WWE is set to go with a predictable Royal Rumble winner yet again.
Credit: George Napolitano/MediaPunch/IPX
According to WrestleVotes (h/t Cageside Seats), "As of now we’ll have a repeat winner for the Royal Rumble next year." With previous Royal Rumble winners like Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Edge seemingly done as in-ring performers, that leaves the following superstars as realistic candidates to win the 2019 Royal Rumble, which will be held at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona in January:
- Shawn Michaels (1995 and 1996)
- The Rock (2000)
- Triple H (2002 and 2016)
- Brock Lesnar (2003)
- Batista (2005 and 2014)
- Rey Mysterio (2006)
- The Undertaker (2007)
- John Cena (2008 and 2013)
- Randy Orton (2009 and 2017)
- Sheamus (2012)
- Roman Reigns (2015)
- Shinsuke Nakamura (2018)
Of the aforementioned names, Nakamura and Sheamus can probably both be eliminated from contention given the shaky booking of Nakamura and the fact that Sheamus is now a tag team performer. Likewise, reports indicate that Reigns will have an extended run with the Universal Championship, and with "The Big Dog" likely to hold the title until WrestleMania 35 or perhaps even beyond, it's a safe bet he won't win it, either.
The early betting favorite to win the Royal Rumble is The Rock, likely propelled by reports of "The Great One" wanting to wrestle again and being "penciled in" for a WrestleMania 35 match against Reigns. The Rock is indeed probably the strongest candidate to win the 30-man battle royal, joining Michaels, Triple H, Lesnar, Batista, Mysterio, Taker, Cena and Orton as strong favorites to win one of WWE's biggest matches of the year and then go on to headline its flagship pay-per-view in a blockbuster world title match.
You may, of course, notice a few things about that list. For starters, every single one of those remaining stars is a part-timer and former world champion, with three of those stars (Orton, Cena and Triple H) having held a world title on at least 13 different occasions. Likewise, the youngest of that group would be Cena and Lesnar, who are 41 years old, while the oldest of the bunch would be Michaels and The Undertaker, who are both 53.
If reports that we're getting a "repeat" Royal Rumble winner are indeed true (and hardly anyone would be surprised if that was the case), it would highlight one of WWE's biggest issues: Its over-reliance on part-time legends.
During a recent interview with Sporting News (h/t Fightful.com), outspoken WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash put it bluntly, saying: "No one cares about the young guys," specifically mentioning Reigns, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. While that is obviously a gross exaggeration (especially considering that those three stars are all top five merchandise movers), Nash's bold statement does highlight the widespread notion that WWE's dependence on part-time stars is a worrisome trend that will ultimately hurt the company in the long run.
Indeed, WWE has kicked its obsession with part-timers into high gear in recent months. The company recently inked Lesnar to a "seven-figure" deal, is apparently giving Michaels a big money deal to come out of retirement at Crown Jewel, just signed Mysterio to a presumably lucrative deal, has spent the past several years making names like Triple H, Taker, Cena and Orton some of WWE's highest paid stars and would have to break the bank to lure The Rock away from Hollywood.
But these big money deals, fueled by the financial success of WWE's Saudi Arabian events as well as its pair of landmark deals for Raw and SmackDown, have resulted in an even bigger influx of part-time talent, one that seems destined to result in a 40-plus-year-old part-time legend winning the Royal Rumble when that match is designed specifically to catapult rising stars up the card. But the only thing that is sky high these days is WWE's revenue, which has led to the company have more money at its disposal and more money translates to more part-timers.
In recent months, WWE has focused heavily on those stars, including the likes of Michaels, Triple H and The Undertaker, making them all prime candidates to win the Royal Rumble and go on to main event WrestleMania 35, which wouldn't be a surprise at all given the way the event has been loaded with part-time stars in high-profile matches over the past several years. It seems obvious that WWE views these established legends as bigger draws than most of its current stars, and that will translate to a Royal Rumble match that is loaded with part-timers, which also means that it's virtually a lock one of those stars will win the highly anticipated battle royal.
Who will it be? Taker? HBK? Cena? Lesnar?
Any of those stars is a prime candidate to outlast 29 other superstars, win the match and go on to main event WrestleMania 35, which unfortunately means that any full-timer's chances of winning the bout just went down dramatically.
Blake Oestriecher is an elementary school teacher by day and a sports writer by night. He’s a contributor to @ForbesSports, where he primarily covers WWE. You can follow him on Twitter @BOestriecher.
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