What’s the story?
In a shocking development that transpired on tonight’s episode of Raw, Seth Rollins ended up losing his spot in the 2017 Royal Rumble match after he was defeated by Sami Zayn.
In case you didn’t know…
‘The Architect’ had missed out on the Royal Rumble match last year as well due to a knee injury that he suffered at a live event in November 2015. Rollins was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time and was forced to vacate his title as he recovered from the injury. To add to it, the superstar was also unable to be a part of the WrestleMania 32 pay-per-view.
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The heart of the matter
Raw general manager Mick Foley was in conversation with Stephanie McMahon over the phone when Sami Zayn dropped by to ask Foley what he needed to do to be in the Royal Rumble match. Stephanie overheard the conversation and told Zayn that he would have to beat Seth Rollins to qualify for the match before giving out further instructions to the GM privately.
‘The Hardcore Legend’ went to the locker room to inform Rollins about the match and also revealed that a loss for him would mean he is out of the Royal Rumble. In what turned out to be a thrilling encounter, both Zayn and ‘The Aerialist’ gave each other everything they had.
Rollins delivered a pedigree to Sami on the apron and was about to go for the pin when Triple H’s entrance music hit, leaving him stunned for a while. The distraction allowed ‘The Underdog From The Underground’ enough time to use the ‘small package’ and pick up the victory thereby making it to the Royal Rumble match.
An enraged Seth Rollins stormed towards the backstage area and started to search frantically for ‘The Game’. He confronted Mick Foley about the incident but he said he did not know anything about it but will try to find out. Here is a video of the match posted by WWE on their Twitter account:
What next?
The seeds for a match between Seth Rollins and Triple H at WrestleMania 33 have been sown with ‘The Game’ costing Seth a Royal Rumble spot and a potential WWE Universal Championship opportunity. The upcoming weeks will only fuel the rivalry between the two of them even more and we may see them cross paths much before the grandest event on the WWE calendar.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Rollins’ absence from the Royal Rumble match is not only a big blow to his chances of becoming a champion again but also reduces the star power of the match a little. However, it is a great development as far as Sami Zayn is concerned and this may be the right time to give him that much-needed push.
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