With the Royal Rumble less than three weeks away rumors of its potential winners have just entered their high season. With so many outcomes in play, we’d be foolish to latch onto any report, but this first one is a doozie.
According to WWE insider, Rajah, WWE is mulling over a trio of names as the 2018 Men’s Royal Rumble winner. Per the report, Finn Balor, Baron Corbin, and a returning Batista are all being considered to be the last man standing for the January 28th event.
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This triumvirate of possible winners carries some shock value, but none more than the idea of Dave Batista. We haven’t seen the 48-year old since 2014, ironically a year that saw him win the Royal Rumble. Batista has been vocal as of late, revealing that he hopes and plans on having another lengthy run in WWE. Expressing he’d even like to work house shows, something most wrestlers of his pedigree typically opt out of, Batista sounds all too genuine about a return to WWE.
Regardless of how altruistic Batista is feeling, a Rumble win seems far-fetched. However, the list of potential winners is short and many of the names may not be able to make the same splash that the Hollywood star could.
Corbin comes in second for Most Surprising Name on this list. Since blowing his Money in the Bank contract, Corbin has been in a perpetual side down WWE’s card. The reasons for his decline are rumored to be numerous, but equally abundant are the reports that WWE is high on The Lone Wolf. There’s growing belief that the Rumble winner will come from SmackDown, and outside of Shinsuke Nakamura, Corbin is the 2nd most relevant name WWE could choose.
By default, this makes Balor the bell of this relative ball. After a rough 2017, Balor’s 2018 looks promising as he’s already aligned with his old pals Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to finally give the Balor Club tangible members. Could this be a way to heat up Balor for a big Rumble win? We’ll have to wait and see, but Rajah did qualify that if Balor wins, WWE could have his Universal Championship opportunity come at Elimination Chamber, not WrestleMania. This would all but neuter Balor, and he would be better off not winning the Rumble rather than being a thankless tune-up for Brock Lesnar and his guaranteed match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34.
There will be a barrage of Rumble rumors in coming weeks and we’ll do our best to keep you up on all of them.
