What if Braun Strowman wins the WWE Royal Rumble 2019?
Braun Strowman has been on the shortlist of the guys positioned to take over as the top star in WWE for some time now. His prospects only looked better when Roman Reigns had to step away from the ring to battle leukaemia.
However, Strowman lost his bid to capture the vacant Universal Championship at Crown Jewel. He was most recently pulled from his Royal Rumble title shot against Brock Lesnar amidst rumors he wasn’t cleared to wrestle medically, or else that WWE had second-guessed him losing to Lesnar again, lest it damages the Monster Among Men’s character.
Another possibility: WWE took Strowman out of the title match to pave the way for him to instead capture the Universal title at WrestleMania. Along the way? Strowman wins the Royal Rumble.
For his size and the credential of already having won last year’s Greatest Royal Rumble, Strowman is readily believable as a Rumble winner. Moreover, from a booking perspective, he makes complete sense as someone WWE would award one of its most traditional pushes: a Rumble win, a WrestleMania main event, and a moment of glory with his first world title win in front of the biggest audience WWE has all year.
Of course, based on past precedent, Strowman-Lesnar may not make for all that great of a match. They’re big enough names with big enough bodies to create a spectacle, though. Moreover, they have a history, and working Lesnar is about the only scenario in which WWE can cast Strowman as a face underdog, given not only Lesnar’s real-life legitimacy but the fact that he has turned back Strowman’s challenges four times before, including a clean one on one win at No Mercy 2017.
Strowman could ride this push into a dominant run on top of Raw as a face champion, Working the likes of Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Dean Ambrose, and Lars Sullivan for the months to follow.
Do you think Braun Strowman should win the Royal Rumble? Let us know in the comments.