Outside of John Cena’s incredible match with AJ Styles, the 2017 Royal Rumble was a bit of a dud. Randy Orton’s Rumble victory felt, at best, safe, and the lack of surprise entrants had the WWE Universe feeling a bit apprehensive about hopping on the road to Wrestlemania.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Now, according to many of the comments I read on social media, many of you swore off wrestling forever once Roman Reigns entered the Rumble at number 30. But might I remind you that luckily for us, the WWE is an episodic program; which means we only have to wait a few hours for them to get another chance at giving us something we can sink our teeth into.
Remember three years ago when Batista won the Rumble and we all threatened to quit watching? That story ended with Daniel Bryan giving us the greatest feel good Wrestlemania moment of our lifetimes. So let’s give the WWE a little rope here and see if they can reel us back in tonight on RAW.
Here are 5 ways the WWE can make up for an underwhelming Royal Rumble.
Bring Up Samoa Joe
I get the logic that you don’t want a guy like Samoa Joe to debut in the Rumble if he’s not going to win it. I’ll assume that was the reasoningย behind keeping the two time NXT champion and longtime Indy Star out of San Antonio last night.ย
The disappointment of fans who wanted to finally see Joe on the main roster can be erased tonight. Joe doesn’t have to insert himself into the main event scene. He just needs to BE SEEN.ย
We can start him off small in a feud with Rusev or have him set his sights on the US Championship. If they want to keep him heel, let him destroy Big Cass or 6 cruiserweights. Just get Joe on the RAW brand.ย
Who is Tye Dillinger?
Follow up on the only surprise entrant of the Rumble by letting the portion of the WWE Universe who doesn’t watch NXT every week just who this Tye Dillinger fellaย is. Whether he ends up on the RAW roster or not, those fans need to see why everyone was so excited about himย coming out last night.ย
Give the Perfect Ten room to shine tonight and capitalize on his Rumble momentum. Otherwise, he could easily blendย into the midcard like so many NXT stars before him.ย
Looking at you, Tyler Breeze.ย
ย
Not another Reigns/Owens rematch
You could say Roman Reigns deserves another shot at the Universal championship due to Braun Strowman’s interference in last night’s match, but please, dear Vince, let us go a different route. Roman needs to focus on avenging his loss by going after Braun Strowman; something he conveniently failed to do in last night’s Rumble match.ย
If the rumored Undertaker/Reigns match is set for Wrestlemania, chances are the WWE wants to wait until after Fastlane to put it in motion. For now, Reigns could focus on Strowman or better yet, focus on the immense chorus of boos that followed him into last night’s Rumble match.ย
How much would we pay to see Roman come out and tell the fans to shut their fat mouths? $100? $500? Yeah, I know. It’s not happening. But I can dream, can’t I?ย
ย
The Club Teases Finn Balor’s Return
The Club gained a lot of momentum last night winning the tag team championships, but was anyone watching? After racking up a year’s worth of losses, it’s time for The Club to tease that they are ready to finally take over the WWE as a fully functioning unit. The best way to do this is for The Club to tease that their “real” leader is soon to be returning.ย
As it stands right now, Finn Balor is not set to work a Wrestlemania Championship program of any kind. For him to return and not insert himself right back in the Universal Championship picture he’s going to need something to occupy his time. The Club could promise Balor only to have Balor return and stay true to his new babyface persona by not joining them.ย
This could definitely help work him back into the fold while keeping him busy through Wrestlemania season.ย
Goldberg makes his challenge
It was reported earlier today that Goldberg would challenge Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at WWE Fastlane. If this is truly the case, let’s have Goldberg make his challenge tonight!ย
I know he’s 50 years old, but Goldberg still looks great in the ring. The guy deserves one more title run and the casual fans will be sucked back in to know that the former WCW Champ is in the championship picture heading into Wrestlemania season.ย
As great as Kevin Owens has been, an established legend like Goldberg is what the WWE needs to boost the ratings to Mania levels.ย