New Title Match Announced for WWE's Royal Rumble

We're just about two weeks from one of WWE's flagship events, the Royal Rumble, and the company [...]

We're just about two weeks from one of WWE's flagship events, the Royal Rumble, and the company added yet another title match to the show on Friday.

Enzo Amore will be defending his cruiserweight championship against Cedric Alexander on the show. Alexander won a "Second Chance" Fatal Four-Way match to earn the show, and evidendly Amore has been cleared to compete in time for the Rumble. The announcement was made via the WWE website.

This is a continuation of a feud that has developed on WWE television over the last couple of weeks. Amore was originally set to defend his title against Alexander on RAW two weeks ago. However, that match had to be cancelled when Amore was sent to a Miami hospital due to an illness he was going through. Despite Enzo's calls to still perform at the show, WWE officials stepped in and nixed that.

This past week on RAW, Amore and Alexander did go head to head. The match ended via count-out after Amore sold an injury on the outside from a Cedric Alexander dive. Obviously, titles can't change hands from a count-out finish, and after winning the previously mentioned "Second Chance" four-way bout, Alexander will now get another shot at the Rumble.

The Royal Rumble is set to be four hours long this year, plus a two hour kickoff show, bringing the event to an insane six hours of length. Though we don't know the exact positioning of the cruiserweight bout, it seems likely that it would occur on the kickoff show. Even with the actual PPV lasting four hours, the card has already become quite crowded. Plus, the show will feature two Rumbles this year, and those typically go at least an hour, so that's half of the show right there.

The updated lineup as of right now is as follows:

  • Men's Royal Rumble
  • Women's Royal Rumble
  • Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane for the WWE Universal Title
  • AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn for the WWE Title
  • US Title Tournament Final - TBD
  • Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan vs. Cesaro & Sheamus for the WWE Raw Tag Team Titles
  • Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin vs. The Usos (c) in a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Titles
0comments