We have arrived, breathe it in. That smell in the air is the scent of 29 superstars being tossed over the top rope, and one left standing with a ticket to WrestleMania in hand. Twice.
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Yes, it’s Royal Rumble on Sunday evening, and WWE is set ablaze. Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown should be packed to hype the biggest show of the year so far.
Apart from a lot of jaw-jacking and fist-fighting, here’s what to expect this week in WWE.
McIntyre and Goldberg face-off
Six days before their highly-anticipated clash at Royal Rumble, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and the legendary Goldberg will both return to Raw. The super Scotsman is hoped to have overcome COVID-19, which has kept him off the previous two episodes of Raw, and he’ll finally stand face-to-face with the part-timer who challenged him at Raw Legends Night. These two behemoths are going to shake the ThunderDome to its foundations at Royal Rumble, but on Monday, it will all be about raising the intensity.
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Alexa Bliss takes control
Last week’s Monday Night Raw ended with Alexa Bliss turning into something we’ve never seen before. Just as a switch flips to turn Bray Wyatt into The Fiend, Bliss turned into a calm, creepy, clinical character mid-way through her match against Raw women’s champion Asuka, then controlling the dual-champion and pinning her clean in the middle of the ring. The women’s division changed with that result and Raw will only become a darker place because of it. Expect Bliss to move even closer to the title picture this week.
Reigns puts Owens on notice
After getting one over on Roman Reigns last week – and powerbombing him through the announcer’s table – Kevin Owens will have to watch his back on Friday Night Smackdown. Reigns will not have taken well to being shown up, so will likely set his cousin Jey Uso and the nefarious mind of Paul Heyman to work on making Owens and WWE official Adam Pearce’s lives a little less comfortable. We might not see any of these superstars in action, but whatever spot Reigns is in at the moment, it’s must-see.
Things change for Apollo Crews
Last week, Sami Zayn interrupted Apollo Crews’ shot at Big E’s Intercontinental Championship, forcing a DQ. After weeks of failed attempts at the hard-working title, and having being invited into the presence of Smackdown’s Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, Apollo will stand for no more. On last week’s Talking Smack, Crews promised to deal with his Sami Zayn problem before “going to go and get that Intercontinental title”. All because he can. On Friday, it begins.
For a preview of Sunday evening’s huge PPV, check out our Royal Rumble predictions and the full match card.
Our how to watch WWE guide for SmackDown, Raw, NXT, PPVs includes a full schedule for the big events in 2021 so you can keep track of the action.
