5 Surprises that may happen on WWE RAW after the Royal Rumble- Major heel turn, Drew McIntyre names WrestleMania opponent
#5 Samoa Joe turns on Kevin Owens
The interaction between Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens have been fantastic 😂#WWE #RoyalRumble— Get The Tables (@GetDaTables) January 27, 2020
#4 Drew McIntyre names The Fiend as his WrestleMania opponent
OUT GOES THE BEAST!@DMcIntyreWWE has eliminated @BrockLesnar from the #MensRumble! #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/Con5zKqS8m— WWE (@WWE) January 27, 2020
Sometimes, when WWE makes something very obvious and very evident, they tend to swerve us in the process. Case in point, they made us think that Shayna Baszler was going to win the Royal Rumble match based on how quickly she eliminated the field, but she succumbed to Charlotte Flair soon after.
While it is a remote possibility because of how all the pieces have lined up, there’s always the chance that Drew McIntyre will choose to go after The Fiend and not Brock Lesnar. There are rumors about Tyson Fury and Cain Velasquez coming back to WWE for another run, and if that is Brock Lesnar’s big WrestleMania match, McIntyre could definitely tussle with the supernatural.
If Drew McIntyre does become the first person to defeat The Fiend, it would certainly establish him as the face of the blue brand and could even set up a feud with Roman Reigns to be the face of the company. It is unlikely, but then, when is a surprise ever likely?
#3 Edge returns to attack Randy Orton, setting up their WrestleMania match
I miss this tag team. Rated RKO! Edge and Randy Orton! #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/9pF5hJByS3— RIPKOBE8/24 (@RIPKobeBean24) January 27, 2020
Anyone who’s been watching WWE for any length of time knows that Edge and Randy Orton used to be a tag team. And during the men’s Royal Rumble match, they even pretended to be on the same page for a while, before the ruse was revealed, as Randy Orton tried to eliminate Edge.
A WWE employee just said to me “Edge is BACK. Like, really back,” after I had a go at him for not telling me beforehand, of course!And that news bloody delights me – it’s not a one-off. He did fantastic.
— Alex McCarthy (@AlexM_talkSPORT) January 27, 2020
And then I read this Tweet from Sportskeeda’s own Alex McCarthy and it makes me think that there may be plans in the works for Randy Orton and Edge at WrestleMania 36. The two men obviously know one another quite well and Edge trusts Orton to be a safe opponent for his big comeback match.
So maybe Edge seeks retribution against Randy Orton on this week’s show and ends up attacking him from behind or even delivers a spear in the middle of the ring while Orton is cutting a promo. Maybe Edge interferes in the match Randy Orton is competing in, in some way.
Whatever the case may be, it will help set up a momumental comeback match either for WrestleMania or (this is a possibility) for Saudi Arabia.
#2 Charlotte Flair names Rhea Ripley
So, Charlotte Flair is the winner of the women’s Royal Rumble match and everyone either expects her to choose Becky Lynch as her opponent or Bayley. I don’t think either scenario is too appealing right now. Charlotte Flair is definitely one of the all-time greats in the WWE Women’s Division but she’s been booked so strongly for so long, she may actually turn Bayley face if she were to square off with her.
She’s had some epic encounters with Becky Lynch thus far, but we’ve seen those matches so many times that the sheen may have worn off by now. And this is why I think that Charlotte Flair may decide to do something very unconventional and challenge NXT Women’s Champion, Rhea Ripley.
This is definitely a dream match in many ways and if Ripley defeats Flair at WrestleMania, she would have definitely become the next breakout WWE star.
Of course, this is a very rare possibility, but at the same time, weirder things have happened in WWE, have they not?
#1 Nia Jax returns to confront the RAW Women’s Champion
“Yep. Everyone was impressed by Nia Jax’s 2019 Men’s #RoyalRumble Match performance!” via WWE’s Instagram pic.twitter.com/sdjrX6ugLQ— NiaJax.Com | Fansite (@NiaJaxCom) January 25, 2020
I know that a lot of people were disappointed at the fact that Nia Jax did not return in the women’s Royal Rumble match this year. There’s already a readymade storyline for her in place based on the fact that she had accidentally busted Becky Lynch’s face open a long time ago, and the two women could certainly have a great feud.
But maybe the surprise was being saved for RAW. Maybe, the big story was that Becky Lynch, having taken care of Asuka and with Charlotte Flair focusing her attention elsewhere, is looking for brand new opponents and Nia Jax returns to break her face again.
The audience reacts very strongly to Nia Jax, both positively and negatively, depending on whatever character she is portraying at the moment. And because she’s most likely to return as a heel, it is only going to get Becky Lynch even more over as a babyface.
Who wouldn’t want to see these two women renew hostilities in an actual feud?