Title was vacant, no one has defended title in Rumble https://t.co/koo8Krai5M

— Lance Storm (@LanceStorm) January 5, 2016

I figured putting that tweet by Lance Storm would clear up any confusion people had with the headline, since yes, this is technically the first time the reigning WWE Champion is entering the Royal Rumble match with his title on the line. Ric Flair won the ’92 Rumble and the title, but as Mr. Serious Lance Storm points out, the title was vacant at the time. The development is part of the ongoing Authority/Roman Reigns angle, and I like it a lot. The WWE roster has been decimated by injuries at the worst possible time, so how do you make the Royal Rumble match more interesting? Make it for the WWE Championship. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few weeks we find out that Reigns has drawn the #1 entry (or another very low number) which would stack the odds even higher against him. So now that we know the stipulation, who will be the winner? I think if WWE is serious about pushing Reigns (which come on, they are) they have him lose the Rumble and earn a shot back at the title at WrestleMania. The only two people I can think of that WWE is willing to put in the main event of Mania against Reigns would be HHH and Brock Lesnar. They both have their reasons; HHH could return to avenge his beat down and Reigns terrorizing his family over the last few weeks & Lesnar could return to get back his title, which he never really lost. We’ll know after next week if Lesnar is going to enter the Rumble (which I’m 100% sure he will now that it’s for the title) and then the pieces will start to fall together. Either way, this year’s Royal Rumble and the next few weeks of WWE TV should be great.

-Ryan