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WWE Royal Rumble 2018: Why Roman Reigns should be eliminated early

By David Austin Bumpus

MIAMI, FL- SEPTEMBER 01: Roman Reigns looks on during the WWE Smackdown on September 1, 2015 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Ron ElkmanSports Imagery/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL- SEPTEMBER 01: Roman Reigns looks on during the WWE Smackdown on September 1, 2015 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Ron ElkmanSports Imagery/Getty Images) /
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Roman Reigns entered at number 30 in last year’s Royal Rumble and was the last wrestler eliminated, but fans need the opposite this year in Philadelphia.

Over the last few years, wrestling fans have repeatedly gotten excited around the end of January for the Royal Rumble, hoping for fresh faces to enter the fray away from the usual suspects. However, those hopes have usually been crushed by the sound of Roman Reigns’ entrance music.

Reigns has been a dominant fixture in the last few Royal Rumble matches, with appearances as one of the final two superstars in 2014 and 2017, a win in 2015 and the man in the spotlight in the “One Versus All” Royal Rumble as WWE champion in 2016.

Just like fans think with plenty of schticks in WWE, Reigns in the Royal Rumble was cool at first, but has quickly soured. He was on fire when it was him up against Batista in the final two in 2014, but things turned as fast as possible for him before his force-fed win in 2015. Much like John Cena in 2005, WWE has been giving its fans too much of Reigns when January rolls around.

Reigns has nothing else going on at the event outside of maybe helping out Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan in their tag team title match, so one should expect an appearance from “The Big Dog” in the field of 30 on Sunday. When his music hits, you can guarantee the Philly faithful won’t give him the warmest of welcomes — especially after what happened three years ago in that very city — but there’s a way WWE can salvage this situation.

The best bet to avoid ruining this Rumble match would be to have Reigns eliminated early on in the match to freshen things up in the Final Four and have the crowd fully invested in what’s going on in the ring. Otherwise, Reigns will be getting all the attention (or, in this case, boos), and fans will focus on that fact when they talk about that match the day after.

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The ideal scenario here would be to send Reigns in early, at least in the top 10 and maybe even in the top two, and have him thrown out by a guy like Samoa Joe or a group like The Balor Club before 20 wrestlers even enter the match. It’d provide a fresh perspective for the match, would give others the spotlight for once and would avoid upsetting the riled up Philadelphia crowd.

Reigns can still find his way to the Universal Title match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, so you don’t need to waste the opportunity by forcing him on Sunday in this year’s Royal Rumble.

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