We all love the Royal Rumble. The 30-person over-the-top-rope battle royal is the highlight of the wrestling calendar year for many, and with good cause. With so many people entering, anyone can win. I mean, they won’t, and unless your name looks REALLY good on a marquee, you’re more likely to be just another body in a full ring than a future WrestleMania main eventer. But what if that didn’t have to be the case?
What if the world operated on 2K rules, where – sure, there are still favorites and stars whose attributes make them better suited to the match type, but there’s nothing stopping someone from the bottom of the card from dumping a main eventer and winning the whole damn thing. That very conceit is what brings us to our piece today. As we have done in past years, our crack team of contributors randomly drew male and female Superstars and was tasked with writing their wrestlers’ names in the history books. Join our team as we peer into the multiverse and ask ourselves:
What if Carmelo Hayes won the Royal Rumble?
After losing his chance to fight for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble, Carmelo Hayes is added to the Royal Rumble match by SmackDown GM Nick Aldis to “show us what you got, kid.” Not one to disappoint the higher ups (or live up to his own hype), Carmelo Hayes enters the Rumble at number 11, and – much to everyone’s surprise – manages to win the whole thing.
The following night on Raw, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is in the ring and makes the announcement that he is injured and has no choice but to vacate his championship. As Rollins is reminiscing about his time as champion, he is interrupted by Carmelo Hayes. Hayes argues that the championship shouldn’t be vacated and instead should be bestowed on HIM as the Royal Rumble winner. Seth agrees that winning the Royal Rumble is a huge accomplishment and should be rewarded, “but this isn’t 1992, and you’re no Ric Flair.” In a shocking moment, Triple H’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring.
Hunter says “not for nothing, but I know a little something about winning a title in the Rumble match, too.” He then proceeds to tell Carmelo that before he sets his attention to WrestleMania that he should look ahead to his unfinished business in NXT first. Papa H then announces that the World Heavyweight Championship is in fact vacated and that a new champion will be crowned in the Elimination Chamber.
Six former WWE/World Heavyweight Champions – CM Punk, AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, Finn Balor and Bobby Lashley – enter the grueling match, with The Almighty standing tall as the new World Heavyweight Champion when the last bell rings. As the fireworks go off and the Australian crowd cheers on their new champion, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford join their stablemate in the ring only to be attacked from behind by three men: Omos, Trick Williams and Ashante “Thee” Adonis. Carmelo Hayes soon walks to the ring with MVP and B-Fab. Dubbing his group “the Entourage,” Melo explains the faction’s first goal is to crown HIM World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania.
The following weeks see the Entourage running roughshod over all of WWE, beating down anyone that gets in their way. Lashley and the Profits try to get the upper hand leading up to WrestleMania, but every time they get a little bit of momentum going, it is just as quickly squashed. The Monday before WrestleMania sees the official contract signing between challenger Carmelo Hayes and the Almighty Champion Bobby Lashley. Using his veteran cunning and his challengers overconfidence, Lashley is able to goad Hayes into barring all outside interference in their upcoming title match at Mania, before putting his challenger through a table.
The match at WrestleMania is one worthy of the main event slot that it was given. Lashley and Carmelo Hayes put in the work necessary to keep the fans on the edge of their seats. Crisp in-ring action, suspenseful near falls, and the storytelling we have come to expect from great wrestlers. However, in the end, not even HIM can survive long in the Hurt Lock, eventually passing out in the champion’s patented submission hold. Even though Carmelo did not win the big one at WrestleMania, his performance solidified what we all already know: Carmelo Hayes is in fact the future of WWE.
– Shane Martin
What if Luke Gallows won the Royal Rumble?
It’s the eve of the Royal Rumble and Roman Reigns has successfully defended his championship against AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and LA Knight, using the Bloodline to take out Styles and Orton while Reigns himself pins LA Knight to a chorus of boos.
Later on in the night, the Rumble itself sees Solo Sikoa, CM Punk, and Finn Balor among the participants already in the ring as the countdown to #30 hits. Though it is a return after months away from action, the crowd doesn’t explode when Luke Gallows comes out. They do explode, however, when AJ Styles comes out from the crowd and tosses Solo over the top rope, sending him into an attack from Luke Gallows on the floor. Jimmy Uso runs out, as does Karl Anderson, and the Bloodline and OC duke it out outside the ring while the Rumble itself rolls on. Punk and Balor whittle the competition down until it’s just the two of them. Balor gets the better of Punk and throws him out. Gallows tries to sneak in, but Balor catches him and fails to be thrown over the top.
Gallows backs away and is joined by Styles and Anderson, who stand on the apron. Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio join Balor on his side of the apron. The two men fight for a bit, with Gallows playing the giant monster to Balor’s situational anti-hero, but the tables turn as Gallows reverses an Irish whip from Balor, sending the leader of the Judgment Day right into Priest’s Money in the Bank briefcase. Gallows takes advantage of the distraction by taking out Balor and winning the Rumble.
Gallows and the OC spend the next few weeks battling with the Bloodline, but after Elimination Chamber — where AJ loses to Roman Reigns one-on-one and Gallows pins Jimmy Uso in a tag match between the OC’s and the Bloodline’s supporting casts — Gallows appears on Raw to interrupt CM Punk’s challenge of Seth Rollins. Gallows says he never said which championship he wanted to go for, and he really wanted to wrestle AJ Styles, a good brother he respects. But if he can’t wrestle AJ, he’s out for personal vengeance. The last time he and Punk fought, it ended in three minutes because Punk never taught Gallows anything. But since then, he’s teamed with Balor (who eliminated Punk in the Rumble), Styles (who helped Gallows win the Rumble), and a “belt collector” who just so happened to help Gallows himself be a champion all around the world. Gallows doesn’t need to beat Roman Reigns, nor does he need to beat Seth Rollins, but if he wants to be a champion, he wants to bury his past. So, he challenges Rollins for the World Title and tells Rollins to accept Punk’s challenge, because at WrestleMania, Gallows is being mean, making green, and becoming a “world champeen.”
Gallows spends the next few weeks teaming with Anderson to pin higher and higher-leveled Superstars (with Styles noticeable in his absence, as Gallows’ decision to not avenge Styles’ loss makes him upset), but at WrestleMania, Styles and Anderson both come out to try and help Gallows win. Gallows tells them both to leave, though, saying he’s got it from here. He hits the Gallows Pole on Punk and goes to pin him, but Rollins breaks it up with a superkick to Gallows. As Punk rolls out of the ring, Rollins hits Gallows with like three finishers to end the match. Gallows hobbles up the ramp with the OC’s assistance, having gained legitimacy, gotten one-up on Punk, and grown closer with Styles and Anderson.
Then, in a just world, Gallows never wrestles a high-profile singles match again.
– Darius Melton
What if R-Truth won the Royal Rumble?
R-Truth’s music plays and he walks down the ramp at #27. He enters the ring but waits idly in the corner as he assumes the match is an Elimination Chamber match and he is waiting for his pod to open, even pantomiming a glass window being in his way. In the ring is Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre, Ivar, Gunther and a returning Big E and Goldberg in the ring as there is meat slapping everywhere. However, as Goldberg hits a spear on Bronson Reed, Ivar hits a moonsault on Drew, and Big E hits a big ending on Gunther and the seismic quake all that meat getting slapped creates forces cracks in the sky that cackle with purple energy and between the rifts, the fans in attendance and the wrestlers can make out what appears to be a giant, toga wearing, Otis appears holding a WWE Undisputed Universal Title.
R-Truth exclaims “OH NO! That’s the multiverse. That’s Omni Otis!” R-Truth then bursts onto the scene and begins fighting everyone, resuming the action. After a fracas, it comes down to Big E, Goldberg, and R-Truth. R-Truth, is still befuddled by Omni Otis, watching the sky, and leaning on the top rope and Big E and Goldberg accidentally fall over while grappling and R-Truth wins!
The next night on Raw, R-Truth appears in the ring and says, “I won the Elimination Chamber last night that means I get to cash in my briefcase on any champion I want and OMNI OTIS! THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!” The commentators are confused when the same cracks in the sky from the Rumble and Omni Otis again appears. The giant apparition bellows “I accept your challenge. Your Royal Rumble win was an aberration that I and I alone can rectify. We will fight on the sacred battle ground of Philadelphia” as Raw goes off the air.
R-Truth then appears on The Bump to discuss his win and the sudden invasion of the multiverse into the WWE universe. As R-Truth explains “look, there’s a multiverse out there right? Where there are infinite branching pathways and alternate timelines that appear based on different events with alternate versions of ourselves. There’s one where the Invasion happened in 2002 and WWE got killed by a resurgent WCW. There’s one where Stone Cold went to Hollywood and not The Rock. And there’s one where Otis won the 2022 Royal Rumble”. The hosts of the bump look on in shock as Brock Lesnar won the 2022 Royal Rumble and R-Truth continues “there’s a universe out there where Otis won but he got, got and distracted by Mandy Rose. That Otis must have gone back in time to try to change which caused a collapse of his world.” Editors note: See What If…? 2022
At that moment, Omni Otis appears on the video wall in the studio and explains “Truth is right. I did win the 2022 Rumble in my world but I got distracted. I tried to go back in time but Malcolm Bivens warned me that my fate was a fixed point. I ignored and waited till he was watching Martin again and traveled back to stop myself from losing at WrestleMania but it caused my world to collapse. I won the title but the world died. I renamed my belt the WWE Multiversal Championship and defend it against those who dare make the same mistake I did. And R-Truth, you were never meant to win. It only happened because of all the big meaty men slapping meat that caused that rift in space time.”
R-Truth responds, “Oh, who was supposed to win?”
“Goldberg.” replies Omni Otis.
“Yeah, that makes sense. But whatever, I’m coming after you!”
The night of WrestleMania finally comes and the sky parts over Philadelphia. Omni Otis descends outside time and space which is a relatively mundane site for Philadelphia. He waits in the Ring for R-Truth who runs down with a Money in the Bank briefcase he bought from merch stands and tries to hand the briefcase to the referee. Annoyed, the ref calls for the bell and Truth immediately rushes the ring, however, a blinding light stops him. Once the light abates, we see that Omni Otis has summoned K-Kwik, Ron Killings with the NWA world title, and Pretty Ricky (whose government name is delicious) from alternate timelines. Outmatched, R-Truth knows wrestling them would be futile so he uses the one thing that would stop R-Truth in any universe: SPIDERS. R-Truth pulls a bunch of spiders out from his briefcase and alternate versions of himself scatter back to their timelines.
All that is left is Omni Otis. He shrinks himself down to normal size to combat Truth and the match begins in proper. Otis uses his strength to pummel R-Truth and hits a vader bomb out of the corner. Otis drops down to the mat and begins to use the caterpillar maneuver finish off Truth, but an unseen force kicks Omni Otis away. R-Truth recovers and is confused as Omni Otis appears to be taking blows from an invisible assailant and R-Truth realizes this must be Little Jimmy. R-Truth realizes Little Jimmy must be a grown up variant from Omni Otis’ dead universe and is here to take revenge. R-Truth takes advantage of the opportunity and hits the lie detector on Omni Otis and wins the WWE Multiversal Title.
Omni Otis is enraged as another universe is now at peril for destruction as he did. However, Truth walks over to Omni Otis and says, “it’s all good dawg, I’ll be the guardian of the multiverse while you take a rest. You can stay in this universe and this universe’s Mandy Rose has an OnlyFans account. At this, Omni Otis smiles and takes his leave. R-Truth, with belt in hand, bids goodbye to the audience and ascends to the heavens to herald over the multiverse.
– Jay Barrett
What if Chad Gable won the Royal Rumble?
Well, Shane did it two years ago, but the RNG gods have deemed it is now my turn to guide master Gable to a Rumble victory. Fortunately for me, 2024 Gable is a more legit competitor in the eyes of the WWE Universe than 2021 Gable was. The ending practically writes itself, too, considering current Intercontinental Champ Gunther has declared for the match already. I see the final five as Gable, Gunther, Kaiser, Cody and Punk. The two favorites take each other out, leaving our man Chad in there against the healthy members of Imperium. Gunther thinks it’s in the bag, and sends Kaiser to finish the work, but our special boy tosses the German gentleman our of the ring, leaving him 1:1 with Der Ring General. They proceed to have a banger match (because of course they do) until Gable manages to roll out of a sleeper and suplex Gunther over the top rope and to the floor – winning the Rumble and getting his title shot at Mania.
Now, I want the best for Chad Gable. You want the best for Chad Gable, we all want the best for Chad Gable, so there would be a ton of speculation as to who he’s going to challenge at Mania. But my man Chad is a thinking man’s wrestler, and a sentimental babyface, and while him lifting the World Heavyweight Title over his head at Mania would be pretty rad, I think around Elimination Chamber time, the Alpha Academy gathers in the ring on Raw where Chad says there’s been a lot of talk about “finishing the story” leading into the Rumble, but his story is an unconventional one. He’ll talk about how everything he’s set his mind to, he has accomplished, all except one thing – taking the Intercontinental Title from Gunther. Whether it’s the Olympics or WWE, Gable refuses to give up until he’s got what he wanted, and as great as it would be to be world champion, finishing his business with Der Ring General is more important to him. So that’s why he spoke with Adam Pearce and parlayed his Rumble win into a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship against Gunther at WrestleMania.
For his part, Gunther will be tickled by this idea, mocking the smaller man for wasting what is likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity just to inevitably lose to him again. Gable will assure the Austrian assassin that this time will be different, but Gunther will just laugh it off. What follows is weeks of Imperium taking out the likes of Otis and Tozawa, while Gable takes out Kaiser and (a hopefully healthy) Vinci, leaving just the two men in the Mania match to tell the story. On Night 2, this match opens the card and is an absolute banger because of course it would be, and in the end, our boy Chad will win his first singles gold in WWE. Now it’s not one of the big belts, but the story with Gunther (not to mention the credibility he brought to it) makes the Intercontinental Title a worthwhile prize for our former Olympian.
– Jason Segarra
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.