The Road to WrestleMania

The Road to WrestleMania XXVII started last night at the Royal Rumble. We are just over two months away from the Granddaddy of them all and things are starting to take shape. One of the most interesting things about the next few weeks (for me at least) is to speculate how the card will eventually pan out. So let's get started.

1. Alberto del Rio wins the Royal Rumble?!?

Biggest Rumble in history (40 participants). Lots of former winners and main eventers (Cena, Mysterio, Kane, Orton). And they give the win to a rookie heel from SmackDown. Granted, WWE typically knows what they're doing, but this is a head scratcher. Del Rio was certainly rising fast through the ranks, but not "Headlining WrestleMania" fast. He's talented on the mic and has pretty ok in-ring skills. I guess we'll just have to see where they go with this. We will certainly see even more of del Rio on RAW and SmackDown over the next couple months. It makes the most sense for del Rio to challenge Edge for the World Heavyweight title and an Edge vs. del Rio main event at WM27 seems like a big yawner.

There is potential to mix this up a bit. The PPV between Royal Rumble and WM is Elimination Chamber. If WWE follows the same pattern, both WWE and World titles will be defended, but likely won't include del Rio as he's already the number one contender for WM. So he'll be sitting around during the PPV doing nothing. Enter Christian. Del Rio put Christian on the shelf a couple months ago and Captain Charisma will probably be in fighting shape by Elimination Chamber. Last night, Edge beat Dolph Ziggler using Christian's finishing move, the Killswitch (nee Unprettier), perhaps as foreshadowing of an upcoming Edge/Christian reunion/feud?

Anyway, I can see Christian challenging del Rio to put his number one contender spot on the line at Elimination Chamber. Del Rio probably wouldn't lose the match outright, but it would open the door to include Christian in a Triple Threat at WM.

My World Heavyweight title prediction: Edge (c) vs. Alberto del Rio vs. Christian

2. The Miz is still champion?

To me, having The Miz headline WM is about as unlikely as Alberto del Rio winning the Royal Rumble, so I guess anything can happen. The Miz still needs to successfully navigate Elimination Chamber to make it the main event at WM and it seems rather unlikely that he'll come away with the win. If he does, WWE began the Cena/Miz feud last night as the Miz was the one who eliminated Cena from the Rumble even though the Miz wasn't officially in the match. The Miz was also saved from losing the title to Randy Orton by the CM Punk-led Nexus. Does this mean an Orton/Nexus feud is brewing? Or will Nexus continue to terrorize Cena as it's main target? Either way, my guess is that at Elimination Chamber, CM Punk manages to win the WWE Championship, punching his ticket to main event WM.

My WWE Championship prediction(s): CM Punk (c) vs. John Cena or Randy Orton

3. What else?

Money in the Bank is it's own PPV now so don't expect to see that match this year. Booker T and Kevin Nash made their return to WWE last night but given their age, they won't make much of an impact on the World title scene by WM. Triple H and Undertaker are still MIA but they should be ready to go by WM as well. Who is the most likely opponent to take on the Undertaker's WM undefeated streak? John Cena? King Sheamus? Wade Barrett? The Miz?

And Mr. WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels, takes his well deserved spot in the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend.