The WWE Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show panel will be made up of Josh Mathews, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels.
* Kickoff pre-show
WWE Tag Team Championship
The New Age Outlaws vs. Cody Rhodes and Goldust (c)
* Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt
* Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar
* Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena
* 2014 Royal Rumble Match
30-Superstar Royal Rumble match for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXX
**Royal Rumble Competitors**
_Michael Cole and John "Bradshaw" Layfield announced first 2 participation on Raw Old School January 6th
- Batista
- Alberto Del Rio
_10 participation Announced on Raw January 13th
- Big E Langston
- The Miz
- R-Truth
- Xavier Woods
- Kofi Kingston
- Cody Rhodes
- Goldust
- Rey Mysterio
- CM Punk (entrant no. 1)
- Fandango
_3 participation Announced on SmackDown January 17th
- Dean Ambrose
- Seth Rollins
- Roman Reigns
_5 participation announced on Raw January 20th
- Luke Harper
- Erick Rowan
- Damien Sandow
- Billy Gunn
- Road Dogg
Below are the events that returning WWE Superstar Batista is scheduled for, up through the RAW on the night after WrestleMania:
January 20: WWE RAW at Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio
January 26: Royal Rumble at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
January 27: WWE RAW at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio
February 3: WWE RAW at Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska
February 10: WWE RAW at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California
February 15: WWE LIVE Event at US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona
February 16: WWE LIVE Event at Thomas Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
February 17: WWE RAW at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado
February 24: WWE RAW at Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin
March 3: WWE RAW at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois
March 8: WWE LIVE Event at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY
March 10: WWE RAW at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee
March 17: WWE RAW at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas
March 31: WWE RAW at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
April 6: WrestleMania XXX at Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana
April 7: WWE RAW at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana
We noted before that WWE had been planning to do Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. That was discussed back when Show was feuding with The Authority. The plan was for Show to be on top and go through Randy Orton and Triple H, but not win the title, but come out of the program as a strong main eventer. The idea was to make Show strong for Lesnar at the Rumble so Lesnar would look stronger for The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXX.
Regarding Lesnar vs. Undertaker, there had been some concern because Lesnar works such a physical style and Taker is in really rough shape physically. This is why there was some talk of Sheamus facing Taker.
Another issue with Lesnar facing Taker is that a lot of Taker's opponents, if not all, over the past several years have secretly worked out their match with him and practiced it. There was some concern over whether or not Lesnar would be willing to put in that much time preparing.
WWE's website has a new poll up asking fans who they want to see Batista face when he returns ???
- Randy Orton
- John Cena
- CM Punk
- Brock Lesnar
- Roman Reigns
- Daniel Bryan
- Dean Ambrose
- Big E Langston.
With almost 10,000 votes cast, Orton is leading with 36% of the vote, Lesnar is close with 33% and Cena is next with just 12%.
There have been rumors in the MMA world of Brock Lesnar returning to UFC and that Lesnar will be attending Saturday's UFC 168 event in Las Vegas. During Thursday’s post-press conference media event, UFC president Dana White was asked if UFC would take the opportunity to talk business with Lesnar. He replied:
"I honestly don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know."
Sources close to Lesnar told MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani that they didn't think Lesnar was very serious about returning.
Regarding rumors of Brock Lesnar returning to UFC, there is a claim that he somehow got a deal with WWE that would allow him to do a fight with UFC. This claim is being denied by many in WWE but other people close to Lesnar insist it's true.
As of Friday, people within WWE are expecting Brock Lesnar to return to television either the day or week after the Royal Rumble taking place on January 26, 2014. F4WOnline.com reported on Thursday that a match against The Undertaker is currently planned for WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
WWE's website has a new article up asking if the United States Title and the Intercontinental Title should be unified. It features quotes from current champions Dean Ambrose and Big E Langston. Here are some highlights:
WWE.COM: Let’s get right to it: Do you think the United States Title and the Intercontinental Title should be unified?
BIG E LANGSTON:
I’d be open to it. If it strengthens the legitimacy of both titles, then I’m all for it.
DEAN AMBROSE:
It’d be a good thing as long as they made one good looking championship for me to haul around, because I’d definitely be the one holding it.
WWE.COM: Is there a downside to unifying the titles?
AMBROSE:
On the one hand, you’d have fewer titles for people to go for. On the other, it would be a prize that people would definitely want to come after. Nobody wants to come after my United States Title, because everyone has fallen so short and felt the hammer come down from The Shield afterward. It’s a very dangerous proposition to come after my title, so maybe having the championships unified would offer a little more prize money for people to want to go after.
LANGSTON:
I can’t remark on how people would feel positively or negatively, but it would definitely bring more attention to the titles.
WWE.COM: It sounds like you’re both prepared for an eventual champion vs. champion showdown.
LANGSTON:
I’d welcome the challenge.
AMBROSE:
I feel that what I’ve given and sacrificed for the U.S. Title, I’d be willing to put that on the line as a pride thing. It’s just as good as the Intercontinental Title. That’s something I’d be willing to prove.
Roman Reigns recently spoke to The Norfolk Navy Flagship to promote WWE's Tribute to the Troops. Here are some highlights:
JM:
With so many famous family members (ie: The Rock, Afa and Sika of the Wild Samoans, Rikishi, The Usos, etc.), did they have a hand in influencing your wrestling style, or did you look to someone outside of the family?
RR:
My natural movement, it’s hereditary I’ll say. We all are able to move and do pretty athletic things. My family is the majority of the influence, but going down to FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling, now NXT – WWE’s developmental program) and wrestling all of those guys down there – Dr. Tom Prichard, Joey Mercury, Bill Demott, Norman Smiley, Steve Keirn. Even to this day, talking to Triple H and with all of these resources we have here. When it comes down to it, I try to create a different style. A little more brutal. You can watch fight scenes or MMA and see how they move. There have been a lot of things that influenced me, but I can only be me. That’s what I try to focus on, making everything my own.
JM:
You, along with fellow Shield members, have been on the WWE main roster for only 13 months now, but you’ve done a lot in that period of time. What has stood out as your favorite moment so far?
RR:
I have to say WrestleMania. I look around and there are guys who have never performed on that stage. Just to say that we did that our very first year and opened the show. That’s a big deal for all three of us. There are a lot of cool moments we have had. When we wrestled The Undertaker, Kane and Daniel Bryan in London (during a recent European tour) – there’s a shot of us flying in on a helicopter. What some people don’t know is that we did a live event earlier that day. We opened that show and then we jumped on a helicopter and flew all the way to London. We went out there and wrestled three of the biggest stars of all time. The next night, we put (The Undertaker) out. That was a surreal moment. WrestleMania and working with The Undertaker are phenomenal moments that I won’t forget for the rest of my life.
JM:
The Shield always enters from the crowd. What are the pros and cons of making your entrance from the stage (“Gorilla Position”) or from the crowd?
RR:
I enjoy the crowd. When you walk through the curtain onto the stage, you have a different point of view looking at the house. When we come down the stairwells, that’s a different view in its own right, too. It’s so unique for us. I’ve read on social media and different interviews that, now, people are specifically trying to buy tickets on that particular side of the arena. They’re trying to get seats on the row that we’re walking down because it’s such a cool moment for people to size us up and get a feel for what we look like a foot away. We’re trying to put on a show that can’t be duplicated by any other form of entertainment. I like to think that’s a staple for WWE at this point with The Shield.
JM:
Did you take notes on the Spear from Edge and Goldberg matches?
RR:
Even to this day, watching matches, I don’t watch the maneuvers. I feel like I am athletic enough to do any maneuver. It’s not the moves, but what you do between them. The mannerisms are where the money is. A spear is a spear. I’d like to think that I deliver the best one ever seen, but that’s up to the fans to judge. It did help playing football all of those years.
JM:
What do you have planned for 2014? There seems to be some dissension with you and Dean Ambrose.
RR:
As far as The Shield – for the past 13 months, it seems like we’ve done it all. People are going pretty nuts about what we’ve done, but there’s so much left to do. Whether we’re working together or fighting each other, there’s just so much more to see. It’s going to be the year of The Shield, whether we’re together or not.
