Figure Four Weekly 1/23/2017: Previewing the unpredictable Royal Rumble

Whatever your feelings are on WWE inevitably using part-timers to boost another WrestleMania season, it’s undeniable that their inclusion has added intrigue to the 2017 Royal Rumble. Suggesting otherwise would be presenting alternative facts.

Even with their limited presence on television, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker have added a level of unpredictably — even if it’s only perceived — to next Sunday’s show at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas that hasn’t been matched in recent years.

The WrestleMania direction for those first two wrestlers doesn’t seem to be in doubt. Goldberg and Lesnar will again meet at WrestleMania 13 years after their disaster of a match at Madison Square Garden. All that remains uncertain is where their match will be placed on the card.

Goldberg vs. Lesnar doesn’t need the Universal Championship. No matter what happens on TV between now and April, the rematch between the two should hold the audience’s attention after Goldberg squashed Lesnar last November at Survivor Series. But with Raw having one more pay-per-view between the Rumble and WrestleMania 33, anything is conceivably possible. And it would be hard to argue that Goldberg and Lesnar don’t deserve the main event spot with the title on the line if their match is the one that most connects with fans heading into Orlando.

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