Since the days of Buddy Rogers, Frank Gotch, and Polydamus of Skotoussa, the Royal Rumble has been one of wrestling's grandest traditions. Most wrestling traditions involve violent hazing, narcotics, or really stupid ideas, so the Royal Rumble really distinguishes itself. A tradition within this tradition is the tradition of the world championship match that accompanies the Royal Rumble - in one match, the number one contender establishes his right to the main event of WrestleMania; in the other, the champion fights to retain his title to meet them there. The tradition, generally speaking, is that the championship match is really good. From Bret Hart versus The Undertaker to Mankind versus The Rock to John Cena versus Umaga, or even last year's fantastic triple threat, the championship match at the Royal Rumble has a tendency to be exceptionally good. It would be possible to list at least another half dozen title matches from Royal Rumbles past that were nothing less than brilliant.
This year marks the first Royal Rumble pay-per-view since 1992, the year of my birth, at which the WWE Championship will be contested in the Royal Rumble match itself.
Roman Reigns has faced a lot of adversity over the last twelve months, and it's largely thanks to the ineptitude of writers who don't know how to properly capitalise on an incredibly talented wrestler. When he needed to be sympathetic, he was unstoppable. When he needed to be unstoppable, he was pathetic. Now he's losing the opportunity to build his legacy and have what many great wrestlers (Bret Hart, Mick Foley, John Cena - do keep up) have had. Reigns is only thirty, he'll probably have another shot at this, but it doesn't stop it being a crying shame.
There's one other person who's missing out, perhaps even more badly than Roman Reigns: Reigns' hypothetical opponent. One could argue that the reason Reigns doesn't have a standalone title match is because he doesn't have an obvious opponent, or at least not one that shouldn't be held off on until WrestleMania. This is one of those golden opportunities that WWE likes to watch pass by while they stare blankly at the ceiling: it's time to elevate someone.
Rusev is still an absolute beast who needs only flatten a Neville here and Ziggler there to regain some of the mystique he had at this time last year (plus there's a delicious symmetry in Rusev being the last wrestler eliminated by Reigns at last year's Royal Rumble). Look back at last year and be appalled at how far he's fallen this one. There's obviously potential there - some of it realised but much of it untapped.
There are three members of The New Day and Xavier Woods must be capable of wrestling - all the wrestling matches that he's wrestled in as a wrestler would suggest that. Let Big E take a break from tag team competition - Big E being the star of the group, don't kid yourself - and take a break from the midcard to make Roman work for that belt. Rumour has it that "the big push" was going to go to either Big E or Roman - let's see exactly why Big E's on that level.
Kevin Owens is on fire. Get this: sometimes he beats midcarders. If he cheats. Oh, so on fire. Maybe people would take Owens more seriously - and they should because he's tremendously talented - if he stopped being Dean Ambrose's chew toy, took back his intercontinental title and established himself as a genuine rival to the biggest dog in the yard.
Considering how thrown together championship matches at Royal Rumbles have been in years past - not just the shit ones, like Brock Lesnar versus Bob Holly, but also the good ones, like The Undertaker versus Rey Mysterio - you could put anybody with any legitimacy in there with Roman. Kalisto, Neville, maybe just throw The Big Show at him again.
Yes, we're treading water before WrestleMania, we all know that, but weve been doing that at the Royal Rumble since time immemorial, and we've had some of the best title matches ever doing it.
Still, the rumble match itself has got to be better than last year's shitshow, right?