EC3 can't appear at the show anymore.

This seems to be significant because the date of the RWR show that EC3 has just pulled out of also happens on be the same day as a certain big pay-per-view that a certain big wrestling company is holding.

Because of this, fans have put two and two together and speculated that this means that EC3 will be appearing as a surprise entrant during the Royal Rumble match, making his triumphant return to the WWE in the process.

What's next?

Short of the WWE making an announcement that EC3 will be appearing in the Royal Rumble, which is about as likely as EC3 actually appearing at the Royal Rumble, we'll just have to wait and see on the day whether or not Derrick Bateman returns to the WWE.

Author's take

I'm torn because part of me thinks EC3 entering the Royal Rumble match would be a great surprise, maybe not as good as AJ Styles debuting, but pretty good nonetheless. But part of me also thinks that there are better people to debut at the Rumble as a surprise, like the recently signed Ricochet for example.