WWE Royal Rumble Expanded To 40 Men

The Royal Rumble match has been increased to 40 entrants from the standard 30.

The event started back in 1988 and in its inaugural year only had 20 contestants. In its second year, the number was increased to 30. The expansion is the first major change to the competition since 2004, the first time the winner could challenge for whichever Heavyweight Championship they chose.

The news broke on WWE.com as they slyly changed their match page and updated the WWE Universe via Facebook and Twitter.

For the first time in a while the winner of the Royal Rumble has a chance of making major history. The first wrestler (and possibly only wrestler) to win a 40 man over-the-top rope contest will have a lot of bragging rights in the future.

So what does the extra 10 men mean for the contest? Will there be a lot of surprise appearances?

One of those could be Booker T, who is rumored to be re-signing with the company have surfaced again. Wouldn't it be cool if he was part of this event?

What does the Bleacher Report community think of the extra 10 men?

It has also been rumoured for the past few years that WWE is toying with the idea of reviving some of WCW's old gimmick matches. Maybe adding the extra men is the first step to reviving World War 3. For those who do not know about WW3, it was a match that was contested in 3 rings between 60 wrestlers. Unlike the Royal Rumble, wrestlers (in later versions of the match) could be eliminated by pinfall or submission in addition to leaving the rings.

Is it a good or bad idea? What opportunities will this bring the company, wrestlers or even the match itself? Possibly the most important question has to be whether this is going to be a permanent fixture from here on out.

Source: WWE.com