This week on SmackDown Live! John Cena made his spectacular return and made his intention to go after the 16th World title, clear. As of this writing, it will be AJ Styles vs. John Cena at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship. The reason behind this match has come to light recently and it is definitely not what one expected it to be.
AJ Styles was rumoured to face The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship for a long time. But, WWE suddenly changed its plans and went ahead with John Cena vs. Styles for the Rumble.
The sudden change in plans raised many eyebrows but it was not surprising, as people knew that WWE had the Cena-Styles feud as a backup if things didn’t work out.
Already the effects of a diminished creative team have been reflecting in WWE programming. Though Cena vs. Styles is a good program to go with for Royal Rumble, one has to accept that WWE has played this feud one too many times in the past.
The Royal Rumble will hit 30 years old when the event commences in January at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas. WWE wants to make this event as big as it can, and is adding as much star power as they can.
The Royal Rumble match alone is set to feature both Goldberg, and Brock Lesnar in the big match. The RAW brand is also set to have Kevin Owens defend the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns.
The Royal Rumble is in the Undertaker’s Backyard of Texas:
The 30th anniversary of The Royal Rumble will be taking place in the Heart of Texas, San Antonio. With that in mind, WWE is going to want a hometown boy, in one of the bigger matches on the card.
The Undertaker certainly fits that bill. Undertaker is a proud Texan and has shown his Texas pride throughout the years in WWE. In fact, The Undertaker’s lone Royal Rumble win occurred in San Antonio back in 2007.
The last time WWE was in the Alamo Dome they had fellow Texan and San Antonio native, Shawn Michales compete for the championship. With WWE having virtually no chance of getting Shawn Michaels to compete at the Rumble, Taker is surely the next best thing.
The match would also really get the crowd into the event as any Texan is viewed as a returning hero no matter who they’re facing. This would finally give AJ Styles who is a heel some legit heat going into a match.
Despite Styles being a face, he is generally cheered by a big portion of the audience. However, in front of 60,000 Texans that shouldn’t be the case. Styles can finally get legit and really get booed by an abundance of the crowd, this could really help his character going forward.
Having a Hometown hero like The Undertaker will not only spark interest in the Texas crowd but for everyone at home as well. Fans will be invested to see if The Phenom could win one more WWE Championship in his home state.
However, with AJ facing The Undertaker instead WWE can instead use John Cena in the Royal Rumble match. With this being the 30th Royal Rumble match, WWE is going to want to add as much star power into the contest.
With Goldberg and Brock Lesnar in the match already adding Cena would add another huge name into the contest. Fans could also see Cena and Goldberg clash with one another in the ring for a few moments.
John Cena entering the Rumble match could also allow John Cena to potentially make history as he could tie Stone Cold Steve Austin with the most Royal Rumble victories of all-time with three. John Cena entering the Rumble would also save his chase for a 16th reign for WrestleMania.
Regardless of the star power, if there is nothing new in the feud no one is going to care about it. Taker vs. Styles could have been a fresh and very exciting feud to watch. Can the WWE pull off another Styles vs. Cena feud without boring us to death? What do you think? Leave your opinions in the comments.
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