WWE: 5 Things We Need To See At The Royal Rumble

Can you feel the excitement? In less than 60 hours the Road to Wrestlemania will kick off in San Antonio, Texas at the 2017 Royal Rumble. The WWE Universe has been buzzing for weeks in anticipation of what is turning out to be one of the most star studded Rumbles in WWE history. With two separate brands and two separate Wrestlemania “main event” championship spots in play, this year’s Rumble is also one of the most undpredictable we’ve seen.

Despite what the oddsmakers tell us, we still don’t know who is likely to win. If Vince McMahon stays true to form, he probably doesn’t even know who is going to win yet. Either way, there are certain things that we NEED to see happen this Sunday both in the Rumble and in the matches leading up to it. Some major storylines need to wrap up and plenty others need to kick into high gear.

Videos by ComicBook.com

With that in mind, here are the 5 things we need to see at Sunday’s Royal Rumble.

5. James Ellsworth Is Eliminated By Big Cass

Every Royal Rumble has a bit of comedic relief involved with the likes of a Hurricane Helms, Bushwacker or Santino Marella who has a moment of levity where he is eliminated in spectacular fashion. This year, that role clearly belongs to James Ellsworth. While it would be great to see Braun Strowman carry on his eternal, fight forever storylin e with Ellsworth, the addition of Carmella at pretty Jimmy’s side makes it absolutely essential for Big Cass to be the one to toss Ellsworth in a hilarious manner.

After Ellsworth attempts to toss Cass, the real life boyfriend of Carmella needs to send Ellsworth packing and then give a sly nod to Carmella that the hardcore smark Rumble fans would eat up.

4. Chris Jericho Needs To Cost Kevin Owens His Championship

We all know Roman Reigns is winning this thing, right? OK, well then with that inevitable victory in mind, let’s talk about how it needs to happen. With Chris Jericho holding the United States Championship and a long-rumored feud between the two friends set to culminate at Wrestlemania 33, Y2J needs to accidentally cost Owens this match. Obviously, the ridiculous shark cage will not keep Jericho contained for the entire match, because that’s never happened in the history of wrestling. When Jericho does escape, his shenanigans costing Owens the match would not only keep Owens looking strong but give the crowd a tad bit less of a reason to groan when Reigns defies the odds once again and defeats the two hapless heels.

3. Samoa Joe debuts

The former TNA, ROH and two-time NXT champion has been rumored to make his main roster debut at this year’s Rumble for a while now. The speculation has become so rampant that Joe is currently one of the top 10 odds-on-favorites to win the whole thing despite not being advertised to be in the Rumble. I think it’s too soon to have Joe win the Rumble considering all of the talent involved, but a big, AJ Styles-like impact definitely needs to happen.

2. AJ Styles Needs To Be Victorious Over John Cena

Despite what John Cena has been telling us to “recognize” lately, him time for winning a record tying 16th world championship is, in fact, not now. This entire storyline has been built around Cena telling AJ Styles that he needs to earn respect while AJ has been complaining about not getting enough of it.

Last year, Styles had one of the most impressive debut years in the history of the WWE, but he needs one more victory over Cena to solidify himself as the best wrestler in the world. The WWE is notorious for giving wrestlers like Styles and Kevin Owens a run with the belt in the fall only to take the strap off them in January to make room for more high profile superstars, like when The Rock took CM Punk’s title at the 2013 Royal Rumble only to hand it back to John Cena at Wrestlemania.

Also, Cena needs more pomp and circumstance (not the Randy Savage theme song) leading up to his eventual tying of Ric Flair’s 16 time championship record. Leading up to this match with AJ, they’ve made no mention or video package of him attempting to check that milestone off his bucket list.

1. The Undertaker needs to win the Royal Rumble

The Deadman is likely in the final year of his legendary WWE career and what better way to send him out than with a Royal Rumble victory and a Wrestlemania main event. At this stage of the game, there are only two reasons he needs to be in the Rumble. Either his elimination makes a career defining moment for someone like Braun Strowman or he wins the whole damn thing. Considering all that Taker has given to the WWE, he deserves to go out on top.

Listen to Comicbook.com’s Over The Ropes podcast: