The World Wrestling Entertainment’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view is this Sunday. The event takes place in Philadelphia, and despite the company’s scripted outcomes, the company does a good job with their planning of events and odds are made for the big events. And this 28th Royal Rumble main event, labelled a “Triple Threat” match between Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Seth Rollins for the WWE World Title has enough script twists and real life repercussions to make the whole thing chaotically unpredictable.
The line has champion Brock Lesnar at (-350), with the comeback on either Cena or Rollins at (+250). John Cena sits at (+250), with Lesnar or Rollins coming back at (-350). Seth Rollins pays (+1000) to win, with the return on either Cena or Lesnar at (-2000).
The key here is Lesnar, who as a part time wrestler entered the ring for an official match just four times last year for the WWE. His carefully built persona is one the company would likely not wreck, which is why he is favored to win the fight. But the rumor mill is churning that Lesnar wants to return to the UFC, and the plot ground work is set for him to lose the belt. This would be a big indicator that Lesnar is leaving the WWE for a while.
Rollins is making his first appearance in a match at this level, and a flat out winning of the belt on his part is unlikely. Rollins is in the title picture for the first time, and pro wrestling has politics about those sorts of things, so Rollins really gets a pop and a raise in profile just by being in the match. He also has a contract in his hip pocket that let’s him get an additional title shot when ever he wants it. If either Cena or Lesnar win the match, look for some ensuing chaos that could see the titleholder hurt and Rollins cash his contract in, getting a pin and walking away with the belt.
Want more chaos? The WWE has recently signed Sting who despite his age, brings an air of mystery to the whole thing. Until appearing in the WWE last year for the first time, STING was commonly considered the greatest wrestler of the modern era never to have been in WWE. Sting crashed the party on the last PPV and just this past week on TV, perhaps a harbinger of things to come.
Check out the WWE’s video on the Royal Rumble and it’s history.
