WWE Royal Rumble 2017: 3 Inter-Promotional Battles We Would Love to See
WWE.com
Which of Monday Night Raw’s finest would you like to see square off against the best of SmackDown Live in the Royal Rumble match?
Ever since the draft in July, the WWE has been split down the middle with both Raw and SmackDown Live receiving exclusive rosters, management, pay-per-views and championships. On top of that, the two brands are now competing with one another over ratings, merchandise and general reception from the WWE Universe.
As a result, the entire WWE locker room has been split in half, placing a number of potential matches between today’s top stars out of reach for the time being.
That said, as we edge closer to Sunday’s Royal Rumble event live from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, we approach one of few events on the WWE calendar where the Superstars of Raw and SmackDown will be able to lock up.
There will be a handful of these inter-promotional shows taking place throughout the year, most likely limited to the “Big Four” pay-per-views of the Rumble, Survivor Series, SummerSlam and WrestleMania – but not all of them promise the Raw vs. SmackDown action that the brand extension has made such a rarity.
On this occasion, however, not only will the biggest names of Raw and SmackDown be against one another, it will be a 30-man free-for-all with a championship opportunity in the main event of WrestleMania hanging in the balance.
That’s going to make for some intriguing encounters that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to witness. But which of these inter-promotional battles are we most excited about getting the chance to see? They may not all happen, but these three encounters would certainly be enough to satisfy anyone’s cravings for brand warfare.
WWE.com
3. Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin
Think of this as a match you’d never think you wanted until it happens.
Braun Strowman has run through all of the competition on Monday Night Raw over the past six months since the draft, completely separating himself from The Wyatt Family to become one of the flagship show’s most dominant singles athletes.
Moreover, Strowman is slowly but surely getting over with the WWE Universe as a monster heel. The slow build of this man as an unstoppable monster has attributed well into his future as a main-eventer for the Raw brand, to the point where he’s stepped forward as an overall favorite to win the Royal Rumble match this year.
For a big man to get to that point in his career without being loathed by the majority of the fans is pretty huge in the current era, and provided they continue to book Strowman the right way, he could be a huge star by WrestleMania.
On the flip side – over on the blue brand, Baron Corbin is very slowly making his rise to the top of the roster. He’s not exactly going to find himself in the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania, but given that he participated in the brand’s final match of 2016 with that very title on the line, and didn’t take the pinfall in AJ Styles’ victory, it’s clear that the WWE has big plans for Corbin.
To see Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin square off, even if just for a brief moment, would be a nice way to put both men’s careers into perspective.
They are both on the cusp of greatness, and it would do both men a favor to trade blows on Sunday. There doesn’t need to be a clear winner – they can even turn their attention back to the match’s other competitors before too long – but even the briefest of encounters here would be enough for most fans to go wild.
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2. Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt
There is unfinished business from early 2016 that might finally be put to bed in this Sunday’s Royal Rumble match. Heading into last year’s event, and even following through all the way to Roadblock in March, the story of Bray Wyatt vs. Brock Lesnar looked like a firm candidate to lead all the way up to a match at WrestleMania 32.
“The Beast Incarnate” had focused a lot of his pre-Rumble aggression on The Wyatt Family, and with all four members in Bray, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman entering for the first time, it appeared that Brock Lesnar might be the only man equipped to stop Bray Wyatt from winning the match. That would prove true, when Lesnar emerged at #21 to eliminate each member of the faction, sans Bray.
Lesnar’s chances of winning his second Rumble were faltered, however, when “The Eater of Worlds” called back upon his brethren to rid the match of Lesnar’s wrath.
Lesnar’s controversial elimination led to the announcement that he would get his revenge at the WWE’s pre-WrestleMania network special, Roadblock, but the last-minute replacement of Wyatt with Harper meant that the match never happened.
That feud hasn’t been given the time of day since, but as we’ve seen a number of times before, the Royal Rumble match can be a good platform to settle old disputes.
And this Sunday, Bray Wyatt is heading in with a Wyatt Family in turmoil.
After seemingly excommunicating Harper, and with Strowman living it up as an independent Raw star, Rowan on the shelf and an Orton double-cross looming, Bray Wyatt will have nobody to hide behind once he finds himself in Lesnar’s crosshairs.
If he thought a handful of suplexes were bad a whole year ago, just wait until “The Beast” catches him one-on-one. Should that happen with Orton – a man who got to know Brock Lesnar very well at SummerSlam – in the ring at the same time, that might be the biggest test of Orton’s loyalty to The Wyatt Family to date.
WWE.com
1. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler
Heading into Survivor Series, fans were thrilled by the announcement that Sami Zayn would be getting a chance to bring SmackDown’s Intercontinental Championship home to Monday Night Raw – as part of the brand warfare that dominated the night.
What made this even sweeter was the fact that Dolph Ziggler had recently captured the title from The Miz at No Mercy, in a phenomenal match that seemingly served to turn the man’s career around and put him right back under the limelight.
The thought of seeing these two extraordinary in-ring competitors square off with the championship on the line was a mouth-watering prospect for most, given the fact that they’d never locked up in singles action prior to that point.
Unfortunately, Ziggler would lose the title just days before Survivor Series, leading to new champion The Miz to face off with – and eventually defeat – Sami Zayn instead. For many, it felt like we’d been cheated out of a historic first-time-ever match that would have easily stolen the show given the right amount of time.
Things have changed quite a bit for “The Show-Off” since then, most notably Dolph Ziggler’s outlook on how to make an impact within WWE. He’s done away with his morals over the last few weeks as a result of his inability to “win the big one”, which hits close to home for “The Underdog from the Underground” in a big way.
It seems that Zayn has been overlooked ever since being drafted to Monday Night Raw, which is a bit of an insult given his big wins over the previous half-year in WWE.
Still, Zayn had to earn his spot in the Survivor Series match, had to practically beg for Mick Foley to allow him to face Braun Strowman at Roadblock: End of the Line, and even had to fight for his entry into the Royal Rumble match this past Monday night. His immense talent is just not met with the appropriate opportunities.
Now, Dolph Ziggler and Sami Zayn are going into the Royal Rumble with a huge opportunity up for grabs in a main event championship match at WrestleMania, and it’ll be interesting to see if these stars will finally cross paths.
With Dolph’s recent heel turn, this encounter will be vastly different from what we would’ve expected at Survivor Series, but the story remains the same.
Two spectacular athletes, desperate to capitalize on the biggest chance of their careers at one of the biggest wrestling events of the calendar year.
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