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There once was a time when the Royal Rumble was the most highly anticipated show of the entire WWE calendar year. Long before the ICW was a hotbed of potential spoilers, where only the most secret of secrets can remain as such and fans on message boards – one of them being a young Tony Khan – were debating how Paul Heyman would book Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, or who would win the Monday Night Wars, fans tuned into the show to see the surprise returns, the shocking eliminations, and how, through it all, the WrestleMania card would begin to take shape.
But now? Well, you don't even technically need to watch the show to understand what's going on, as WWE's social media team will tweet out every surprise twist and turn, and the entire match will be summarized in a few hundred words by writers around the world.
Is the Royal Rumble still relevant in 2024? Well, in the not-so-humble opinion of Paul Heyman, the answer to that question is a resounding heck yes, as, in a special appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, the ECW legend broke down why the match is still one of the most unpredictable, and thus, entertaining shows of the year.
“Because it is the most unpredictable event of the year, and I don't just mean in WWE, or in sports, or entertainment, or sports entertainment; you just don't know what's going to happen. And here's the most exciting part about it, we don't know what's going to happen, because there's so many variables when you have potentially 30 people in the ring at the same time. Now, the likelihood of all 30 being in there by the time the 30th man or woman comes out is small with that many hands and feet running around the ring, things can do wrong, and as Vince McMahon once said, what can possibly go wrong on live television?” Paul Heyman asked Pat McAfee on his ESPN show.
“So it's not only an unpredictable event, but it's an event where more conspiracy theories come out in the media by people who have knowledge of the inside tracking saying, ‘here it is, here's your spoiler, here's what's going to happen, here's what's going to happen at WrestleMania.' They're all wrong! Because everyone's trying to understand the dynamics, the plots, the storylines, the interexchanges of the interexchanges that happen at the Royal Rumble that then propel you into the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania.
“It'd be like me telling you what's going to happen over the weekend if you have the two hottest young quarterbacks in the NFL battling against each other, and we're saying, ‘Hey, I'll tell you what the score's going to be' an hour before the game. Everybody thinks they know, but nobody truly knows, and you don't know until it's over.”
You know, you've got to give it to the “Wise Man,” when it comes to hyping up an event like an old-fashioned carnival barker, few do a better job than Paul E. Dangerous. And the best part? He was only getting started, as, with an 18-minute segment booked on The Pat McAfee Show, Heyman had even more to say on the value of the show.
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Paul Heyman understands the value of the Royal Rumble.
Discussing the value of the Royal Rumble further, when Pat McAfee noted that there are 20 or so performers with a legitimate shot to change their lives by winning the battle royal, Paul Heyman took things a step forward, noting that, well, read what the “Wise Man” had to say in his own words below.
“Where an unknown can become a legend in one move. It's where someone, I mean, can you imagine the publicity of someone who throws someone who is right now, I would say, a favorite to win is CM Punk. So what happens if some unknown, someone from NXT, someone that comes in from outside of the blue, someone that comes in from another promotion, someone that hasn't been around in years throws CM Punk over the top rope, or Cody Rhodes over the top rope?” Paul Heyman asked Pat McAfee.
“What happens if a surprise comes in, and you go, ‘My god, this is the surprise that's going to win, and go on to WrestleMania against Roman Reigns or against Seth Rollins, and that surprise gets thrown over the top rope? Gunther gets thrown over the top rope? Now, if it's by CM Punk or Cody Rhodes, I understand that, but what if it's by an unknown? What if it's by someone you've never seen before? What if it's by a returning legend? What if it's from someone who comes in from another promotion? I mean, then all of a sudden, you have Gunther breathing down someone's neck. There's so many variebles in the Royal Rumble match itself, let alone in the Royal Rumble event, with Roman Reigns defending the title in a Fatal Fourway.”
As crazy as it may sound, Heyman really does have a point here, as, with Punk, Rhodes, and Gunther in some order the favorites to win the match, at least two of them will be thrown out of the ring by another performer, with the potential for an “unknown” to become a made man by ending one of their WrestleMania dreams before it can come true. If Paul “Triple H” Levesque plays his cards right, he could have another LA Knight on his hands with a single elimination.
