From the WWE Rumor Mill: Reason why WWE is skeptical about Braun Strowman vs Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble
What’s the story?
On a recent edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was asserted that Vince McMahon is highly sceptical about having Braun Strowman vs Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble in January of next year.
In reference to the same, the reasons behind McMahon’s scepticism were noted. Apparently, the WWE plans to go with a Strowman vs Triple H feud in the days to come; and although it isn’t guaranteed that Lesnar will defend his Universal Championship at Royal Rumble 2018, the Beast will indeed appear at the event.
In case you didn’t know…
The vast majority of industry experts believed that Brock Lesnar will defend his Universal title against Finn Balor at WWE’s Royal Rumble PPV.
However, per backstage rumblings, WWE boss Vince McMahon isn’t convinced in Balor’s star-power yet, hence Balor is now not being considered for the aforementioned matchup.
The heart of the matter
It was noted by the Observer, that although the most obvious choice to face Lesnar at Royal Rumble would be Braun Strowman, the latter recently lost to Lesnar clean, and another clean loss to the Beast would likely tarnish Strowman’s brand value; hence McMahon is quite skeptical of the idea of running back the Monster vs the Beast at the ‘Rumble.
Moreover, WWE is now building a feud between Strowman and Triple H—both likely to face off at Royal Rumble.
Furthermore, Lesnar is now on a streak of destroying every WWE Superstar with the F-5; and is only expected to drop his Championship to Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 34. Now, although it can be argued that Strowman is more popular than Reigns; overall, Reigns is still considered the face of WWE going forward, as the Big Dog consistently delivers good matches without the smoke and mirrors that are characteristic of Strowman bouts.
Besides, with WWE not matching up Balor against Lesnar at the ‘Rumble, the only options left are Seth Rollins (who’s in a Tag Team program), and place-fillers such as Bray Wyatt, Jason Jordan and Elias. Hence, the most ideal opponent for Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2018 would, in fact, be Samoa Joe.
What’s next?
Yet another theory which was noted on the Observer is that WWE could indeed benefit should the higher-ups change their mind, and go forward with Balor vs Lesnar; as even if Balor loses to the Beast, if he puts up a fight like AJ Styles did at Survivor Series, he’ll come out the match with his brand value relatively unharmed.
Sportskeeda will keep fans updated as the Royal Rumble card shapes up.
Author’s take
Brock Lesnar’s Royal Rumble opponent for next year is perhaps the most talked about topic in the professional wrestling community today.
There’s a ton of anticipation regarding the same, and given the aforementioned theories and implications, it’ll be interesting to see which foe the WWE chooses to face the Beast Incarnate next year.
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