WWE Royal Rumble 2017: The Undertaker, Goldberg And Five Stars Who Shouldn't Win It
The Undertaker, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar ended WWE Raw with a staredown that was a precursor to both Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 33.
In what is shaping up to be one of the most stacked Royal Rumble matches in history, the three legends have been portrayed as the most likely to win the 30-man battle royal and compete for a World title on the grandest stage of them all. But would that be the right decision?
WWE finds itself in quite the booking pickle for the Royal Rumble, with the option of having one of these three future Hall of Famers emerge victorious or the option of a swerve that would see a rising star pick up the biggest win of his career. This all boils down to whether WWE is intent on focusing on part-time stars or building up a new, full-time talent as WWE's new No. 1 guy.
The creative team will undoubtedly be tempted to give a Royal Rumble victory to to an already established name, but with the way the WrestleMania 33 card seems to be shaping up, this is the year that WWE should definitely avoid that.
Here are five superstars who absolutely should not win the 2017 Royal Rumble.
Randy Orton
Randy Orton is one of the betting favorites to win the Royal Rumble, which really doesn't make sense.
"The Viper" is clearly headed for some sort of match with Bray Wyatt (and possibly Luke Harper) at WrestleMania 33, and though Wyatt deserves to be a World title contender, the WWE Championship simply doesn't fit into what they're doing right now. They don't need a title involved in a feud that's all about playing mind games and proving who the true alpha male is, and we certainly don't need Orton to win the Rumble when there are so many other choices.
The three-way rivalry between Wyatt, Orton and Harper should focus on the eventual split of the Wyatt Family, which is a story that doesn't need to involve a title. Well, at least not yet.
While Orton and Wyatt will probably step up to challenge for the WWE Championship at some point this year, they need to move on from each other first. In all likelihood, that won't happen until WrestleMania 33 at the earliest.
Goldberg
What kind of message does it send to the talent if WWE books a 50-year-old to return, wrestle one match and then win the Royal Rumble to challenge for a World title at WrestleMania?
It would be one thing if Goldberg, the current betting favorite, was an A-list Hollywood star like The Rock or if he could produce a quality match like Triple H or John Cena can. But Goldberg is well past his prime as in-ring performer (and was never great to begin with), and he's simply not capable of delivering a WrestleMania quality main event.
Having Goldberg on the show as an attraction is fine. Give him a five to 10-minute match where he can hit a couple of spears, a jackhammer and then go home. Anything beyond that will expose him, just like any Goldberg match that involves a World title would hurt the prestige of a belt that should be about stars who can outwrestle their opponent.
We can accept the fact that Goldberg is going to face a top talent, such as Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar, at WrestleMania 33. There's just no reason to give an average wrestler who may only wrestle two or three more matches, at most, a World title match while the full-time stars are left with nothing substantial to do.
Roman Reigns or John Cena
Both Roman Reigns and John Cena have World title matches at Royal Rumble, and they're widely expected to win their respective bouts.
But with Reigns' match against Kevin Owens now becoming a No Disqualification match and with Cena not guaranteed to win the title, WWE may be tempted to have Reigns and/or Cena lose their matches and then show up in the Royal Rumble match later that night. In fact, just last year, Owens and Alberto Del Rio lost title matches early in the show only to also compete in the Rumble.
Please, WWE, don't do it. No one needs to see that again, especially if it involves Reigns or Cena.
They are already competing in World title matches that could set them on the path to a WrestleMania main event. Having them also take a spot in the Royal Rumble match isn't necessary.
Brock Lesnar
After being squashed by Goldberg at Survivor Series, WWE will surely be looking to help Brock Lesnar regain his momentum with a dominant performance in the Royal Rumble match.
But a dominant showing doesn't necessarily have to lead to a victory. In fact, it shouldn't.
As is the case with basically everyone else on this list, Lesnar is a part-timer who both doesn't need the title to stay relevant and shouldn't be involved in the World title picture if he isn't going to be around enough. Lesnar simply needs to be booked in big matches against worthy adversaries to continue to be one of WWE's biggest attractions.
Lesnar should either be eliminated by Braun Strowman to set up a future match, or he should eliminate and/or be eliminated by Goldberg to lead to the third match between the two, something WWE has telegraphed for months anyway. Neither choice will set well with some fans, but both options are better than seeing Lesnar, whose matches have suffered greatly in quality lately, main event WrestleMania over more deserving stars.
The Undertaker
With all due respect to The Undertaker, one of the best pro wrestlers ever, he, like Goldberg, should not be winning the Royal Rumble at what is undoubtedly the tail end of his career.
Simply put, The Undertaker has never been and is not someone who lets World title matches define him. In actuality, he has spent a big portion of his WrestleMania career as one of the show's top spectacles without any sort of title being involved. Just having a match is enough for The Undertaker to make a substantial impact on WrestleMania 33, especially now that he may have less than a handful of matches left.
WWE forcing a World title into an Undertaker match gives us one fewer important WrestleMania 33 match. There are other feuds and superstars that are defined by a title (think Owens vs. Jericho and Styles vs. Cena), whereas The Undertaker is largely defined by his impressive WrestleMania record and the lure of beating him at a show where he's nearly unbeatable.
Though The Undertaker could and should have a big role in the 30-man Royal Rumble, it's best that WWE use this bout to set up a non-title encounter with a rising star rather than as a platform for one last Undertaker title run.
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