The Royal Rumble pay-per-view is set to be a big show even if it is down two matches. After all, the United States Championship was supposed to be determined in Philly and that match was hot-shotted to happen much sooner so we could see how cool Bobby Roode looks with the US Title weeks in advance. On the same token, the Cruiserweight Championship match was also canceled but for a much different reason.
The Universal Title match is set to be a violent encounter between Brock Lesnar, Kane, and Braun Strowman. The Monster Among Men has run roughshod over this feud which could be a telling sign of the match’s outcome. But you can never count WWE out when it comes to arranging a surprise.
Of course with the three men in the match, the general idea is that one man will be taking the pin.
“I think everyone expects Lesnar to pin Kane,” Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio. “I think that’s the most likely scenario. I can’t imagine Kane winning. If Kane won it would be stupid. Strowman could win but that would require changing the plans for Mania which is possible. But I haven’t heard that there’s any change of plans.”
“We’ll see, I mean Lesnar and Strowman and Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns at SummerSlam had a hell of a match. Lesnar and Strowman in a singles match was blah. I’m not sure where Kane fits in, I know the Kane/Strowman matches that I’ve seen have been pretty bad. So this one’s not a sure thing.”
WWE books to their performers’ strengths, therefore if you’re expecting an extended encounter between The Beast, The Monster, and The Machine you might want to realize how this match would probably play out best.
“I mean and it may have to be kept short and there will be a lot of table breaking and things like that because the thing with the Lesnar/Strowman match was they tried to make it a wrestling match and that didn’t work. It really exposed — Strowman’s good if you let him be Strowman and let him do a lot of stunts but Strowman just doing a wrestling match is very overrated. And Kane, you know he’s there and… he’s there.”
“I’m sure that they’ll let these guys go crazy because they know if they don’t it probably wouldn’t be that good.”
Therefore, the Universal Title match is liable to be a short affair. But it’s okay because on a card with two Royal Rumble matches it will only give WWE more time to build the drama for the two marquee matches.
The Universal Title match might be brief but WWE will certainly figure out a way to fill the four-hour show from start to finish with plenty of action.
Quotes thanks to Wrestling Observer Live and WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
