WWE Greatest Royal Rumble 2018 Matches: Bold Predictions for Saudi Arabia
In an effort to keep things simple and cut down on expenses, WWE cut back on its pay-per-view schedule for 2018, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t SportsKeeda).
However, they would only negate that with the addition of the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, which takes place Friday.
This came somewhat out of the blue, but the path to build the card has been even more surprising; matches have been altered multiple times and much of the event has had either no build or a haphazard one, to say the least.
With everything from wrestlers being pulled from the lineup and replaced with others, shocking returns being spoiled in promotional material and even contract disputes lingering, this has been an unpredictable set of circumstances.
However, guesswork is still one of the cornerstones of WWE programming. If you're part of the WWE Universe, you're going to try to anticipate what's coming.
As every male title is on the line and multiple other gimmicks are stacking this event with repercussions from the Superstar Shake-up, anything can happen.
Here are some potential outcomes at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Current Match Card Rundown
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To start things off, it's important to know what we're working with.
The card is always subject to change, but here are the following matches advertised for the event:
- 50-Man Royal Rumble Match
- Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns in a Steel Cage Match
- WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
- John Cena vs. Triple H
- The Bar vs. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt for the vacant Raw Tag Team Championship
- SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The Usos
- Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. The Miz vs. Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe in a Ladder Match
- United States Champion Jeff Hardy vs. Jinder Mahal
- The Undertaker vs. Rusev in a Casket Match
- Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander vs. Kalisto
Some of those matches have no stakes and could go either way, while others seem to have an obvious outcome, such as Harper and Rowan retaining the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Jimmy and Jey Uso.
On the other hand, some elements to this event are up for total speculation, and the blind spots viewers have for WWE's future plans could be hiding some major surprises or potential swerves.
The Undertaker Squashes Rusev
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Depending on your viewpoint, this could be a truly bold prediction that borders on heresy or the most obvious conclusion.
After spending weeks with a storyline that he didn't wish to answer John Cena's call for a match at WrestleMania 34, Undertaker's presence in New Orleans was extremely minimal, amounting to a quick squash that simply wasn't satisfying.
For all that build to amount to relatively nothing seemed strange, but even weirder was the subsequent announcement The Phenom would be wrestling Rusev in a Casket Match at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Why was there such a pull against an epic confrontation with Cena at the biggest show of the year but no hesitation to show up in Saudi Arabia to fight someone with zero connection to The Deadman?
On top of this confusion, it was easy to question why WWE would book someone the fans love, such as Rusev, against another fan favorite.
Since WWE has had a habit of trying to ignore the Rusev Day chants and continue with him as a heel, it seems this is just stubbornness and a refusal to turn The Bulgarian Brute babyface.
Just as he lost at WrestleMania after finding his way into the United States title match, this will probably not end well for Rusev, either.
He has already been pulled from the match and temporarily replaced with Chris Jericho, but after working his way back in, it may amount to nothing but sorrow.
There is a good chance Undertaker won't just defeat Rusev, he will also squash him as a statement to the WWE Universe to stop cheering for him.
Burial jokes will commence, and someone behind the scenes will laugh hysterically at the upset fans wanting to cheer the legendary Undertaker without downgrading Rusev in the process.
This may be a means to embarrass Rusev more than anything else.
Roman Reigns Wins Universal Championship
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After signing a new contract with WWE, all signs would point to Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal Championship so he can work a similar schedule to the past year or so.
Whether he has the same amount of appearances on average as before—for the same amount of money—or any other variables is unknown. That cloud of secrecy puts doubt on everything, including suggestions Lesnar will retain the title and continue to defend it further down the line.
There is a chance The Beast Incarnate is still holding the belt come SummerSlam, but it's suspicious that a Steel Cage Match was booked with Roman Reigns being the challenger again.
This may be a gambit to have The Big Dog win the championship in front of a crowd that will be much more willing to cheer him.
It was a guarantee that a win for Reigns at WrestleMania wouldn't have resulted in a majority of the crowd applauding, yet in a completely different market, he may be popular enough to pull that off.
WWE may have purposely set this up so the title change will be met with a positive reception that can then be replayed as proof that he's "the guy."
Reigns has never had success over Lesnar, meaning the smart bet is for the belt to stay where it is, but if WWE planned on the WrestleMania swerve being negated with a title change here, the creative team gets to have its cake and eat it.
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The Crowd Is Split for John Cena vs. Triple H
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If audience members in Saudi Arabia play their part as WWE intends them to—by cheering babyfaces and booing heels—it could be hard to get a mixed reaction.
However, if any match is likely to create that buzz, it's most likely the one between Triple H and John Cena.
At this point, the dichotomy of "Let's go Cena" and "Cena sucks" verbal sparring has just become an iconic piece of his performance and something he won't be able to escape, possibly anywhere in the world.
Likewise, The Game is playing a heel and the evil authority figure character, but he's still a legend who has plenty of years as a fan favorite to his credibility.
Despite there being no storyline involved and nothing on the line, this could be the one match where the crowd is at its most energetic and vocal by just cheering for two of the company's figureheads.
Things may play out as simply as Cena being cheered and Triple H being booed and good winning out in the end, but the amount of electricity in the air could sway things into a different atmosphere.
SmackDown Stars Win the Raw Tag Team Championship
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For all intents and purposes, this seems like an unlikely outcome, but it should be addressed just in case.
Before WrestleMania 34, the advertised match for the Raw Tag Team Championship was The Bar defending the titles against The Hardy Boyz, even though Jeff Hardy had not yet been cleared to return to in-ring competition.
By the time the marquee event was finished, Bray Wyatt had turned face to help Matt Hardy win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, while Cesaro and Sheamus had dropped the titles to Braun Strowman and a 10-year-old child.
Just like that, the advertised match was an improbability, made almost a total impossibility when Strowman and Nicholas vacated the titles the next night to prompt a miniature tournament to declare the new champions.
Things went even more haywire when The Bar were traded over to SmackDown, which seems to make this a foregone conclusion where there's no way they could win the Raw tag team titles and be on the opposite brand.
However, Backlash is a co-branded event that follows on May 6, which is a detail that shouldn't be overlooked.
WWE has clearly had surprises, shocks and swerves on its mind of late, and it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine the creative team wanting to pull a fast one on an audience that thinks the ending has been spoiled already.
The Bar could win the titles only to drop them nine days later at Backlash to Hardy and Wyatt, putting the belts back on Monday Night Raw where they belong.
It's a long, winding road to get to the same point that could be accomplished with just a simple Hardy and Wyatt victory here, but it isn't even the strangest possible way to go about handling the titles on this card.
The Midcard Titles Swap Brands
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When Jinder Mahal was traded to Raw, the United States Championship went with him, meaning SmackDown was left without a midcard title.
Jeff Hardy was able to take the belt from Mahal before being traded to the blue brand, balancing out the equation once more.
However, if Mahal were to defeat Hardy here, it would mean the Intercontinental Championship would need to leave Raw and be transferred to SmackDown.
Luckily, in that scenario, there are two competitors in the ladder match who are on the SmackDown brand: The Miz and Samoa Joe.
Previously scheduled matches for Backlash further complicate this, however—although nothing is stopping WWE from simply acting as if they were never announced.
If the United States title went back to Mahal, it would revert back to a match between The Modern Day Maharaja and Randy Orton at Backlash while forcing the Intercontinental Championship to have one of two potential outcomes.
Either The Miz would be victorious here and retain at Backlash against Seth Rollins, or The Architect would keep it here and drop it to The Miz at Backlash, as that belt would have to go over to Tuesday nights.
Logic dictates Samoa Joe would not be able to win it, as he is scheduled to face Roman Reigns, and there is a chance the Universal Championship is on the line in that match, too.
Realistically, we should assume both Hardy and Rollins retain their titles, as it's the simpler move, but if Mahal, Joe or The Miz are victorious, the other championship will be in extreme peril to follow suit.
Shinsuke Nakamura Fails to Capture the WWE Championship
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After winning the Royal Rumble in January, it seemed Shinsuke Nakamura would dethrone AJ Styles and win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Instead, though, The King of Strong Style came up short in New Orleans and took his frustrations out on his friend with a low blow, turning heel in the process.
Despite being unsuccessful, he has been granted another title opportunity at the Greatest Royal Rumble, which makes it tempting to say he is going to win the championship here instead.
However, WWE may have had him fail deliberately—not to drag out his inevitable title win until a later date, but because he may not have been planned to be the next champion at all.
A repeat of what happened at WrestleMania may seem unlikely, but The Phenomenal One could pull out a victory by the skin of his teeth and leave Nakamura frustrated.
While he has his fans, there's no questioning whether Nakamura is more popular than Styles. He simply isn't.
WWE may have realized this on the Road to WrestleMania and decided not to take the title off Styles for a while longer. If that's true, Nakamura has to lose again here.
Multiple Records Broken in the Greatest Royal Rumble Match
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By having 20 more men in this match, WWE may even create some circumstances in which multiple Royal Rumble records are surpassed.
For example, if someone starts from the first few entry spots and lasts until the end, they will shatter Rey Mysterio's record for longest time in a Royal Rumble match, since this will be at least roughly 30 minutes longer than previous editions.
While nothing has been confirmed either for or against the idea of The Undertaker competing in the Greatest Royal Rumble along with his match against Rusev, if he does so and he manages to eliminate three or four competitors, he will surpass a record of his own.
Currently, he stands at 40 eliminations in grand total, which is just shy of Kane's all-time record of 43 or 44, depending on whether WWE counts his one elimination while under the Isaac Yankem gimmick, so just a few more for The Phenom and he will approach the top of that list.
With the extra 20 wrestlers involved compared to a normal Royal Rumble, it also won't be hard for any noteworthy Superstars to rack up the number of eliminations and possibly overtake Roman Reigns' single-match record of 12—particularly if Braun Strowman is made to look extremely dominant and mows through the competition.
No title opportunities are on the line, but history may still be made in Saudi Arabia.
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
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