WWE Books Best Men's Royal Rumble in Years to Set Up Mega Drew McIntyre Push

Drew McIntrye stands at the forefront of what was perhaps the best men's Royal Rumble match of the past decade or more. 

This time, there weren't disgruntled fans or controversy over the winner. Edge returned. Brock Lesnar laughed off any doubters with an epic performance. Unforgettable matchups, no matter how brief, entertained. 

And the end result is finally throwing new blood into a main event at a WrestleMania. 

Kudos goes to WWE for the sheer brilliance in executing it all. Lesnar indeed entered first and put on a show of eliminating a gauntlet of Superstars, jobber or not, en route to 13. He had unbelievable showdowns with guys like Keith Lee, and fans even got a flirtation with Kofi Kingston's revenge.

And seriously, quiet any concerns about the guys he eliminated looking bad, they would've otherwise just spent a ton of time laying around on the mat looking silly before getting thrown out anyway. 

When it came time for Lesnar to get eliminated, WWE weaved in some proper short-term storytelling by having Ricochet deliver a low blow as revenge for the one Lesnar gave him on the go-home episode of Raw—then McIntyre delivered the killing blow before staring him down for a long time.

And not only did Edge return, but he also reunited with Randy Orton, though everyone knew it was a matter of time before he had to smartly dodge a strike from The Viper and eliminate him himself. 

When push came to shove at the end? As silly as it was that WWE officials didn't stop Seth Rollins' crew from interfering, the payoff was watching said crew get escorted out by beaten Superstars and four guys teaming up on The Architect. 

Even better, WWE teased another Roman Reigns win and gave him the heat of eliminating Edge, which made McIntyre throwing out Reigns to win the whole thing that much better. 

Quite frankly, this was an unexpected thriller and well-thought-out ordeal from WWE with a deserving Superstar in McIntrye right at the forefront of it.

Though it might be a little aged for some of the audience's tastes, the Scot is the guy who originally debuted years ago as a "chosen one" and fell off the map quickly before joining the jobber group 3MB, only to leave, reinvent himself in other promotions and return. 

Now he's the chosen one again, this time with a main event match at WrestleMania 36 against Lesnar. 

This is pointedly what many fans have been asking for over and over. Time and again, it seemed WWE had missed the opportunity to really use a special moment to pull the trigger on a brand new Superstar to lead the main roster, only for the company to go back to part-time talents and Lesnar, who always appears to have a belt on his shoulder and a limited attendance sheet at actual events. 

This assumes, of course, WWE is willing to pull the trigger on a McIntrye win at 'Mania (while Reigns presumably takes on Bray Wyatt's The Fiend for the SmackDown side). But at this point, it'd be a fumbling of epic proportions to build this up in such a smart manner, only to derail it at the last second. 

And at this point, the hype of WWE making this all work at WrestleMania could well help bring fans back in droves. Don't laugh—in an alternate timeline, Lesnar is headed for a main event and show-closing match against a Tyson Fury or Cain Velasquez. 

But this isn't that. This is The Beast Incarnate smearing it in everyone's face that he's just as dangerous as ever. And he's seething mad at McIntyre and ready for a slugfest.

This is a full-timer in McIntyre who scoffed in the face of a beast and offers promise of not only a great match and potential title change, but also simply a change in the way WWE does things, a nod to giving fans what they want. 

Maybe it's best to enjoy the highs of this one because this was a Royal Rumble done so right. They won't all reach these highs in unique moments or storytelling, nor will they manage to reel off such long-term implications. 

McIntyre standing tall alone at the end of it all says everything, really.