It has been three days since the most recent edition of Bookie .vs. Blogger. A lot has happened since then.
If you read this morning's post, you'll be aware that there have been stories written that have cast doubt over some of the names that myself and the bookie have in our top five rankings for Royal Rumble. Therefore, we have converged to readjust our lists.
On Christmas Day, our lists looked like this:
Bookie
1. Shinsuke Nakamura
2. Kevin Owens
3. Roman Reigns
4. John Cena
5. Sami Zayn
Blogger
1. John Cena
2. Roman Reigns
3. Shinsuke Nakamura
4. Braun Strowman
5. Seth Rollins
As noted, a lot has changed since Monday. Here goes..
Number 5
Bookie: Batista is my wild card. It was a toss up between him and somebody else who I would have wanted to keep on the list as an honourable mention (I will get to him in a bit). As for Batista, they have tried this once before and he has been talking of having another run before his retirement so coming back and fighting AJ Styles for the WWE Championship might be the best way to start off this run.
Blogger: My entire list has been moved around because of all the news that has been reported this week. I had Shinsuke Nakamura at third when I last compiled my top five. I have no choice but to put him in fifth spot. Seeing as the bookie is going to announce an honourable mention, I may as well state that I was close to putting Bobby Roode back in fifth place.
Number 4
Blogger: John Cena has fallen all the way down from number one to fourth. This is because of what Dave Meltzer wrote in this week's Wrestling Observer which stated that the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 34 is - as of this moment - not going to feature Cena.
Bookie: John Cena was who I had in fourth three days ago and he is my honourable mention because, if the big match that Cena is rumoured to be involved in doesn't come to fruition, they could have Cena win the Rumble, Reigns win the Elimination Chamber to set up a triple threat against Lesnar at WrestleMania to split the boos.
With that said, I have moved Cena off my list. In his place is Dolph Ziggler. The reason why I've opted for Ziggler is because of his current storyline of throwing away the WWE US Championship and walking away from the company. With this story arch, the Rumble - or just before it - is where we could see him again.
Number 3
Bookie: I still like my idea of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn both eliminating each other at the end to set up a triple threat match along with AJ Styles. A schmoz Rumble finish could be why they are planning a fatal five-way for Fast Lane. Plans can and have changed in the past.
Blogger: I'm going with Baron Corbin. My reasoning is because he has now lost the US Championship (unless he wins it back!) and is not one of the names on the list of participants in the fatal five-way for Fast Lane. If whoever wins the Rumble is challenging for the WWE Championship, I can't see them in the five-way a month beforehand.
Number 2
Blogger: As I wrote above, if a Smackdown representative is winning the Rumble, my instinct is telling me to avoid any of the names that are rumoured to be in the fatal five-way.
I've spoken with a few people about the Rumble since the Christmas Day edition of Bookie vs. Blogger and the name that has popped up the most has been Dolph Ziggler. I have to give credit to regular visitor, Marc O'Connell who first brought Ziggler up to me. The bookie also brought Ziggler up (obviously), so this is me liking other people's ideas more than my own. Now that Ziggler has thrown aside the US Championship, he could return, win the Rumble and go for the WWE Championship.
Bookie: I have moved Roman Reigns back up to number two. I think it's going to be a bad idea, but Vince loves annoying the fans.
Number 1
Bookie: I'm sticking with Shinsuke Nakamura at number one. A Nakamura win would set up a good match for the WrestleMania card. If Cena has a bigger match at WrestleMania and there's also Brock Lesnar .vs. Roman Reigns, a Shane McMahon match and more, Nakamura versus Styles doesn't have to main event just like what happened with Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33.
Blogger: For months, I have stated that there was a huge divide between the top two on my list and every other name below them. Now that I've moved John Cena to near the bottom, it leaves a gap between Roman Reigns and the rest. However, bearing in mind that Reigns could be the person who wins his shot against Brock Lesnar in an Elimination Chamber match in February, his position in the upper part of this list is weakening.
You can view how our lists have changed across our five meetings in the table below.
Nakamura, Reigns, Cena, Balor, Rollins - My top 5 currently. Not sure if in that order though. Surprised neither of you mentioned a Raw guy winning and challenging Styles, think it's very possible now.
ReplyDeleteVery good point about a Raw guy moving over.
ReplyDeleteI'm just curious.what if fastlanes main event is exactly what was advertised? What happen to those guys.
ReplyDeleteWell, I've been thinking Nakamura vs Orton could be one destination and that would be a good set up for it.
DeleteZiggler is a great shout and something I never really considered, shame the 40/1 soon disappeared and not able to get on. Can't bet anything with Kambi these days without them killing your account. Takes all the fun away and makes you think twice about betting things.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noticed it went from 40s to 15/1 in a blink of an eye.
DeleteLimits are ridiculous there nowadays.