WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Preview: 13 Storylines That Need to Be Addressed

The Royal Rumble is arguably the WWE's second biggest pay-per-view of the year.

It sets the tone for everything leading up to the company's flagship PPV, WrestleMania, and thus, what goes down in St. Louis this Sunday will key us in on what will happen in the WWE going forward.

At least that's what it is supposed to do.

In order for that to happen, though, the WWE has to acknowledge its major angles in some way at the the pay-per-view.

But I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that will really happen.

Here are 13 storylines that need to be addressed at the 2012 Royal Rumble.

13. Drew McIntyre's Losing Streak

In 2008, former WWE star MVP went on a losing streak that lasted more than five months into the beginning of 2009.

Well, the metamorphosis of Drew McIntyre into the 2012 version of MVP continues.

The guy's been booked like a total loser since moving to Smackdown last month, and it looks like, as we saw with MVP, McIntyre's losing streak could lead to an eventual face turn.

I'd argue that having someone lose every week just makes them seem like a d-bag, but hey, what do I know?

Regardless of where the creative team is going with McIntyre's current storyline, it would be nice to see something come out of it at the Royal Rumble.

12. The Miz's Beef with R-Truth

I'm a fan of both The Miz and R-Truth, but something about their feud is falling a bit flat.

Maybe it's the fact that I liked Truth better as a crazed heel than a maniacal babyface. I don't know.

But their feud so far has been relegated largely to Truth getting the upper hand on The Miz, so I'm guessing this will lead to The Miz possibly eliminating Truth from the 30-Man Royal Rumble match.

I can't really tell how much longer this feud will go on, so hopefully, we'll get an answer to that question this Sunday.

If one of these guys eliminates the other during the Rumble, then look for both of them to compete in Raw's Elimination Chamber match at next month's Elimination Chamber PPV and for their feud to possibly continue all the way to WrestleMania.

11. The Rhodes Family Feud

The creative team completely ignored the feud between Cody Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes on last week's Smackdown, instead having Cody try to destroy Hornswoggle and then get a victory over Justin Gabriel.

Even though Goldust was nowhere to be found last Friday, I'm sure that this family feud is far from over.

Like with The Miz and R-Truth, though, I'm just not sure how long this brotherly rivalry will last or exactly how it's going to play out.

Realistically, I think we could see a singles match between the two (likely a Career vs. Intercontinental Championship match) at either Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber or WrestleMania.

In the second two scenarios, that likely means that Cody eliminates Dustin, or vice versa, from the Royal Rumble match to keep the feud going.

I like that I don't know how this will play out, but I'd prefer to find out where this is going this Sunday.

10. The Disappearance of Beth Phoenix

Oh, Beth Phoenix, where art thou?

The WWE Divas Champion has been completely absent from WWE TV for the last month or so, ever since she took that botched flipping leg drop from Alicia Fox.

But there's been absolutely no explanation whatsoever as to why Beth's been gone.

I realize that the creative team could probably care less about the Divas division, but it's a bit ridiculous to see the champion and supposed face of the division disappear without even so much as a mention.

Beth just doesn't show up on Raw or even Smackdown every week, and I guess we're supposed to think that's normal.

Of course, it's not, though.

9. The Disappearance of Triple H

This seems to be a theme with Triple H: He just comes and goes as he pleases.

The Game was off of TV for months after his WrestleMania 27 match with The Undertaker, ditto for his WrestleMania 26 with Sheamus, and now, he's been missing again since his Ladder match against Kevin Nash at WWE TLC last month.

I realize that Triple H is not really a full-timer anymore, but maybe a mention of his absence here or there would suffice.

He's like a ghost who just disappears one day and then shows up three months later, but we're supposed to buy the lame explanation that he's been "recovering from his match."

So, Triple H can sell injuries for months while John Cena can't sell them for a night? That's ridiculous.

I'd love to know what's going on with Triple H, and I'd prefer to find out at the Royal Rumble.

8. The Injury Status of a Number of WWE Stars

OK, I guess this technically isn't a storyline, but it's kind of a bunch of them thrown together.

We've got a boatload of WWE stars currently out of action, and I think it's safe to say that at least one of them is going to make his in-ring return during the 30-Man Royal Rumble match.

Randy Orton and Christian seem like the likeliest candidates to do that, but we could see Alberto Del Rio as well, and Rey Mysterio is a serious long shot to come back, too.

I can't accurately predict who will come back and what they'll do when they return, but I feel pretty confident in saying that we'll see Orton and another one of those guys back in a WWE ring on Sunday.

What happens next, no one knows.

7. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Speaking of returns, it'll be interesting to see how the WWE picks back up on the feud between Randy Orton and Wade Barrett.

As the storyline goes, Barrett is the reason why Orton got injured and was forced to miss time, but in Orton's absence, Barrett has kinda sorta moved onto a feud with Sheamus.

Where does that leave "The Viper" when he comes back?

It makes sense to have Orton return and go after Barrett, and since Barrett has been getting some help from Jinder Mahal lately, perhaps we'll see Orton and Sheamus unite to take out Barrett and Mahal.

Two baby faces vs. two heels would certainly work, even though I'd prefer not to see Mahal on my TV screen ever again.

6. The Status of Zack Ryder and the United States Championship

Zack Ryder lost the United States Championship to Jack Swagger on last Monday's Raw despite the fact that he was not medically cleared to compete.

This comes just a couple of months after Daniel Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Mark Henry, won the World Heavyweight Championship and then had the decision reversed because Henry was also not medically cleared to compete.

My head hurts from thinking about the ridiculous inconsistencies there, but oh well, it's the WWE. I would expect nothing less.

Perhaps more importantly, though, we need to see some more developments in the storyline between Ryder, Kane and John Cena.

Ryder left Raw in an ambulance last night after his match with Kane (and it was later revealed that Ryder had broken his back), and Eve put the blame on Cena, who then slapped the microphone out of the hand of Josh Mathews.

Hmmm. That was very interesting.

I wonder where the WWE is going with this one, when Ryder will be back and how he will play into the Cena/Kane storyline going forward.

5. John Laurinaitis vs. CM Punk

There's no doubt in my mind that the feud between John Laurinaitis and CM Punk will get the spotlight when Punk defends his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler this Sunday.

With Laurinaitis serving as the special guest referee and him admitting on last week's Raw that he'd screw Punk out of the WWE title, the ingredients are definitely there for something major to go down between these two.

The creative team is undoubtedly trying to build up Punk vs. Laurinaitis as today's version of Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon, and that means some serious shenanigans are in store for us at the Royal Rumble.

Whether Laurinaitis succeeds in screwing Punk, we can all rest assured that he will spend the whole match trying to.

4. Foley Challenging Laurinaitis for the Raw GM Spot?

Anyone else think that Mick Foley is being inserted into the Laurinaitis/Punk/Ziggler storyline so that he can eventually challenge Laurinaitis for the Raw GM spot?

Maybe it's just me, but I think that the creative team is definitely hinting at this.

Laurinaitis has made it pretty clear that he wants to become the permanent Raw GM, and many fans have long thought that Foley would be perfect for that role.

Given the way that Foley showed up and was attacked by Laurinaitis last week, it appears as if the creative team is giving some definite consideration to a Laurinaitis/Foley feud over the Raw GM role.

We can't really be sure exactly what will go down between Foley, Ziggler, Punk and Laurinaitis because there are just too many ingredients involved.

But I think we can all agree that something will. 

3. Daniel Bryan's Heel Turn (and Mark Henry's Face Turn)

We can see that Daniel Bryan is slowly turning heel, but he still hasn't had that defining moment where we know he's a full-blown heel.

He hasn't obviously cheated to win a match, he hasn't blasted the fans like most heels do, and he has even continued to align himself with other baby faces (like on last week's Raw with CM Punk).

That being said, I think the Royal Rumble will be the pay-per-view where Bryan does something that makes us say, "Oh yeah, there it is. He's officially heel now."

On the other side of the fence, you've got Mark Henry who appears to doing the exact opposite of what Bryan's doing: He's gradually turning babyface.

It'll be interesting to see how Bryan's heel turn affects Henry, and whether it leads to Henry becoming a full-blown babyface or a bit of a tweener.

I actually Henry going face is the likeliest outcome, and I'd expect to see that happen on Sunday when Bryan cheats to screw Henry out of the World Heavyweight Championship.

2. Will John Cena Rise Above Hate?

Kane wants John Cena to "embrace the hate," but Cena doesn't want to.

So, something's gotta give, right?

I liked the way that Cena absolutely lost it on Jack Swagger last week and how Kane told him that his beatdown of Swagger proved that he was starting to embrace the hate.

At least in my view, it certainly looked like Cena was enjoying beating the crap out of someone, a.k.a. being a heel.

Of course, most of us don't think there's any real chance that Cena will actually embrace the hate this Sunday. In fact, we're expecting him to rise above it.

I can't wait to see how this one plays out, though, because I think it's too early (and unlikely) to have Cena turn heel, but I also don't think he should defeat Kane.

Let's just wait and see how the creative team books this one.

1. "The End of the World as You Know It"

Chris Jericho has given all of us the silent treatment, and he has enjoyed every second of it.

But on last night's Raw, he finally spoke, uttering these words: "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it's going to be the end of the world as you know it."

What does Jericho mean by "the end of the world as you know it?" Is he referring to CM Punk or something much, much bigger?

In just six days, we will find out.

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