Typically the road to WrestleMania begins at the Royal Rumble, but this year it began at Survivor Series (2016). Brock Lesnar faced the returning Goldberg, in what has been dubbed fantasy warfare. The match ended with Goldberg dominating Brock Lesnar. Following this win it was announced that Goldberg would be the 1st participant in the Royal Rumble. It was also announced that Brock Lesnar would be entering the Rumble come January as well. With these two announcements it has kicked off speculation of who will win the Royal Rumble and headline WrestleMania 33.
Goldberg:
As much as we love Goldberg in the WWE it would be one of the worst scenarios to let him win the Royal Rumble. As it would immediately sideline a perfect story that he has with Brock Lesnar that will end at WrestleMania. In fact, if he was to win the Royal Rumble that storyline would not only be postponed, but would most likely be tabled. Furthermore, Goldberg just came back to the WWE after 12 years, is 49 years old, and has a family to consider. This raises questions on how much time he can and is willing to give to the WWE Universe if he were to win the Royal Rumble or any big title match. This along with his current feud with Brock Lesnar makes him an unlikely candidate to win the Royal Rumble.
Brock Lesnar:
There is no denying that Brock Lesnar is championship material being a former UFC champion and WWE Champion. Brock is the perfect choice for Goldberg to face at WrestleMania as the 2 men have similar builds and wrestling style. Much like Goldberg, winning the Royal Rumble would table the feud between these 2 men. Rather, Brock is needed to face Goldberg at WrestleMania as a way to draw attention and increase buys for the event. This very issue makes Brock Lesnar an unlikely candidate to win the Royal Rumble. It has been mentioned before, that Kevin Owens would like to fight Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, this statement opens a slight possibility for that to occur, but it is just that very slight. Most likely Brock will be facing Goldberg at WrestleMania.
It is clear that WWE will be using the Royal Rumble with both Goldberg and Brock Lesnar to further the feud to come to a head at WrestleMania 33.
Now despite Goldberg and Lesnar not winning the Royal Rumble it leaves the opportunity to be seized by the likes of Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and Chris Jericho.
Bray Wyatt:
Bray Wyatt is one of the hardest underrated and under utilized wrestlers that the WWE has. His time to gain a championship is long over due. Currently the WWE Champion is AJ Style and it is expected that he will retain that title going into WrestleMania. With Bray Wyatt winning the Royal Rumble it would allow AJ Styles to turn face, which is something that WWE wants. This is primarily due to the fact that faces tend to sell more clothing and items then heels .AJ Styles is a respectable name in wrestling and that would make the company more money. Furthermore, Bray Wyatt is one of the best at doing promos and this would be used to hype the match for WrestleMania, and effectively making the match mean something. Finally, Bray Wyatt and AJ Styles if they were to clash have different styles that would be an interesting match that has not been done before in WWE. Doing these three things would help to establish Smackdown as a strong brand, which it needs desperately.
Seth Rollins:
Since he was in NXT, Seth Rollins has been viewed as one of the best talents WWE. Seth is no stranger to being on the main stage at WrestleMania as he won his first WWE Championship there. Furthermore, Seth currently has a feud with Kevin Owens, and winning the Royal Rumble would be the perfect way to end the feud between the 2 of them at WrestleMania in a natural organic way. Furthermore, you can argue that there is no other wrestler in the last 2 years, face or heel, which has carried WWE more than Seth Rollins has. Because of this he deserves to be headlining WrestleMania, for his role in the last several years of carrying the company. Since Seth Rollins has come to WWE he has proven time and time again, despite wins and losses, as to why he deserves to be in the main event, and putting him in the main event at WrestleMania should be no different, as he delivers excellent matches at pay per views.
Chris Jericho:
If there was ever a bromances that took the WWE by storm it is that of Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. For this very reason Chris Jericho should win the Royal Rumble as it would provide 2 options for him. Option 1 would to go to Smackdown and challenge for the WWE Championship, thus effectively being transferred to that brand if he won. The second option would be to challenge for the WWE Universal Championship, against his possible friend Kevin Owens. This would cause friction to occur between the 2 of them and ultimately change their friendship into a rivalry. Rather, then end a feud this match would start one between these 2 wrestlers that would continue for several months. Since they know each other so well, the WrestleMania match and the ones following it would show case amazing wrestling as they attempt to beat each other. This scenario is the best possible way that Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho could break a part as it would be an organic and believable as both men want the title more than there current friendship. Due to wanting the title it shifts them back to being single wrestlers. This opens the door for other feuds to occur for both of them in the second half of 2017. By far Chris Jericho would be the best possible wrestler to win the Royal Rumble as he can go in many different directions that can change the WWE Universe.
