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Welcome to another edition of Sportskeeda's WWE Rumor Roundup.
As always, we have a stacked lineup today filled with all the biggest rumors doing the rounds.
With Royal Rumble just around the corner and a lot of ambiguity surrounding the men's match, there is a lot to talk about regarding the plans for Brock Lesnar and the Superstar who is being groomed to eliminate him from the match.
There were also important backstage updates about two reported surprise entrants and why they may not happen.
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A major hint was dropped on a legendary tag team reuniting after five years.
We also have some news about Seth Rollins' new faction, the reasoning behind Buddy Murphy's addition to the group and the possibility of another member being included in the mix.
#5 The superstar who will eliminate Brock Lesnar and potential WrestleMania plans
Brock Lesnar will enter the Royal Rumble match as the #1 entrant and there are a lot of intriguing possibilities that have increased the anticipation towards WWE's second-most important PPV of the year.
One thing is beyond doubt, Lesnar will be eliminated by a Superstar who will go on to challenge him for the title at WrestleMania. However, who will that man be?
On the latest edition of Sportskeeda's Dropkick DiSKussions with WWE Insider Tom Colohue and host Korey Gunz, Tom explained why Cain Velasquez is most likely Star to dump the Beast Incarnate out of the Rumble.
As reported earlier, Lesnar was originally slated to take on Velasquez at the Rumble, however, the plan was changed.
The new possible plan for Rumble would be to have Lesnar go on a tear by eliminating multiple fan favourites before Velasquez shows up and throws him over the ropes. The company would be expecting a pop, however, Colohue noted that the company may not get the fan reaction they expect.
Tom stated the following,
"When it comes to eliminating, I do think Cain Velasquez is being set up.
"Cain Velasquez is expected to take on Brock Lesnar for a while now, it’s a storyline they want to tell, there was originally supposed to be a Velasquez vs. Lesnar match at the Rumble, they have now pushed that back due to unavailability of someone else, or maybe Tyson Fury not picking up as soon as they would have wanted, there are a lot of possibilities.
"Cain Velasquez is the most certain at this moment to enter the Rumble after Lesnar has thrown out some fan favourites, built up a load of hatred, he is the most likely to throw him out, but I don’t think WWE is going to get the pop they want."
#4 WWE files for 'Harlem Heat' trademark, fuels speculation of a big reunion
Where there is smoke, there certainly has to be some fire and we sense a lot of it here.
As reported by WrestlingInc, WWE filed for a trademark on the 'Harlem Heat' name on January 13th, supposedly for merchandising purposes.
This has reignited the speculation regarding Booker T and his brother Stevie Ray reuniting for a match against The Revival.
As you may know, Revival and Harlem Heat have been trading barbs on social media over the past few months ever since the 'Top Guys' of the WWE confronted Booker T during the TLC Kick-Off show.
Booker T has clearly stated that he is willing to get back into the ring and he has also been training for the same. However, the WWE Hall of Famer also revealed that he would stop his extensive training if WWE didn't reach out to him.
As of this writing, we still don't know whether the WWE management have made the call or not, however, the trademark filing is a positive sign.
Another interesting thing to note is that Royal Rumble 2020 takes place in Booker's hometown in Houston, Texas. The WWE Hall of Fame tag team wrestled their last match together in 2015 and both Booker and his brother look to be in decent shape for a big payday.
WWE is also trying to extend The Revival's contract and a match against Harlem Heat, even if it happens at WrestleMania, could entice the former Tag Team Champions into signing a new deal.
If you connect all the dots, the match does seem like it may happen.
#3 Paul Heyman was desperate to get Buddy Murphy
Vince McMahon may still have the final say when it comes to the major booking decisions made for TV, but no one can argue against the fact that Paul Heyman has a big influence on the RAW product.
The Executive Director of the Red brand has worked towards pushing fresh talents on TV and one of the biggest beneficiaries has been Buddy Murphy.
The former Cruiserweight Champion joined Seth Rollins' faction on the last episode of RAW and it proved that he has the backing of Heyman.
Tom Colohue revealed in the latest edition of Sportskeeda's Dropkick DiSKussions podcast that Heyman has always been a big fan of Murphy's work and eagerly wanted him on RAW. Heyman promised the WWE management that he would do great things with Muprhy, and thus far, Brock Lesnar's advocate hasn't disappointed.
Tom explained:
"I know that Heyman was very excited about getting Buddy Murphy. That’s one of the names he was saying, ‘well, come on, give him to me, give him to me, I’ll do great things with him, give him to me.’ And Black and Murphy have been told for a few weeks now, just go out there and do your thing, let us worry about telling a story. And that’s exactly what they have done. They have gone out and had good wrestling matches." H/t Credit: Sportskeeda.
#2 Possibility of a fifth member being added to Seth Rollins' faction
The addition of Buddy Murphy to the formidable stable helmed by Seth "The Monday Night Messiah" Rollins has broken the recent trend of WWE sticking to three-man factions.
It wasn't uncommon to have massive groups with more than three members during the glory days of pro wrestling and WWE may be turning back the clock with their latest offering.
Tom Colohue speculated on the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast that the company could add a fifth member to the faction before WrestleMania 36.
He opined that Akam, Rezar and Murphy will all benefit from being in the presence of Seth Rollins, whose star power should ideally rub off on his fellow members.
"Yeah, It has been a while since we’ve had a group of anything larger than three and you think back to heydays of the Attitude Era, you had the Nation of Domination, you had DX, they were very large stables, DX was a 5, the Nation of Domination was 5 or 6 depending on what was going on at the time.
"So, there is a good story to tell and the way they did this is very much a Paul Heyman stable. You always have the leader, the vocal leader at the top, and then it’s important that you don’t have anyone else on his level. Buddy Murphy is nowhere near Seth Rollins’ level. He will benefit so much from association with Seth Rollins.
"Same with AOP, they will benefit from the association, from Rollins’ charisma, from Rollins’ talking, they will benefit from that Advertisement All four men are going to benefit, and I do agree, we will probably add at least one more in the build-up to WrestleMania." H/t Credit: Sportskeeda.
#1 Royal Rumble updates on Edge and Paige
Let's just get it out of the way right off the bat, Edge and Paige are highly unlikely to return to the ring at the Royal Rumble. It's a fact that the fans need to accept and Sportskeeda's Tom Colohue reiterated the same on this week's Dropkick DiSKussions podcast.
Sportskeeda's Gary Cassidy caught up with Triple H during a recent media interaction and he asked The Game about the potential in-ring comebacks of the retired Superstars.
Triple H explained that while the Superstars in question may have the desire to return, it eventually also comes down to the medical team's clearance, which isn't that easy to procure in such delicate cases.
Colohue elaborated on Triple H's statement while also revealing the logistical and booking problems that could arise with the returns of Paige and Edge.
"When he was answering, he was trying to make it very clear, yes, it was down to medical clearance and the medical health and personal well-being of the wrestlers in question, Edge and Paige, is the first and foremost consideration. That's something that the fans need to realize. There's something of a logistical issue. Let's say Paige enters the Women's Royal Rumble. If she does not win, the entire event is moot because everyone is booing that match. If Edge enters the Men's Royal Rumble, let's say he is thrown over the top rope by Brock Lesnar immediately. Takes the F-5 in a way that means he can land on his feet and take the bump on his bum basically. You think anyone is cheering Cain Velasquez after that?
Let's look at Edge's last big surprise return. He won. Let's look at John Cena's last surprise return. He won. When you get surprise returns like that, they either win, or it's a ridiculous concept."H/t Credit: Anirban Banerjee of Sportkeeda
