WWE makes huge announcement about Roman Reigns for the Royal Rumble

Ric Flair had won the Royal Rumble in 1992 to win the title, but he had not been champion prior to the event. WWE broke new ground on its we...

Ric Flair had won the Royal Rumble in 1992 to win the title, but he had not been champion prior to the event.

WWE broke new ground on its weekly show RAW on Tuesday morning, making a huge announcement regarding the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns.

The professional wrestling company announced that Roman Reigns would defend his title at the Royal Rumble, but not in a separate match against any particular opponent. Instead, Reigns will fight for the right to keep the gold around his waist, in the 30-man Royal Rumble match itself!

This kind of arrangement has never happened before in WWE, and is likely to be used only rarely (if that) in future. But if Reigns has to keep his title after the Rumble, he effectively must overcome 30 other competitors and win the Rumble.

Ric Flair had won the Royal Rumble in 1992 to win the title, but he had not been champion prior to the event.

That raises the stakes for Reigns tremendously, and gives beleaguered WWE fans something radically different to look forward to.

The announcement was made by WWE chairman Vince McMahon after Reigns defeated Sheamus again to retain his WWE World title on RAW. Reigns had punched McMahon in the face (in a move he calls the Superman Punch) during the course of the match and then shoved him into the corner, which set off the WWE chairman.

Reigns had won the 2015 Royal Rumble and a repeat of that this year might seem unlikely. However, there is no clear favourite to win it so far, and the event is only three weeks away.

On the flip side, this could end up with Roman Reigns getting lost in the mass of superstars competing in the Rumble match. But if booked intelligently, the ball WWE has set rolling can take them a long way.

It would be fantastic, for example, if Roman Reigns enters the Royal Rumble at No 1, either through a contrived 'lucky draw' or another act of Vengeance by Stephanie or Vince McMahon. He could then last till the end of the event, only for Triple H to come back and enable his elimination.

That would set up either Reigns v/s Triple H at Wrestlemania, or Reigns v/s whoever wins the Rumble, at Wrestlemania. In the second scenario, a new stipulation could be added - that if Reigns wishes to compete in the main event at Wrestlemania for the World title, he must beat Triple H at the Fast Lane PPV in February.

At Wrestlemania then, Reigns must beat his opponent and win the WWE World Title.

Thus, a lot of interesting scenarios and possibilities have opened up with Tuesday's announcement. Let us hope WWE creates a good storyline from this one, instead of dropping the ball as they have done so often in the past.

Meanwhile, Chris Jericho has decided to enter himself into the Royal Rumble match, and Brock Lesnar returns to WWE RAW next week.

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