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- The Royal Rumble in WWE is known for many things. However, the one thing that usually gets the biggest pops from the crowd are the special guest appearances. While it is fun for the crowd to pop when The Godfather or Booker T come to the ring, WWE has proven that fans will pop even bigger when it is someone no one ever could have expected. The explosion that AJ Styles got when he showed up at the Royal Rumble just a short time after he last appeared in NJPW was monstrous. This means the Royal Rumble could be the ripe opportunity for someone to cross over once again. With people in America like Mickie James hinting she wants to work in various promotions to Nick Aldis becoming a free agent, the options are huge. However, WWE has to do it right.
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The 2023 Royal Rumble is approaching, and with the new creative direction of Triple H, fans are very much looking forward to the event, especially after such a disappointing show in 2022. There is no denying that WWE has a tremendously talented roster at hand. When it comes to the Royal Rumble, there always has to be an element of unpredictability.
That is one of the reasons why WWE should open the Forbidden Door. This would allow outside competitors from Japan, the independent scene, and more to come in and work the event. Of course, no one from outside the promotion should be winning either of the matches, but fun entries and cameos must be considered.
UPDATE: 2023/01/18 09:00 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS
The Royal Rumble in WWE is known for many things. However, the one thing that usually gets the biggest pops from the crowd are the special guest appearances. While it is fun for the crowd to pop when The Godfather or Booker T come to the ring, WWE has proven that fans will pop even bigger when it is someone no one ever could have expected. The explosion that AJ Styles got when he showed up at the Royal Rumble just a short time after he last appeared in NJPW was monstrous. This means the Royal Rumble could be the ripe opportunity for someone to cross over once again. With people in America like Mickie James hinting she wants to work in various promotions to Nick Aldis becoming a free agent, the options are huge. However, WWE has to do it right.
WWE Briefly Opened The Forbidden Door At Last Year's Royal Rumble
In what was quite a surprising move, WWE did in fact open up the Forbidden Door in 2022, as the Impact Knockouts Champion at the time, Mickie James, entered the match with her Impact theme song and title. The announcers even mentioned her title reign in Impact Wrestling. However, WWE had a depleted women’s roster thanks to injuries and needed to stack the match with surprises. James’ stipulation for competing was to allow her to be billed as the Impact Knockouts Champion, so WWE obliged.
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This wasn’t a sign of any working relationship and was essentially just a one-off. However, since Triple H was put in creative control over WWE, the commentators make reference to other promotions. This includes Ring of Honor mentioned on occasion when talking about the previous successes of their superstars, despite Tony Khan’s purchase of the company. This could well be a sign of change when it comes to working with other promotions in the future.
WWE Could Add Multiple Forbidden Door Entrants To The Women’s Royal Rumble
WWE haven’t always shied away from this, with them working with plenty of promotions in the past, such as NJPW and more. However, it has been quite some time since this happened. The Royal Rumble hosts the perfect opportunity to give avid professional wrestling fans something to cheer about, and to create some fun moments which will last in their memory forever. With the roster and talent that WWE has, there is only a little bit of room to potentially use the Forbidden Door, so they should take care when doing so.
RELATED: 5 Best Finishes To The Royal Rumble Match (And The 5 Worst)When it comes to their women’s roster, the field is much thinner, so there is more room to make things happen. Whether they can once again make deals with Impact or not is unclear, but they should certainly try their best to. Extending arms to other promotions can’t do any harm, as they never know when it might come back to benefit them further in the future. WWE should try especially hard to bring in some outside women’s wrestlers to bolster the field. Perhaps the likes of Deonna Purrazzo, Jordynne Grace, and Mickie James once again would provide some strong entries into the match.
The Great Muta Should Enter The Men’s Royal Rumble Match
With the Men’s Royal Rumble, WWE has a lot more options when it comes to who competes in the match, however there should be at least one spot open for a Forbidden Door entry, and that should be The Great Muta. 2023 is hosting Muta’s retirement tour after a legendary career, and it saw him recently face WWE-contracted star Shinsuke Nakamura in Pro Wrestling NOAH. With WWE allowing Nakamura to compete there, a trade-off with Muta could have been made which would see him compete in the Royal Rumble.
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While he was never a part of WWE, he did compete in WCW and so much of his content can be found on the WWE Network. He is someone whose influence on the business will still likely see him as someone who is eventually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, as often those outside the company are recognized too. This could even help to promote the Network as well, and it would allow Muta the chance to compete in a WWE ring, and perhaps face off with Nakamura once again, in addition to others.
Use The Forbidden Door To Showcase Talent Exchanges
What made AEW's Forbidden Door so successful was that it was just a small part of an overall business plan. The Forbidden Door opened up not only in AEW but in other places as well. AEW stars showed up in NJPW. They went to Impact Wrestling. They invaded PWG. This was a way that AEW could use its status as a national powerhouse to help other companies and they, in return, got to showcase AEW wrestlers on their shows. WWE could really use its muscle to help other companies.
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Imagine if someone like Kazuchika Okada showed up in the Royal Rumble and then got an extended run on Raw or SmackDown. What if "Switchblade" Jay White showed up and took AJ Styles place in a feud with The Judgment Day? The possibilities are endless. Even more so, this could help Japan. Shinsuke Nakamura already went to Japan to battle Great Muta. While a partnership with NJPW is unlikely thanks to its deal with AEW, WWE could work with a company like Stardom and bring in stars like Syrui while sending some talent there for more experience. Even in the United States, Impact Wrestling and the NWA could get a huge boost if WWE opened its doors thanks to a Royal Rumble Forbidden Door experiment.
The likes of NJPW, Impact, NOAH, and more would likely be more than happy to see their stars featured in WWE, so when it comes to the Forbidden Door, it is down to WWE to let things happen, as the exposure would no doubt benefit everyone else. It could be argued that it doesn’t benefit WWE, but it could also be argued that wrestlers from around the world wanting to compete in WWE makes the company feel like the most important on the planet. WWE should certainly use the Forbidden Door ahead of the Royal Rumble, but it should be in small doses for sure.
