News

WWE News: Chris Jericho Will Face The Undertaker in Casket Match at Greatest Royal Rumble; Rusev Removed From Match

By John Canton • Published 12th April 2018
TJR Wrestling

It was announced yesterday that The Undertaker would face Rusev in a Casket Match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event on April 27 in Saudi Arabia. However, they changed the match to The Undertaker facing Chris Jericho in a Casket Match instead. Jericho was originally going to be a part of the 50-Man Royal Rumble match and he may still be a part of it, but he is now facing The Undertaker in the Casket Match. The event will air live on WWE Network.

The match was changed about one hour after Lana, Rusev’s wife, tweeted about how her husband won’t be in the Casket Match.

There was a video on TMZ earlier today with Rusev and Lana talking trash about The Undertaker saying Rusev would “crush his old ass.”

Michelle McCool-Calaway, the wife of The Undertaker, responded on Twitter.

Jericho tweeted about the match here.

TJR Thoughts: I don’t know the reason why they changed the match. Maybe WWE doesn’t want Rusev to lose a match like that because I know a lot of fans complained about Rusev facing Taker online after it was announced. Perhaps WWE will want to put Rusev in a different match against Jinder Mahal for the US Title. Could there be heat on Rusev for some of the comments he made to TMZ? I don’t know. People are going to speculate and that’s fine. It comes with being in WWE, I guess. There were rumors of Rusev asking for his release due to being frustrated in WWE, but I didn’t see any credible sources report that and I don’t believe it to be true. Who knows, though? It would be understandable if he was frustrated because WWE hasn’t used him properly.

You could even put a positive spin on it and have Rusev win the 50-man Rumble match to put him over huge. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but you never know.

The Undertaker vs. Jericho in a Casket Match is more of an attraction match with legendary part timers like Cena vs. Triple H on the same card, so I think it should be fun as a spectacle match. Jericho will have no problem putting over Undertaker.

Here’s the updated lineup:

WWE Championship Steel Cage Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns

50-man Greatest Royal Rumble
The names announced so far include: Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Daniel Bryan, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Big Show, Kane, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods), Dolph Ziggler, Elias, Baron Corbin, Apollo, Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable, Goldust, Titus O’Neil, Sin Cara and Mojo Rawley. There are 20 names announced, so they will need 30 more names.

I assume there will be a prize for the winner that may include a championship opportunity, but nothing has been announced yet.

Triple H vs. John Cena

Casket Match: The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho

WWE Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. an opponent yet to be named

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Samoa Joe

Smackdown Tag Team Championships: The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. The Usos

For the Vacant Raw Tag Team Championships: Sheamus and Cesaro vs. the winner of Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt vs. The Revival – That match will take place on Raw next week.

WWE United States Championship: Jinder Mahal (c) vs. an opponent yet to be named

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Cedric Alexander (c) vs. an opponent yet to be named