An unexpected choice for the 2010 Royal Rumble Winner

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not suggesting this will actually happen, but the idea randomly crossed my mind, and the more I considered it the more I think it would actually make a kind of bizarre, twisted sense if it WERE actually to happen. I'm fairly certain that Shawn Michaels will win the 2010 Royal Rumble, and then go on to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, but what if, what if, the WWE shocked everyone and this man won the Rumble and challenged The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Title:










































I mean, think about it:

* Triple H and Shawn Michaels are both apparently high on the guy, like they are Sheamus (the current WWE Champion). Now, that doesn't mean The Undertaker is high on him, but if HBK and Triple H have valid points to seeing him as a future star, surely The Undertaker would see something in him too, right?

* It's not like this would be put forward as the "drawing match" of the PPV. If you had Taker vs. McIntyre on the card, then you'd also likely have matches like Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels, John Cena vs. Batista II, Chris Jericho vs. Edge, CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio and the special attraction of Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart.

* Recently, The Undertaker got somewhat dragged into the Bret Hart/Vince McMahon story, taking Bret Hart's side. Drew McIntyre has been "hand-picked" by McMahon as a future World Heavyweight Champion. It'd also be like representatives of the two men fighting each other.

* Drew McIntyre would make history by not only being the first Intercontinental Champion to win the Royal Rumble, but by being the youngest man ever to ever do so at 24 years of age. If he then went on to become World Heavyweight Champion (hypothetically), he would technically be older than Randy Orton when he did it, but they could still play off that dynamic of McIntyre only being 24 when he won his first World Title. If McIntyre and Orton ended up on the same brand after the draft (most likely SmackDown!), I could actually see a feud between the two going down quite well.

* Sheamus has received a massive push with Triple H behind him. While McIntyre is no doubt doing well for himself (IC Champion; banging Tiffany), he has in no way received the same treatment that Sheamus has. Maybe it is because SmackDown! has more logical booking, or because the reach of HBK and Triple H don't reach that far -- but maybe they are just saving up McIntyre's "monster push" for something like this. It seems weird that Sheamus became a World Champion on the night McIntyre won his first secondary title.

* McIntyre has been built-up fairly well. He's only lost two matches, and both of those were tag bouts where he didn't take the fall. JTG and Chris Jericho did, if I remember. The WWE have not played it up too much so far, but they know that McIntyre is yet to lose a singles match, and they are protecting him a good deal. When Chris Jericho is taking the fall for you, there must be something going on. The WWE could almost apply a "streak vs. streak" tag to an Undertaker vs. Drew McIntyre match.

* Shawn Michaels has reportedly been one of Drew McIntyre's most vocal supporters. In recent years, HBK has seemingly been one to step out of the spotlight and let other guys win the World Titles, etc. He is also the one gunning for the match against The Undertaker. If he is McIntyre's biggest supporter, surely he would like to work with him, right? They could do something like Drew McIntyre vs. Shawn Michaels for the Royal Rumble title shot at Elimination Chamber -- where HBK could put over McIntyre strong.

* If they kept the IC Title on McIntyre, they could do Title vs. Title at WrestleMania between The Undertaker and Drew McIntyre. It is something that happened at WrestleMania two decades previous, and it would be a huge boost to the IC Title (which they clearly value more than the US Title). The Undertaker has also never been IC Champion. The WWE could advertise the match as "history will be made." Either McIntyre ends the streak, and becomes a mega-star (in a kayfabe sense), or The Undertaker wins the IC Title for the first time in his epic career.

* He's like a big Brian Kendrick.

* What else is McIntyre going to do at WrestleMania? Feud with a mid-carder? Lose Money in the Bank? It doesn't seem fitting for the guy when Sheamus is running around as WWE Champion. Since he's re-debuted for the WWE, there has no doubt been a huge push of support behind McIntyre. In something like his second match, he qualified for the SmackDown! Bragging Rights team. This was amended, but it's obvious there is more than one person backstage who is in love with Drew McIntyre.

* Pat Patterson traditionally has a heavy-hand in booking the Royal Rumble. Could you honestly tell me that Patterson would not like to fuck that man?

It's not a very likely scenario at all, don't get me wrong. I'm just spouting conspiracy theories here. But if you analyse dark horse picks, McIntyre has got more going for him than most ever do. Imagine this: The Final Four in the Rumble come down to Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Drew McIntyre and someone else. Could be anyone, but let's say Ted DiBiase or Kofi Kingston. The fourth man gets eliminated, and eventually, Shawn Michaels manages to eliminate his tag team partner, Triple H. The Game is pissed off, and does a Hulk Hogan/Sid Justice type thing, where he distracts HBK long enough for Drew McIntyre to zoom in, and dump HBK from behind. Shawn Michaels is so close to getting his opportunity to face The Undertaker, but he misses out.

This could all be compounded by having McIntyre enter fairly early (perhaps a few spots after Triple H). You could also have McIntyre take a few big players out of the Rumble -- The Great Khali, Big Show, his "brand contemporary" in The Miz, an exhausted John Morrison. Longetivity + some solid eliminations could get McIntyre to the point where he doesn't look like the biggest fluke winner in history, and has a great deal of actual credibility behind him.

HBK can then challenge the man he is secretly grooming behind the scenes for his title shot, and somehow the match can be made (perhaps with Stephanie McMahon granting it to Michaels, causing *gasp* tension between DX..."Why are you giving this to Shawn, Steph?"). McIntyre then keeps his streak going against Shawn Michaels at Elimination Chamber, and by this point, McIntyre looks like a world-beater.

But yeah...Cena wins.