The 30-man Royal Rumble Match is always one of the most highly-anticipated bouts of the year, but the 2016 version is lacking the usual magic.
First, the WWE took a major misstep in making the match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship rather than the already built-in stipulation of the winner going on to face the champion at WrestleMania. While the 1992 edition when Ric Flair won the WWE Championship is highly regarded as the best Rumble Match ever, the magic of that event will never be replicated.
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The WWE is likely trying to make the Fastlane event in February a bigger deal, but making the 30-man match for the richest prize in the game is a mistake. Making matters worse, the field so far for the event is lacking big-time talent.
Injuries have plagued the WWE with Seth Rollins (leg), Daniel Bryan (concussion), John Cena (shoulder) and Randy Orton (shoulder) all sidelined, just to name a few. That has wreaked havoc on the caliber of entrants for the 30-man bout.
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The only real threats to win the match so far are Brock Lesnar, Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, Sheamus and Roman Reigns. That's six of 30 men. Wyatt and Ziggler have been in a midcard malaise, so it's hard to envision the WWE giving them the nod.
Jericho is a veteran and has six World Championships to his name, but at this stage in his career, he's unlikely to emerge victorious on Jan. 24. Sheamus just had a very short-lived run with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and he reads more like a traditional champion than someone the WWE had high hopes for entering WrestleMania season.
That leaves Lesnar and Reigns as the only likely two Superstars to win the 30-man match. Reigns could overcome the odds (again) and retain, while the WWE may put the belt on its biggest draw heading into the largest event of the year.
For the Rumble Match, WWE is desperate to fill spots in the field, and a lot of the other talent is just fodder that has no chance of winning it all. The WWE could pull some surprises by adding NXT Superstars, legends and maybe surprise returns, but as of now, the 2016 Rumble Match looks as though it's destined for failure.
The WWE has little more than a week to turn things around, but the first pay-per-view and WWE Network special of the New Year, at least on paper, has no shot of living up to the past classic events like the magical 1992 spectacle.
