The Road to Wrestlemania starts this Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Thirty men are vying for s chance to “main event” the big event in Phoenix. And the odds are pretty that they will come away with either the WWE title or the World title. With the exception of the Rock (2000), John Cena (2008), and Randy Orton (2009), the Royal Rumble winner has gone on to win the world title they challenged for. I am hoping this year will not be a repeat of the last two years, and one of my picks for the Royal Rumble goes on to win a world title.
This year, I have two guys that both have an equal shot of winning the Rumble and it was really hard trying to decide between the two of them. Both are currently on Smackdown, and both are no strangers to championship gold.
My first pick has actually main-evented a Wrestlemania before as champion. I am of course talking about Chris Jericho. I think the odds of him winning are really good this year. By winning the Rumble, Jericho will add even more fire to his heel heat. It will further prove to the WWE fans that he is as he claims to be, “The best in the business at what he does.”
By winning the Rumble and choosing to challenge for the World Heavyweight title, we will get to see one of two really great matches. If Rey Mysterio wins this Sunday, then we will get to see another Rey vs. Jericho. That feud definitely carried them both through the summer, and every match seemed to flow very well. On the other hand, if the Undertaker retains his title, we will get to see a match that has only been seen once, and that was on free TV. The match had Jericho losing due to interference from Batista. I think that if Jericho were to challenge and defeat Undertaker, Jericho could call himself untouchable. He would truly solidify himself as the face of Smackdown, and forever be the person who ended the Streak.
On the other hand, winning the Rumble would give Jericho what he had taken away from him, and what he wants more than anything: to be back on RAW. After being banished several times from RAW, this title shot gives Jericho a legitimate reason to be on the show. No one can take that away from him. Unless he is stupid enough to put his title shot on the line at “Elimination Chamber”. As far as whom he will challenge, that part is meh for me. I’m not real excited about the possibility of him facing Orton or Sheamus for the title. I’m thinking if he chooses to challenge for the WWE title, the match will not be the actual main event, but more in the middle of the Show.
My other choice for a Royal Rumble winner is CM Punk. I think Punk’s 2009 proves that he is capable of winning the Rumble, and going on to main event Wrestlemania. He main-evented, last year’s Summerslam, one of biggest PPVs the WWE has, leaving as World Champion.
I think either match on the Smackdown side will be pretty good for Punk as well. If Rey is champ, I think he and Punk can put on a pretty good showing. Plus, the promos leading up to the match will be great as well. Punk can play up how Rey wears a mask to hide all his past discretions, and referencing things from his book. While Punk shows that he is doesn’t need a mask because he doesn’t have anything to hide. Revenge will be on Punk’s mind if he decides to challenge for the World title, and the Undertaker. At Hell in a Cell, Punk was the one who the Undertaker defeated for the World title, and he wants it back. If Punk defeats the Undertaker, he would have gotten his revenge and added the biggest amount of credibility to his Straight Edge crusade. Not only would being straight edge mean that Punk was better than everyone else, it gave him the ability to finally end the Undertaker’s Wrestlemania streak.
When it comes to going to RAW, the good part is this gives Punk a chance to further his Straight Edge crusade and spread his message of being better than everyone to a wider audience. He will now be spreading that message to more people, and there seems to be something different about the RAW audiences as opposed to the Smackdown ones. Like with Jericho, I’m really not looking forward to a match between Punk and either Orton or Sheamus. If the WWE ever remembered and continued storylines, they could use the fact that Orton and Legacy cost Punk his first World Heavyweight title. The problem is that was back in 2008, and most people have probably forgotten about it by now. Punk tried to get his revenge on Jericho, but never got his hands on Orton or Legacy.
We’ll just have to see what happens this Sunday, and what the lucky winner decides. Also, we could have two completely different people win the titles at this year’s “Elimination Chamber” PPV that opens up a lot more opportunities for exciting matches at Wrestlemania 26. For all we know, it could be Jericho vs. Punk in the main event.
As always if you guys have any questions, comments, suggestions, or whatever send me an email at
snowange415@aim.com
Next week, we’ll see if I was right with my Royal Rumble picks, and I’ll give my thoughts on what happened at the Chikara Season Premiere as well as other stuff.
BTW: It is exactly 5 months until the LONG awaited debut of Chikara in Michigan.
By chris gst
Long time indie wrestling fan. Started with ROH and just kept going.