WWE News: Royal Rumble Lineup Does Not Include Matches for U.S., IC Belts

The lineup for WWE Royal Rumble 2013 has matches for the WWE, World, Divas and tag team championships, but no bouts for the Intercontinental or U.S. championships.

According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via LordsOfPain.net), the script for the Jan. 27 show does not have either Antonio Cesaro or Wade Barrett defending their U.S. and IC belts, respectively. It does have CM Punk vs. The Rock for the WWE title, Alberto Del Rio vs.The Big Show for the World belt, Team Hell No vs. Team Rhodes Scholars for the tag titles and newly crowned Divas champion Kaitlyn defending against an as-yet unnamed opponent.

According to the report:

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The script does not have winners or Rumble entrants at this point but does show that no other matches are scheduled such as The Miz vs. Antonio Cesaro.

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But Miz, Cesaro and Barrett are expected to be on the card as part of the 30-man Rumble match.

The layout of the event has a pre-show Rumble qualifying match on YouTube. That will be followed by the Divas match, the tag team match, the World belt match and the WWE title match. The Rumble match is expected to conclude the pay-per-view.

According to the report, a timed script has the following schedule:

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A timed-out script shows the Divas match for 10 minutes, the Tag Team Title match for 10 minutes, the World Heavyweight Title match for 20 minutes, the WWE Title match for 30 minutes and the Rumble main event set for 70 minutes total. These times include intros, the match itself and post-match happenings.

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The lack of a U.S. title match could be seen as a delay in the brewing feud between Cesaro and Miz. Also, the fact that Barrett will not be putting up the IC belt shows that the WWE Creative Team has not decided with whom Barrett will have his next feud.

The script also mentioned no winners’ names.

Follow Bill Atkinson on Twitter at @BAtkinson1963.