RJ’s Two Cents - Why the WWE Should Move the Royal Rumble to February

By RJ Marceau

This past Sunday we had one of the best installments of The Royal Rumble followed by a good Monday Night Raw. Since the inception of the Royal Rumble in 1988, it has been one of the WWE’s big four PPVs and held in January. The WWE has always had a February PPV but in recent years the show isn’t anything special due to the predictability of the matches and the angles they will be going with into WrestleMania.

​The WWE should move The Royal Rumble to February and bring back No Way Out in January and here’s why.

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The No Way Out Could Shake Up the WWE Landscape in the New Year

The WWE has always used the Royal Rumble as the first stop on the Road to WrestleMania, which I think, has been a good idea. At the Royal Rumble, the winner eventually goes on to WrestleMania to face the champion. The issue with this for me has been the mini feuds that WWE tries to feed us before this challenger goes on to WrestleMania. Last year, they had Roman Reigns put his Royal Rumble winnings up for grabs against Daniel Bryan. The match was good but Daniel Bryan didn’t deserve that opportunity and Reigns didn’t deserve to lose it.

​The year before we saw Batista in a crappy feud with Alberto Del Rio and in 2012 we saw John Cena vs. Kane in a feud most people didn’t give two craps about because Cena was going to face The Rock at WrestleMania 28. If you put No Way Out in January you could make it interesting going into the New Year. The Royal Rumble in February could set up your WrestleMania matches, which gives you 5-6 weeks to build the feud. I would propose them having the WWE World Heavyweight Championship defended in an Elimination Chamber match. Instead of saying “hey it's October or May so lets have an Elimination Chamber match” they have a week of qualifying matches and the top 5 winners get inserted into this matchup for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This would lead to a PPV that wouldn’t be as predictable as Fastlane or Elimination Chamber has been in the past few years.  

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The Royal Rumble Should Lead Into WrestleMania

The WWE like I said before wastes time between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania with pointless feuds until after the Fastlane or Elimination Chamber PPVs. Instead of having the winner of the Royal Rumble wait two months or tease tension between two superstars in the Rumble match only to wait two months they should have the Royal Rumble the PPV before WrestleMania. This could start the feud off and the WWE would have 5-6 weeks to book these feuds.

The Rumble is a tease in the current position. The WWE Universe gets totally invested to wait 2 months to find out the feuds for WrestleMania. The speculations and rumors run rampant while we watch useless matches and feuds. The buyrates for the February PPVs have never been good so putting the Royal Rumble in that slot could improve more interest going into WrestleMania season. I can’t guarantee that the No Way Out show would have good buyrates but if the show suggested massive or new years shake up that it could draw viewers.
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The WWE will probably never move the Royal Rumble PPV but it would be in the best interest for the company to move it. The predictable and dull PPVs that we have got in past years in February don't get anyone motivated for WrestleMania. If the WWE was going to make a schedule change moving the Royal Rumble a month later would be the right decision.

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SEE ALSO: "RJ's Two Cents - My Top 5 Favorite WWE Royal Rumbles Since Becoming a Fan in 2002"

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