“The King of Kings” Triple H left the 2016 Royal Rumble royally rewarded as a now 14 time World Heavyweight Champion and a two time Royal Rumble Winner. But it feels like it is a decision that has royally (pardon the pun) divided opinion throughout the WWE.
The heel authority figure versus the babyface who seems to have the whole world stacked against him is a path very well trod. Whether it was that of Daniel Bryan against the now Champion, or Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon it’s a classic storyline that has been at the heart of the WWE since its conception. It’s a storyline we can all empathize with: we all hate our boss (or have had an authority figure we disliked). In the episodic nature and circular life of storylines it is nearly always inevitable that the Authority Figure will make a play for the Championship and the crescendo of this most recent feud with Roman Reigns has proved no different.
Triple H was the only choice
But WWE had no choice in the matter. HHH had to win the belt on Sunday as there simply wasn’t any place left to go. I firmly believe that if Seth Rollins, Antonio Cesaro, John Cena, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd and The Icon Sting were not on the shelf or if Brock Lesnar was on a full time contract then WWE would not have HHH as Champion. Its’ a must needs scenario. Even to the point that they were so scared of losing this storyline they even went to the lengths of protecting HHH by taking him out of action for a month and bringing Vince McMahon back onto television.
In the world of WWE, having to resort to this story is similar to the United States having to take President Obama up in Air Force One to keep him safe from assassination. It is that critical (metaphorically). Which is why we can’t be angered by it. We have to accept that this is the state of the WWE at this present moment in time and until they find a way to keep their roster healthy, it’s a storyline we may see again. I do feel however they are taking the appropriate steps to correct it.
For example, we saw AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble. They need to get him up to speed as soon as possible because they are short of Championship quality wrestlers, and they do not have the faith, and rightly so, at the moment in people like Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. WWE are moving mountains to sign some of the hottest property in wrestling because they know they cannot do this storyline again, as the WWE Universe are growing more and more tired of it every time we see it.
The most compelling argument I hear about keeping the belt away from HHH is that they should have given an up and coming talent the rub. They should have put someone over to raise them up as oppose to squash them down. I can only say in response to this: Who?
Dean Ambrose
The moment the Royal Rumble was down to the last three in Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and HHH, the first thought that went through my mind was… Dean Ambrose is the Intercontinental champion – he just defended his IC Championship. If they wanted to make him the WWE World Heavyweight Champion then why is he the IC Champion? There is no way he is good enough to be in the ranks of HHH and Chris Jericho as dual champion – not yet anyway.
Kevin Owens
Too much too soon. As brilliant as Kevin Owens is where would a heel champion that isn’t Sheamus fit into the fold? He has no issue with the likes of Roman Reigns and he is still a relatively young main roster superstar.
Bray Wyatt
Its the only other champion I could have seen coming out of the Royal Rumble aside from HHH. I just feel they needed a bigger run-in with Bray Wyatt being strong. He had lost nearly every big match he was in during 2015, and although in recent weeks he has been a lot stronger, it still would have felt very rushed.
AJ Styles
It’s too much of an unknown entity although it would have made for a fantastic story.
Sheamus
Well, we have been there before and if The Authority were going to have the belt, I much prefer it to be HHH than Shamus – and I’m a Sheamus fan!
As you can see the list suddenly gets very short very quickly. Kane? The Big Show? Chris Jericho?
I mean come on. There is only so much a WWE Fan can take.
I’m pretty sure that WWE wants Fast Lane to come around as slowly as possible so that they can at least get their roster back together and avoid any more personnel calamities along the way.
