Royal Rumble preview

Read on for my ideas for booking tonight's WWE Network special event.

-- Kickoff:
- Roode Open Challenge:
This would be a huge waste of Dolph Ziggler. Save his comeback for WM34 itself. So, let's book Mike Kanellis here. Roode gets the win. 

- Gallows/KA vs. Revival:
Anderson and Gallows use the power of Too Sweet, gifted from the legends on Raw 25, to get the win here.

- Kalisto/Lince/Metalik vs. TJP/Gallagher/Gulak:
This match doesn't mean much, but if we're having two face wins in the other matches, I'm OK with the heels winning this one. They all have more potential than the faces anyway.

-- Royal Rumble:
- Usos vs. Gable/Benjamin:
Might as well have this go all three falls, right? Usos retain and move on to face the Bludgeon Brothers. Gable and Benjamin can work with Rusev Day. 

- Rollins/Jordan vs. Bar:
I don't see much reason to take the title from Seth and Jordan yet. I'm not against Seth vs. Jordan at Mania, but I don't think it's time for the drop the title yet. So, they retain here.

- AJ vs. Owens/Sami:
The valiant Kevin Owens fights through injury, but is unable to keep up. The concerned, compassionate Sami Zayn gets understandably caught up paying attention to his best friend's condition at ringside, allowing that dastardly AJ Styles to take advantage and get him in position to retain the championship.

- Brock vs. Strowman vs. Kane:
This match exists so Brock can make it to WM34 without handing Braun another clean loss. So, the Devil's Favorite Demon falls victim to the Beast Incarnate.

- Women's Rumble:
I think I'd headline the show with this. It's such a big milestone for the company and all. Unless they're going with the big moment of Ronda winning to end the night, Asuka gets this one. If Ronda is going to win, Asuka needs to enter early and get the most eliminations. Alexa vs. Asuka should still happen at WM34.

- Men's Rumble:
Colonel Sanders needs to be a surprise entrant with KFC sponsoring the show. Zack Ryder is my pick to play him, although Dolph Ziggler doing the gimmick full-time instead of returning as himself would be a dream come true. 

It's already destiny for Roman to face Brock, but Reigns doesn't need the Rumble win to get there. Shinsuke punches his own card to Mania with a win. AJ vs. Shinsuke isn't exciting at all from a story/character perspective, but it's pretty much the direction to go here since the Kevin/Sami angle is already stale. So, we get a lot of "we wrestled in Japan!" and "I can't wait to show I'm the better wrestler and win that championship at the grandest stage of them all." Bleh.

More wrestling coming up.