Backstage update on who was originally planned to win the men’s Royal Rumble match - Reports

There has been an update on which WWE Superstar was originally planned to win the Men's Royal Rumble match this past weekend.

Ahead of the Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes and CM Punk had an epic confrontation on WWE RAW. Both men were determined to win the Men's Royal Rumble and were the final two superstars in the match. The American Nightmare sent Punk over the top rope for the elimination, and the 45-year-old announced on Monday's RAW that he suffered a torn triceps during the match. Drew McIntyre interrupted Punk's emotional promo and brutally attacked the veteran as a way to write him off of television as he recovers from the untimely injury.

According to a new report from Fightful Select, Cody Rhodes was always the superstar who was going to win the Men's Royal Rumble match and things went down as planned. However, plans did change on WWE RAW following the injury to CM Punk, and the segment between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins this past Monday night resulted from the veteran's injury.

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Former WWE writer criticizes Royal Rumble matches

Wrestling veteran Vince Russo criticized the promotion for their generic entrance music and claimed that it resulted in a bunch of superstars getting no reaction at the Royal Rumble.

Speaking on this week's edition of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW show, Vince Russo claimed that the crowd didn't know who most of the superstars were based on their entrance themes. Russo noted that he watches the show every week and didn't recognize a lot of the superstar's themes in the match.

“When you’re hitting the music for half [of] these people, they [the crowd] don’t know who it is. Bro, I swear to god. Francis LeRou? Bro, you could have heard a pin drop, and I’m telling you, the music has a lot to do with it because they were hitting the music cues. I didn’t know whose music that was, and I watch the show every week,” Russo said. (28:46 - 29:05)

You can check out the full episode of Legion of RAW in the video below:

Seth Rollins pitched for Cody Rhodes to challenge him at WrestleMania, and the RAW star has shared that he will be revealing his decision on WWE SmackDown this Friday night. Only time will tell who The American Nightmare challenges at WrestleMania 40.

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