WWE: Is The Royal Rumble Still Relevant?

In three weeks the WWE will hold its annual Royal Rumble event, and as the tradition has been set since 1993 the winner will receive a world champion opportunity at WrestleMania. Many winners of the Rumble have gone on to succeed in that and being granted their "WrestleMania moment". Notable winners such as Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, and John Cena have gone on to the main event on the Grandest Stage of Them All because of their Rumble win.

But let's take a minute at the winner of the last few Rumbles of late and see what exactly happened to their career:

Triple H
Roman Reigns
Batista
John Cena
Sheamus

See a pattern? The Rumble didn't help anybody's career here, especially Roman with 2015 and last year's. Consider the fact that Daniel Bryan was still heavily favored to win both 2014/15, but with Triple H winning the WWE Championship at last year's event, Batista getting booed (and Daniel Bryan being added to the main event at WrestleMania XXX), and John Cena had already cemented himself as the star of his generation. Even Sheamus, who made a huge deal about winning the Rumble would help him "headline WrestleMania" was actually kept to the opening bout against Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship in an eighteen-second match.

What happened after that? The crowd turned on Sheamus and thus began D-Bry's push to become the company's biggest star whose name wasn't John Cena. With the case of Roman in 2015, he was scheduled to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but Seth Rollins had cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase, and in some fans' eyes (this writer's included) saved the main event and made Rollins the star he is now.

The Rumble used to be the match to help give that superstar that was on the verge of megastardom that last bit of a push to make them seem like a big deal. Look at the case of Austin in 97 and 98. While Austin would not see WrestleMania because of a heavily convoluted storyline in 1997, the next year, he was prime and ready to take the spotlight. The last time the Rumble was used effectively this way was probably 2005 with Batista and Cena tying initially, with Batista claiming the victory in the end. Batista was getting primed for the big time and with Brock Lesnar having left the company a year prior, it was lacking that mountain of a man for a champion. The Rumble victory helped make him the star he would become.

So what exactly happened?

A lot of factors come into play here. The big one being it was now Money In The Bank being used to make new stars and champions. Superstars such as CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, and even the likes of Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio heavily benefited more from cashing in than anything having to do with the Royal Rumble, which says a lot considering that the Sheamus and Del Rio have won both. Same with Edge, who was the first Money In The Bank winner and cashed in to become WWE Champion against a weakened John Cena. Add that into the phasing out of the King of the Ring tournament, the Rumble was really the last place to make something out of wrestlers who were on the cusp of superstardom because other methods were already in place.

Another thing that severely hindered the importance of winning the Rumble was the addition and creation of two World Championships. The winner of the Rumble could challenge for any of the two, but when you have two World Champions, it's hard to determine who is the actual top guy of the company and their place in the card. Sheamus is a perfect example of this situation. After the unification of the World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship back in 2013, the Rumble felt like it had a more focused purpose. Since the inception of the Universal Championship, though, it will be interesting to see who comes out the victor this year and if they decide to challenge for that or the WWE World Championship instead. With headliners like Cena, Styles, Owens, and Reigns having matches set at the Rumble, it could be time for somebody to get called up to the big time.

The Rumble has helped shape careers and could so again for this generation of stars. Imagine what would happen if the likes of Xavier Woods, Bray Wyatt, Sami Zayn, or even a returning superstar (or debuting) won this year's Royal Rumble? That would definitely catapult them to megastar status that could help add some new blood into the world championship circuit it needs right now and help return the Rumble to its past glory and relevance.

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