The Universal championship picture has been stuck between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns over the past couple of months. Despite the fans complaining over the drooling storyline, the WWE has decided to drag it until the Royal Rumble PPV. The only interesting thing this time is, of course, Chris Jericho hanging high above the ring inside a shark cage (which is the only thing that Jericho did not invent, so far, perhaps).
Now, since the Wrestlemania season is around, it’s time for Vince McMahon taking creative control from Triple H. Hence, it’s quite assumable that he would like to see his favorite player in the main event of the biggest stage of them all. So going by this, Reigns seems favorite to win the championship match at the Royal Rumble championship match.
But now that Chris Jericho has won the United States championship from Reigns, the chances of Reigns’ winning the title have got even brighter. On the other hand, Owens will pick up a feud with best friend Jericho.
As per Vince, Reigns will pick up a feud against Braun Strowman going forward to culminate the Universal championship match at Mania. The CEO of the company seems to love the big men present on the roster and hence he might not understand the logic that Strowman is still not considered as an A-player in the WWE. Plus, he has not done anything big yet to get to the main event spotlight. But, as per the Boss’ saying, “I get what I want”.
If this turns out to be the title match at Mania then it might turn out to be a nightmare for the pro-wrestling fans like last year when Triple H literally dragged Reigns to build a so-called Roman Empire. The result was familiar and bigger as a record crowd of almost one hundred thousand people booed him out of the building.
Vince should be ready for some similar thing if he is indeed planning to go in this direction. The only save will be to keep Owens the champion until Wrestlemania and bring back Finn Balor for his due championship hunt. They had an incredible rivalry at NXT and the crowd would love to see these two indie scene specialists tearing each other apart at the main event.
As for Reigns, the WWE should keep him out of the title picture. Bringing someone like Conor McGregor from UFC, who is a natural heel for all the WWE fans, would be a good move. This should work magic for Reigns to earn an auto-generated sympathy from the fans. Goldberg can also be a viable option for the Big Dog but the crowd might eat him up alive for going against a wrestling icon. The creative will let him get the win in a spear vs. spear match but this would not help him in the long run.
Lastly, Vince might try to come up with another head-turner at the very last moment to keep Reigns in the Universal championship match at Wrestlemania by letting the Undertaker win the Royal Rumble. In that case, Reigns would be facing the Deadman at the big daddy of all the PPVs.
Personally, this match will be a classic bout for the wrestling fans much like what Undertaker and Batista were able to pull off. Plus, Reigns is considered to be one of the safest workers for Taker. Despite the outcome of the match, this would turn out to be one money match for Vince as well.
This Royal Rumble event is the biggest of the decade with so heavy names on the card. Once the night gets over, we might get the indication of what Vince has in mind for the prime babyface of the flagship brand.