Is the Royal Rumble Match the most predictable WWE match?

That Cena return was probably the last time 100% of the crowd was on his side. Was a special moment.

ADR surprised me, but yeah its generally pretty predictable. To be fair, its mostly been that way for a long time. Realistically, there doesn't tend to be more than 2-4 guys that have a shot. 4, is also on the high side.
It's just with what's on the line... They should do a better job making it a surprise, but they can't even book the thing in an intelligent way.

Erm..perhaps you need to rewatch it. I mean they went nuts when he first came out, but once it was down to him, Triple H and Batista, the crowd was very one sided with Triple H. And it was way more obvious when it was just down to Cena and Triple H. Cena was still getting booed.

I have to say when the internet showed up with all "backstage wrestling sites" most of the Rumbles have become predictable.

Or perhaps you should re-read my comment. I never said his victory, his return. No one seen it coming. When his music hit and he quickly made 3 or 4 eliminations every single person in the arena was going nuts.

When the dust settled and it came down to the last 2, sure, but fact is no one had a clue he was returning which is why he got the pop he did.

It's quite amazing how they kept that so quiet. Nothings a surprise anymore.

They really lack creativity when it comes to the rumble. Or maybe they burned out all of their good ideas? I mean look at the ending to the 90s and early 00s rumbles. You had the title up for grabs with Flair winning, Bret/Luger tie, HBK/ Bulldog start out and finish the rumble, Austin cheats to win in 1997, Kane cleaning house then Austin eliminating him making him look strong , the boss buys his way to a victory. Even if the matches themselves sucked they always came up with s great ending. Now it's just 4 guys left, straight up match, little to no storyline or relevance. Do something creative and not continually rehash old endings.

Usually you can pin point the winner months in advance. There were some on here who knew Roman would win as soon as WM was over.


The last time I remember being legit shocked was Cena's return. And that is only because the time frame did not match up so it caught everybody off guard.

I think most of the time it is a bit predictable, whether it be because reports on the internet, or them putting the belt on someone that the person returning was feuding with. I think part of the problem is they don't put as much effort into building up possible Rumble winners. I mean going into the Rumble this year it was pretty obvious that either Bryan or Reigns were going to win. Those were the only 2 guys that were really built up.
I feel that immediately coming out of the December payperview they should start really building up some on screen heat between multiple people and the champion (a little hard to do this year since the champion wasnt there).
But for instance they could have had Dolph coming off of his big win at Survivor Series, then really book him strong through December, and declare that he's going to steal the show at Rumble and then take the championship at Mania.
Then you could have someone earn a match with the champion and the champion just barely beats them. then the champion could deny them another title match, so the only way they can get another title match is to win the Rumble.
I also feel that they should have some qualifying matches or a beat the clock challenge, or something to show how much the wrestlers want to be a part of the Rumble or have a higher number.
Something I used to do when I had my BCA figure fed when I was a kid, I would have a match at the start of the Rumble event. The winner would get the number 30 spot and the loser would get the number one spot. I think the WWE did this one year, probably where I got the idea. I think its another idea that helps show how bad they want a higher entry number. They could also help build a story through the Rumble match by having one of the top faces get screwed over in the match and then they have to fight their way through the Rumble match to not only try to win but to try to get their hands on the heel that beat them earlier in the show.

Ya see...having the WHC as well as the WWE Title in the mix lent its way to mystifying the outcome. That way one could add a couple more names to the possible winners list, propel a guy into the main event spotlight, AND provide an exciting and in most cases fresh build-up to a title match at Wrestlemania. Still think if Reigns was going after, say Seth Rollins' World Heavyweight Championship instead of Brock's WWE Title there'd be a lot less bitching and moaning coming out of these boards, myself included. Still think unifying the belts hurt them in the long run. Just my 2 cents though....


The last 3 years' Rumbles were less about who was gonna win, and more about how they were gonna because we knew who was gonna win. 2012 was a surprise, yes, but as some of you have said with the talent pool (or lack thereof) in the match it wasn't really a thrill ride. The last true surprise coulda been 2011--the 40-man dynamic, we didn't know if someone could run from 1 or 2 all the way or how they would balance having 40 guys in the match. That was good.