Do you think the WWE should go with an unpredictable Royal Rumble Winner?

[Mr. Nerfect]

And I mean this in the most literal meaning, a person NO ONE saw coming. Two guys that pop into my mind are Val Venis & Chavo Guerrero. Even if it was because the last guy in there has a feud going with some other guy eliminated from the match, or because the Champions work together to make sure they have an easy challenge for WrestleMania.

I don't know why, but seeing Big Show, Triple H & Val Venis as the last three, with Big Show eliminated Triple H, and then Triple H pulling Big Show's arm over the top rope with Val Venis coming in from behind and hoisting Show over the top would really make me excited. Partly because the Road to WrestleMania would be so unpredictable, people would not know what is coming next and the winner could lose his spot on any given night. Hell, have Shawn Michaels make an alliance with them based on the fact that Vince McMahon doesn't see money in the lower-card guy winning. With the World Tag Team Championship being used as props for main event guys at the present time, I would not object to seeing Shawn Michaels & the Rumble Winner holding the gold together.

I'm not talking about a Chris Benoit win here, or even a Mysterio win, I'm talking about guys that people would be happy to see as IC Champ tomorrow, but not World Championship material by the end of the year, or even their careers.

Do you think people would tune in the following RAW just to make sure they weren't hallucinating when it was confirmed Val Venis would be getting a title shot at WrestleMania?

[D Mac]

Yes

[Pinnacle Charisma]

Yer sure it sounds cool on paper but that would mean that a lower midcarder like Val or Chavo would have to headline wrestlemania and it would damage the buyrates and credibilty of the following wrestlemania.

Now dont get me wrong i love chavo and Val and with the proper build I think they could me maineventers. But if someone like them wins the rumble its going to look like a fluke and then they only have a few weeks to make them look worthwhile and even then I doubt that they will look credible in that short amount of time.

Sure wrestling is meant to be fake but it has to have a degree of realism to make it entertertaing

[Rob]

I definately think this year more than ever that a unpredicted winner should happen. Chavo wouldn't be a bad choice but I'd go with Van Dam.

[Kane Knight]

Venis would be a bad choice. I like the guy and all, but the fucker should not be the surprise winner.

In other words, yes, but not Val. Chavo yes.

[Mr. JL]

ROB! VAN! DAM!

[Chavo Classic]

Yeh, why not have a mid-carder win? All the separates guys like Val and Chavo from the main event is a decent push (the Bradshaw to JBL transformation anyone?) and so it wouldn't be so unbelievable and therefore have such an impact on ratings and buy-rates if they gave the guy a decent push afterwards leading up until Mania. It'd keep things fresh anyway. Think about it, the Rumble is the perfect platform to launch new stars.

And if things go wrong and rates go downwards they could always use the 'ambigious Rumble winner' angle that they seem to do every 2 years or so, and have the guy lose his wrestlemania spot at No Way Out. That'd get enormous heat/a massive pop depending whether a top-teir heel or face won the main event spot back.

[wwe2222]

it would certainly help bring back the speculation and surprise of the rumble that has been lacking for years now....

every year it seems like the winner has some sort of storyline going into the rumble....like last year you knew it would be batista or cena, the year before benoit, etc...

too bad they didnt put the WHC as the prize for winning the rumble like 92..theyhad the perfect chance to do so.

[Y3J]

Daivari

[The Naitch]

KANE

[D Mac]

Is Boogeyman in rumble match? If so, yeah...

[Xero]

I think th-ALYEEAEEELYALLAYEEYALELAYAYAAAAA!

*Marks out* :love:

[Xero]

He'd Hassan his own count down and be disqualified for entering early.

[DominateR]

I'd like to see my local favorite, RVD, win the Rumble but being his 1st match back, I don't see that happening, and I'm actually picking HBK to win it this year.

[St. Jimmy]

i'd love to see Van Dam win,
it'd be funny to see Matt Hardy win,
just so we can see Edge v.s. Matt Hardy in a buyrate killing mania,
but i really see Orton winning. no one else.

[Dorkchop]

Yes. For the most part, the WWE is very predictable. We're only a month into this year and it's been good so far for surprising moments.

Since about 1998 (probably earlier) the Royal Rumble winner has been pretty predictable. With the exception to 2000, A lot of guys could have won that Rumble.

It won't happen, but it would be sweet. Hell, even Shelton would be pretty unpredictable.

I would mark the fuck out if Kane came in the Rumble (not early into it) and completely cleaned house and won the rumble. I'm talking like 15 to more eliminations. That would be sick.

[loopydate]

I wouldn't go any more "unpredictable" than Lashley or RVD. Anybody more farfetched than that would be a mistake, because it wouldn't look credible. A win by one of these two and the proper push over the next two-plus months and you turn an upper-midcarder into a main eventer, the way the Rumble used to (see: Yokozuna 1993, Shawn Michaels 1995, Steve Austin 1997, et al)

Also, WWE has released odds on the 25 announced participants. Place your bets!

3:1 Big Show
4:1 Kane
5:1 Triple H
6:1 Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels
8:1 Randy Orton
10:1 Rey Mysterio, Viscera
15:1 Chris Masters, Lashley, Ric Flair
20:1 Booker T, Carlito, Chavo Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Shelton Benjamin
25:1 Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, Matt Hardy, Orlando Jordan, Road Warrior Animal
30:1 Trevor Murdoch
35:1 Simon Dean, Sylvan
100:1 Jonathan Coachman

Yeah...right. That's wrong on so many levels. We'll ignore the fact that their percentages add up to 192% (???), and move on to the fact that Rey and Vis have the same odds of winning? BIG SHOW is the favorite?

[Kane Knight]

He'd Hassan his own count down and be disqualified for entering early.

Then he'd say it was because he was an Arab American, and petition to get his title shot.

[Corkscrewed]

Big Show being the favorite makes sense. He's the biggest. It'd be the most difficult to get him out. Remember last year?

Rey and Vis with the same odds? Maybe they're giving away their hand. :lol: Then again, he's on a huge push right now, so yeah.

[Skippord]

RVD,With a jump spin kick to the last person in the ring over the top

[Kane Knight]

RVD,With a contact high, tossing a bag of CHEETOS over the top rope

[The Show Off]

1999's Royal Rumble winner was a pretty big surprise what with Vince winning it and all.

Orton or Taker are winning the Rumble.

[RP]

Well... I think Hassan will definetly be in this rumble. I even think he will be in the final 4. Its the best way to reintroduce him into the story line. IMO.

The safe pick would be to pick Randy Orton, but i think RVD has a huge shot to win it. I dont see HBK winning this thing. I think he will set up some sort of story line with him elimination.

My Wild card. ( mark this down just in case ) I think Undertaker might win it only to job at Wrestlemania. Then retire. Give whoever a nice nudge by losing his streak. Some of you say no way he's gunna lose at wrestlemania ever, but i see it happening. Maybe giving Orton the ultimate push to the top by losing at Wrestlemania.

[Blitz]

I'm still torn on whether Rey or Orton will win.

Ideally, I'd like to see Orton, HBK, HHH, and Rey in the final 4. Vince screws Shawn to get him out of the match, HHH eliminates Orton, Rey eliminates HHH. It'd give Rey a nice rub to go into Mania having beaten Trips for the opportunity.

[The CyNick]

Its tough to have an underdog win it (I mean guys who are not main eventers) because then they have to main event Mania. And you cant have som mid carder main event the biggest show of the year.

You can always take the title shot away from them in a match prior to Mania, but it kinda cheapens the PPV when that happens.

A guy like Van Dam would be a good choice if they actually planned to push him, but we all know thats not the case.

I guess Chavo would be a feel good story because of Eddie, but I'm pretty sure Mania would hit all time record low levels with Chavo in the top spot without the proper elevation beforehand. Its tough to go from facing Rob Conway to headlining the biggest show in the industry.

A guy like Rey is somewhat of a suprpise mainly due to his size, but the fans see him as a top guy, so he would be a good pick.

I thinkt he way they do it is perfect. You establish 4 or 5 guys who have a shot and one of them wins to establish them as the new top guy heading to Mania. Rumble has traditionally done well buyrate wise, and so has Mania, so I would fudge with a successful formula.

[McDoogle]

Did Hassan make a comeback with the WWE?

[loopydate]

Nope. And he's not going to, either.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can understand why some people don't see Val Venis or Chavo Guerrero headlining WrestleMania. I don't see that happening either, but I can easily see a guy like Val Venis entering #5, lasting to the end due to everyone looking past him, and just plain resilience. He gets knocked out of the ring a few times, through the ropes, and he wisely plays this to his advantage and stays out there for a bit catching his breath (pretending to be hurt).

At the end of the Rumble Match, you can have two guys battling it out (let's use Randy Orton & Chris Benoit as an example). We think it is down between these two guys, and they are slowly getting each other over the top rope, when out of nowhere, Val Venis runs in and dumps them both over the top rope.

The next night, Val Venis cuts a promo about how it is his dream to be WWE Champion, that he is only one title away from winning the same Grand Slam held by Shawn Michaels, Triple H & Chris Jericho, and he now has a chance to prove his critics wrong and solidy himself as the main eventer he has been on the verge of becomming his entire career. He can then talk about his sister being married to Edge, and he can say he's using their fallen relationship as fuel to motivate him to defeat Edge at WrestleMania. Vince McMahon then comes out and says that Val Venis is a model employee, but he's not a big enough name to headline WrestleMania, thus his spot will be awarded to someone else. Let's just use Triple H, playing up his background with Vince.

Venis is pissed off as the commentators all agree that winning the Rumble should be enough to prove you are main event worthy, and Venis goes looking for Vince backstage. Shawn Michaels then sees Venis, and he says he feels sorry for Val, that McMahon has been screwing with them both and they should help each other out.

Whether or not you have Val Venis retain his title shot is up to the fans. If they really want to see it, give it to them, if not have Shawn Michaels take it.

You could even have Venis offered a match against Kurt Angle form Theodore Long. Long could fight McMahon and say that when Vicne instated General Managers he invested confidence in them. You could then have Venis get his title shot, but not be in the main event of the card. Venis can be put in the Ankle Lock, but not submit, only for Vince McMahon to order the bell rung.

You can basically replace Venis with anyone with experience that hasn't yet been pushed to the moon. It probably won't set records, but if it tells an unpredictable, exciting story, I think it will do more good than harm.

[John la Rock]

I would love to see RVD or Mysterio win. both are huge underdogs imo

[Mr. Nerfect]

Another possibility is the complete fluke. Let's use Shelton Benjamin as an example this time.

Shelton Benjamin enters sometime, and looks good. He manages to make it to the end alongside Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio & Kane. Kane Chokeslams Benjamin, and then gets a steel chair and goes to hit Orton, but Randy moves and the chair bounces off the top rope and hits Kane in the face. Kane stumbles back into some rolling German suplexes from Benoit. Mysterio & Benoit then hit a Diving Headbutt/Frog Splash combination on Kane before dumping him out. Kane gets pissed off as Mysterio & Benoit go at it a bit. Kane then re-enters the ring and tosses out Mysterio and Benoit, which makes Shelton Benjamin the default winner.

Other ways of having this play out could involve Triple H & Chavo Guerrero as the last two men. Triple H is picking apart Chavo Guerrero when all of a sudden "WEEEEEEEELLLLLL, well it's the Big Show", and Triple H shits himself as Big Show makes his way to the ring, proceeding to give Chavo the easy win.

[Skippord]

RVD in Wrestlmania main event=happy Skippord

Lights a joint after winning the title :rofl:

[Enjay]

Someone like Shaq would be good.