WrestleMania 36 Rumor Killer, Backstage News On WWE Royal Rumble Plans, The Fiend, Rumble Tickets
As noted, Friday's final WWE SmackDown of 2019 will feature a Triple Threat main event with Daniel Bryan vs. King Baron Corbin vs. The Miz to determine a new #1 contender to WWE Universal Champion "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt. The winner will challenge for the title at the 2020 Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 26 in Houston at Minute Maid Park.
Bryan is the current favorite to challenge The Fiend at The Rumble because original plans for the recent WWE TLC pay-per-view had Bryan getting a title shot there. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter adds that the decision was made to hold Bryan vs. Fiend off to let the storyline play out, to save it for The Rumble.
Regarding other plans for the 2020 Rumble pay-per-view and WrestleMania 36 season, there's still no word yet on who WWE Champion Brock Lesnar will face when his ring return happens in Houston on January 26. There have been rumors of WWE doing Cain Velasquez vs. Lesnar or Tyson Fury vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania on April 5, but The Observer reports that there is nothing to those rumors. We've noted how Cain is currently booked for the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match, but as of right now he is not scheduled to face Lesnar in their rematch from Crown Jewel.
We noted before how this week's RAW saw RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Asuka agree on a singles match after The Man issued the challenge. That match is booked for the Rumble pay-per-view, which will be the one-year anniversary of Asuka defeating Lynch by submission at the 2019 Rumble event.
Two other likely title matches for the Rumble pay-per-view are Braun Strowman vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, and Lacey Evans vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley. These matches were originally scheduled for the recent TLC pay-per-view. The Strowman vs. Nakamura feud was delayed due to Strowman not being medically cleared to compete, but the feud resumed this past week on SmackDown. Evans vs. Bayley was held off TLC because they wanted to save it for January.
The 2020 Rumble pay-per-view will likely be sold out when the show hits the air. The Observer reports that the stadium will be set up for 36,000 fans, which means WWE will likely announce closer to 46,000 in attendance. There are around 3,000 tickets left as of mid-week, and more than 30,000 paid fans is considered to be very good. It was also noted that demand for the Rumble on the secondary market is well below other years, and that there are many scalper tickets out, with tickets starting at $38.94, which is low for WWE's #2 show of the year.
Stay tuned for updates on the 2020 Royal Rumble pay-per-view and WrestleMania 36 season.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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