Royal Rumble to feature surprises?
The Royal Rumble has always been hyped as the best, and fastest, hour of the year, but it is a little different tonight as there will be a women蘑菇视频 Rumble match for the first time.
Who will walk out of both Rumble蘑菇视频 with a guaranteed title shot at WrestleMania?
A year ago, Randy Orton became the seventh man to win two or more Rumble蘑菇视频 joining Steve Austin (three wins), Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, John Cena and Batista), so could Orton join Austin as the only three-time winners?
Winning the Rumble used to all but guarantee a title win at Mania, but since 2008, Rumble winners have gone 3-7 at Mania.
Will WWE pull the string on another Roman Reigns win in Philadelphia, where he won in 2015?
Reigns was booed out of the building that night, as was The Rock, who came down to celebrate with him.
Currently, Reigns has 26 career eliminations in the Rumble, and there is little doubt that he will catch Kane who has the record of 42.
The 27th entrant has won the most Rumbles, four, while both the 30th and 24th entrants have each won three.
Nine wrestlers have won the Rumble in their first appearance, and both Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor have a chance to become the tenth.
Reigns and Nakamura are definitely the odds on favorites, but what kind of surprises will be in store?
For the Women蘑菇视频 Rumble, the favorite among announced wrestlers is Asuka, although there is still a lot of buzz that Ronda Rousey will be a surprise entrant.
A question that may have to be answered is, if Asuka is thrown out, will WWE honor it as her first loss or will it play it off that she has never been defeated?
Stephanie McMahon will serves as a color commentator for the women蘑菇视频 Rumble while Maria Menounos will be the ring announcer.
In the past, losing in the Rumble has not counted as an official loss for talent, but we will find out shortly what will happen.
Brock Lesnar defends the Universal title against Kane and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match, A.J. Styles defends the WWE title against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicapped match, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin challenge The Uso蘑菇视频 for the Smackdown tag titles, and The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) challenge Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan for the Raw tag titles.
Tonight蘑菇视频 show, which starts at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m., will begin with the kickoff show at 5 p.m. on the WWE Network.
Raw 25 recap
Fans were treated to a fun and nostalgic trip down memory lane with Raw this past Monday, but did the company do its best to promote the Rumble?
Raw was definitely entertaining, but it just felt like more of a celebration than final hype for tonight蘑菇视频 big show.
The Miz defeated Reigns to win the Intercontinental title, and The Miz is poised for a huge 2018.
One aspect that did not develop was Cena challenging The Undertaker to a match at Mania, but it makes more sense to wait as Cena is a favorite in the Rumble.
Oddly, Orton did not appear on the show.
The show was a hit with fans tuning in as well as it was the most-watched Raw since the night after Mania XXX in 2014 when 5.6 million fans tuned in.
On Monday, the first hour drew 4.8 million viewers, the second hour had 4.6 million viewers and the last hour had 4.1 million viewers.
WWE releases champion
On Tuesday, WWE released Cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore after being accused of sexual assault in Phoenix on Oct. 19.
However, for those that instantly say that he should be considered innocent until proven guilty, his release had more to do than with just this hideous accusation.
As it has been stated several times in this column, Amore was not liked backstage by the majority of his peers or management, and this was looked at as the proverbial last straw.
The release, as compared to others who have been in the same position that were kept under contract until everything played out, was that Amore was aware of the allegations and investigation yet chose to not inform WWE.
Mixed Tag Team Challenge continues Tuesday
Week 3 of the WWE Mixed Tag Team Challenge takes place Tuesday with Strowman and Alexa Bliss facing Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch.
This past Tuesday, The Miz and Asuka defeated Big E and Carmella to advance to the quarterfinals where they will take on Finn Balor and Sasha Banks.
Airing immediately after Smackdown, the Challenge can be found on Facebook Live.
McMahon officially announces XFL return
On Thursday, Vince McMahon announced that he is restarting the XFL in 2020.
More on his announcement next week.
WWE TV rights heating up
While WWE has publicly stated that it is happy under the NBCUniversal umbrella on the USA Network, several outlets are showing interest I it with its distribution rights deal which is up next year.
Fox has shown interest as has Amazon and Facebook as well.
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