By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt on Twitter)

01/19/2018

As we get closer to the Royal Rumble different storylines start to take shape. Questions that we may have had a few weeks ago divulge answers. Rumble entrance spots start to become more clear. Those guaranteed to be in and those who won’t are revealed. Winners are speculated, predicted and…bet on?

That’s right. Wrestling matches have odds and there are fans throw money down on who is going to be left standing and main eventing WrestleMania.

If you had a chance to speak to me a year ago it was painfully clear that Roman Reigns was going to win the Royal Rumble this year. Beating the Undertaker, Brock holding the title, and the need to crown a new Face of Franchise, it was time to start telling the story of Roman Reigns climbing the mountain. Up until a month ago, the world agreed with me and Roman Reigns stood alone on top of the betting odds summit.

Fast forward to last month (and of course, the beginning of the hit podcast “The Brothers of Discussion”) and I changed my tune. Shinsuke Nakamura became my guy.

The match of every pro-wrestler’s dream (which has already happened in NJPW) would become a reality as Nakamura would main event (sort of) WrestleMania fighting the Phenomenal One: A! J! Styles! The formula here is easy to decipher because Roman is legit, whether you root for him or not. And pitting him against Brock makes sense. Something needs to happen at Elimination Chamber, so why not have it happen there? I’ll save you the fantasy booking excerpt and we’ll just agree that whatever happens, it leads to Brock vs Roman (as the true WrestleMania main event).

I figure the right person at the right place heard my case for Nakamura winning the Rumble. Since my report, according to the previously mentioned betting odds, Nakamura is now the favorite to win the Rumble. There is still a week to go before the Rumble, so nothing is guaranteed or decided (and as I can attest to, I’ve seen the odds change an hour before the match).

The odds do more than just give us (exact) insight into who is going to win the Rumble. It also tells us the odds of who is going to be doing well that night, who might be slated for a big push, and who…is going to be a “surprise” entrant. I say “surprise” with quotes because it’s only a surprise to the people who don’t have the time to research and spoil every aspect of the show.

The superstar that you may be surprised to see on the top of betting odds this year is Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan, if you’re not keeping up with current storylines, is (kind of) feuding with Shane McMahon (where I would argue he’s feuding with the idea of people making decisions for him, something very close to true life for Bryan). The man behind the “Yes chant” is ranked third in likelihood of winning the Royal Rumble, according to PaddyPower, at 4 to 1 odds.

Obviously this has nothing to do with any sort of workouts Bryan is doing or the current status of other wrestlers. This happened because the wrong person heard the right information (or wrong information, depending on how you feel about this). Someone heard the insider information of plans to come for Bryan or maybe the plans for someone he could feud with.

Either way…it’s now fact that Bryan is on this list.

The point here is that these lists are legit and very often are correct when determining who is going to win a particular match. But I do hear some wrestling fans cry foul to the news of Daniel Bryan coming out on top. Now…I wouldn’t say I am them most confident man in Bryan’s chances to win, but I do think it would be a good move by the WWE and I have a few reasons why. Essentially, I wanna help you believe again in the ‘Yes’ movement.

1. First of all…what a hell of a surprise! In a show that is based on delivering moments that are unpredictable (I mean…besides the fact that I’m saying he could win and he has the third best odds of winning) this would take the cake. This would have never crossed my mind unless I had seen the updated odds of winning. I had predicted his presence in this year’s WrestleMania, but I definitely felt in a more limited capacity and something he could easily start his career over with, like a match with Shane McMahon.

But to have him appear and WIN the Royal Rumble would probably cause me to shriek at the level of sound only comparable to a 90’s tween-ager meeting Justin Timberlake. He’s been out of commission for a while now. His career accomplishments were also filled with Royal Rumble disappointments that, to the wrestling fan, were sure to be Royal Rumble achievements.

The surprise wouldn’t stop there. It would also upend all of the Rumble and WrestleMania predictions that have been going on with Reigns and more recently Nakamura, for the past year. It would speed us into the road to WrestleMania without any idea of what is to come. When surprises are your bread and butter, this would definitely not be the type of bread coming out of your Walgreen’s discount bread maker and Country Crock plastic bowl.

2. Bryan hasn’t been treated as well as he might deserve. Whether it was the constant attempts to bury his character, the 10 second matches at WrestleMania, the losses to characters who can’t seem to find a win nowadays, and what Bryan is dealing with now, being told he isn’t in fighting shape and the incorrect diagnosis by WWE doctors (according to popculture.com back in August of 2017).

Bryan is owed this whether he would say so or not. Most people have a dream job, but very few are told they can’t do it…by mistake. If there is any semblance of justice in the WWE, his return would be coupled with WWE Championship gold eventually. Why not go for broke from day one and give Bryan, one of the most passionate superstars the business has ever seen, this opportunity.

3. Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles. This is something I remember mourning when AJ Styles made his entrance into the Royal Rumble two years ago. The idea of two of the best wrestlers I have ever seen in the ring together…not happening…was heartbreaking.

I think the whole world could agree on two things when it comes to this match: 1. The promos leading up to it would be some of the worst we’d ever seen. And 2. It wouldn’t matter. This would be a truly special match and would be sold by the pure greatness of the performers in the ring. We wouldn’t need Heyman level promos, because we’d know we were in for something amazing and probably never forget. Not to mention the possibility of making it a triple threat (Nakamura?) to make the load a little easier for Bryan to handle.

None of this is perfect and I only say all of this to sell you on the fact that this isn’t the worst thing in the world. Daniel Bryan could come back in any capacity and I’d be huge fan of it. But if the odds made this jump for a good reason, then I say we should be happy if it happens.