KB’s Review: Who Can Stop The Fire?

It’s a new year (yes it is) and that means we’re ready to start a new year of the WWE calendar. That can mean so many things, but more importantly than anything else, it means the Road to WrestleMania is upon up. That means the Royal Rumble is coming up and we’re going to see some of the most important matches and moments of the year. One of these is the Royal Rumble and that means one important thing: we need a winner, because WrestleMania needs a main event.

And it’s probably going to be Seth Rollins. I really don’t think that’s a secret at this point as there really isn’t a big name ready for the match aside from that. Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar (because Lesnar will still have the title) is about as much of a layup as you can get for WrestleMania right now (the lack of anything else at the moment would be an issue as well) and this is the easiest way to get there.

So…..short column right? Well not so much, as the easiest thing in the world is to pick the layup (though there’s a strong chance it’s going to be wrong). Instead, what about someone else who might be able to pull off the big win? With so many people on the roster, it’s not hard to come up with a short list of people who could be up for a strong run at second place. That’s what we’re going to look at today: who might win the men’s Royal Rumble match other than Rollins.

In no particular order, but starting with a big one. (Continued on next page)

AJ Styles

He debuted at the Royal Rumble back in 2016 and has basically been a top star ever since. Styles is coming off a World Title reign that lasted over a year and it wouldn’t be out of the question to get him back towards the World Title picture. This isn’t a likely option as he’s probably going to get a rematch against Daniel Bryan at the pay per view, but I don’t think it’s impossible to see him pull a double shot that night.

This really is one of the only things left for Styles to do. He’s already been the WWE Champion twice and during his downtime he held the US Title. Of course he can get by partially just by being the Phenomenal One, but a big win in a match like this would be a huge boost for his career as well. It’s the kind of thing you can put on a resume and while Styles has more things on his than almost anyone else, it’s still an impressive thing to be able to say.

He’s done some Rumble stuff before:

Unseen footage of AJ Styles’ Royal Rumble debut on WWE Network

The problem with Styles is that he’s been at the top of the mountain for so long and probably needs to move down a bit (or over to Monday Night Raw, where there isn’t a World Champion at the moment). Styles can have a great match against anyone and doesn’t need to be there in the main event to make an impact. He was a legend coming into the company and got even bigger during his time there. What more can he possibly need?

He’s an older one, so how about a newcomer?(Continued on next page)