Shawn Daivari Makes Bold Prediction For Men's WWE Royal Rumble Match
Shawn Daivari was a recent guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show and discussed a variety of topics. One topic discussed was Daivari making his prediction on who the winner of the Royal Rumble should be. Daivari made a bold prediction and chose a current rising star on the SmackDown Live brand.
"I'd be awesome if Mustafa Ali won," said Daivari. "Mustafa Ali would win it, and at first, I think fans would be like, 'What? This guy? Are you serious?' But then, as the story unfolds going toward WrestleMania, I think he would be the most engaging story. The way I see it, in a beautiful situation, I would love to see Mustafa Ali win the Royal Rumble and go to WrestleMania. And the finish of [the WrestleMania] match wouldn't even matter at that point. Like, by the time Mustafa Ali gets to WrestleMania, he's a made star, win, lose, or draw. Daniel Bryan has a new opponent."
Daivari feels that Ali would make for a good new feud with Bryan, particularly since it is hard to find new opponents for wrestlers who are very over with the fans as either a babyface or a heel.
"When you're super over like Daniel Bryan is, it's hard to find [a] new opponent," said Daivari. "That's what people have a hard time understanding. You're a victim of your own success. If you're super popular, it's hard. Either way, super popular as a heel, or super popular as a babyface, when you're popular, it's hard to find new opponents. Those champions who are kind of lukewarm are the best ones, because you can mash them with anybody. But when you've got a champion who is super popular in either direction, heel or babyface, they're really hard to book with, and you end up getting a bunch of rematches."
Currently, Ali is in a feud with Samoa Joe, as both will be participating in the Royal Rumble in hopes to earn a title shot at WrestleMania. Ali made his SmackDown Live debut interrupting Daniel Bryan and eventually competing in a match against him. Although he lost the singles match, he did pin Bryan in a tag team match the following week. Ali competed in a Fatal Five-Way match to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble, but fell short to AJ Styles.
Source: Pancakes and Powerslams