#male characters the same way steph and cass have been for quite a while now.

[aalghul]

i saw an account post that, unfortunately, if you are a jason todd fan account then you’ve most definitely gotten an ask along the lines of “if you like fanon jason then you’ll definitely like canon helena/steph/mia” and was wondering if you’ve ever gotten an ask like that

I've gotten a few about Helena specifically, never Steph or Mia so I'm going to talk about Helena rather than generalize what I'm about to say to both of them too (because I was actually thinking about this a few weeks ago!)

Those people are right...in a way. If you want christian guilt (that Jason does not in UTRH and should not ever struggle with) and genuine efforts to be accepted by the Bats? You want Helena. A character whose relationship with killing can be benefited by people bringing her into their light without rendering her previous choices pointlessly antagonistic? that's Helena.

Then there's also the factor of Helena often, in canon, being treated as unstable and untrustworthy, no matter what she does to prove otherwise. and that's seen as a continued failing on her part, even if it's others that refuse to believe in her. Jason constantly being pushed into those situations in fanon and canon is very Helena coded. He's got her good and bad.

But if you like the Jason from UTRH era, arguably the best written Jason post-resurrection (which isn't saying much because...we all know how he's written most of the time), then Helena would never work for you because they're so different. Even with fanon, there's only a certain extent it can apply to. Helena's not Bruce daughter, he didn't raise her, she was never family for him outside the costume (or in it. but that hurts me to say), and she certainly wasn't Dick's sister. So those dynamics should be different inherently, even in fanon where they're altered to resemble something like what Helena has. There's still a history that Jason has here that she naturally doesn't.

I think it's too vague and unhelpful of a thing to say if you're trying to make people interested in Helena or change their portrayal of Jason. But I do see the basis of it.

#heavy on the catholic guilt btw. ik it's not the point but i want you all to let flashpoint jason go. helena's such a great character that #even i cared about her christian guilt and i seriously do not gaf about christians. but it just doesnt work for jason. give it up loves #i do not however think helena's being pushed out of the spotlight is entirely or even mostly due to jason lol #she was already being pulled out of gotham way before he became so similar to her. and then she got pushed to the background in favour of #male characters the same way steph and cass have been for quite a while now. #but if we're talking about fanon specifically? i think most ppl simply dont know she exists bc they dont read comics. even babs cass and #steph struggle to make the cut despite being much more well known so this is really a ppl not caring about female charas issue than jason #specifically stealing her light in fanon. the other male charas' fans arent exactly hyping her up daily either #anyways. maybe im not the best person to ask to begin with since i dont like fanon jason

[our-happygirl500-fan]

I would like to take a moment to discuss possible Rogues and Villains for Stephanie Brown outside her dad because Steph has faced a lot of bad guys from Penguin to Victor Zazz and there are even villains that she hasn’t faced that would have a really cool dynamic against Steph I’m going to be combining both preboot and reboot continuity because Steph is badass and has kicked a lot of ass:

The Riddler: There’s a lot of potential here for Nygma to be one of Steph’s main Rogues simply because of the huge amount of history that he has with the Brown family, Cluemaster was called ‘a Riddler knockoff’ multiple times by fans and even in comics and Nygma has tried to kill Arthur multiple times for the man ‘stealing his bit’ however despite their almost rivalry Ed seems to respect Arthur even going so far as to want to work with him, and the Riddler even stayed at Arthur’s house for a period of time during which Steph had to call him “Uncle Ed”, it would have been really interesting to play with the Riddler’s connection to the Brown family especially if you think of the Riddler maybe even being what inspired Cluemaster in the first place you could say that he helped shaped the Brown families entire lives. Also when Steph went to his house the first thing Nygma did was give Steph apple juice and it would have been really cool for DC to play around with Batgirl (or Spoiler or whoever Steph is at the time) fighting the Riddler and then Edward Nygma acting like a weird uncle to Stephanie Brown.

Scarecrow: This should be obvious considering the Scarecrow was the first villain Steph ever faced as Batgirl but what’s really cool about him being in her rogue gallery is that Scarecrow is god damn terrified of Stephanie Brown both in preboot and reboot simply because Stephanie does not let her fear control her and she is able to power through any fear with determination and hope.

The Penguin: Steph god damn hates the Penguin as seen when Cass and Steph faced him in his Robin run. Oswald represents what Steph hates most about Gotham, the corrupt that use people and let them turn to crime and then let them take the fall. Penguin has escaped the law so many times simply because he has money and that infuriates Steph and it would really be interesting to see Steph face Penguin and his corruption as she herself grows and becomes for mature and controlled. We almost got to see some of that back when Steph came back from the dead and she was spy on Penguin and sabotaging him but that was later dropped.

 Deathstroke: Slade was once one of Dick’s primary antagonists though we haven’t seen them interact in a while but I was always incredibly disappointed that we didn’t see Slade interact with Dick much during the Batman reborn era, here is someone who Dick has faced since he was Robin and I’m supposed to believe that Slade doesn’t take an interest in Batman Dick and his Batgirl and Robin? Slade might take Dick becoming Batman as Dick being ‘all grown up’ especially since he has his own ‘sidekicks’ Batgirl and Robin. Steph is the Batgirl to Dick’s Batman (and I will always wish that DC showed the dynamic between Steph, Dick and Damian more just for it’s mountains of potential), but most importantly Batman Dick is primarily the Batman to Steph’s Batgirl, (Bruce and Steph only got to work together a few times before the reboot) and Dick chose Damian to be Robin so in a sense Damian and Steph are primarily Dick’s sidekicks the same way Dick and Barbara were to Bruce back in the day and I could definitely see Slade taking an interest in Damian and Steph primarily as a way to get to Dick and then getting interested in Damian and Steph themselves. We’ve seen a bit of this with Damian after the reboot the rivalry we once saw with Slade and Dick now being shown with Slade and Damian but we never got to see Slade and Steph interaction and I really do think he would have ended up rather interested in her not only because out of all the Robins she is the one most like Dick personality wise to the point where even Bruce compared the two and why I think writers like to hint at Nightwing being Steph’s future the same way they hint at Batman being Cass’s but Steph also has an impressive tenacity and ability to adapt and think on her feet that I think even Slade would have been impressed by. Also Slade hurt Steph’s best friend and she should get to punch him in the face for it.

The Joker: The Joker has a connection to almost all the Bats and despite them never actually interacting Steph is no exception. Not only does Steph have a connection to the Joker through Barbara her mentor who has expressed fear at the possibility of Steph facing the Joker but the Joker also has expressed interest in Stephanie herself. Robin Steph is quite simply ‘the one that got away’ to the Joker, she died by someone else’s hand before he could even face her and than infuriates in considering he believes he is Batman’s greatest foe. Joker has tried to kill Black Mask several times for killing Steph because he believes killing Robins is ‘his job’ and with out killing Steph no matter how many Robin’s or Batgirls he hurts or kills he’ll always be one behind. However Joker knows that the Red Hood is the Robin that he killed and if the Robin that he killed can come back maybe the Robin he didn’t get to kill can also come back and if he ever makes the connection between the blonde Robin and the Blonde Batgirl look out Steph.

Shiva: I know these days Shiva is primarily Cass’s villain but Shiva was once an antagonist for the entire Batfamily and has faced Tim, Bruce and even Jason a few times. I’m putting Shiva on the list primarily because of her connections to the people that Steph is connected with, Shiva’s faced and trained with Tim, Shiva has an interest in Black Canary who has trained Steph but most importantly Steph and Cass have Carolyn and Sandra parallels. Shown a few times and driven home by Cass’s hallucination of Steph’s ghost telling her the story of Sandra and Carolyn. There’s also a contrast to how Shiva reacted to her sister’s death by it driving her to be a killer and become stronger and stronger all the while looking for her death while Steph’s death drove Cass to try and become a better person often using Steph’s memory as a way to push her forward in things she was unsure of yet felt like she needed to do and drove her to become better so she wouldn’t loose anyone else. Steph’s memory also drove Cass to live with Steph’s ‘ghost’ telling Cass to keep going and keep fighting but like Shiva Cass was also shown to idealise death because she believed she would be with Steph again. It would be really interesting for Shiva to see Steph and Cass and be reminder of herself and her sister and it would be super cool to see how Shiva interacts with someone who reminds her of Carolyn.

Black Mask: This should be obvious the man tortured her, the man killed her, Steph deserves to punch him in the face. I see the fandom loving talking about Jason and Black Mask but he was Steph's murderer and Steph's death put him on the map of Gotham's villains, like he's a major villain *now* but no one cared about him before War Games in fact I've seen people think he was a character created specifically for War Games. Also because of the movie people seem to think that Jason was going after Black mask to get to the Joker but in comics Jason had the Joker before he even started going after Black Mask, and yeah you could argue he needed Bruce's attention but there are so many ways to do that so I am entirely convinced that Jason went after black mask for Steph, his fellow dead Robin and lower gotham kid and if that got Batman's attention even better. You all love having Jason face his murderer let Steph beat up hers.

Zazz: He’s primarily on the list because the comic where Robin Steph and Bruce went up against him was extremely well done and well written and had super good art and I want everyone to remember it and read it.

The Court of Owls: After Dick, Steph and Duke are the ones with the largest connections to the Court, Duke because they were the first antagonists the We Are Robin kids faced and Steph because the Court did actually kill Arthur Brown, they slit his throat, we saw it happen, Steph identified his body at the morgue and considering the Batfamilies whole theme of avenging dead parents Steph really should have faced the people who killed her dad more.

Talia Al Ghul: Okay god you have no idea how much I want Talia and Steph to interact. Both and Steph have been reduced to simply their relationships with male characters far too many times by writers for years Talia was defined by being her father’s daughter or being Bruce’s love interest and later it was all about her connect to Jason or Damian and when Talia finally is her own character when she is not defined by her relationship with Ra’s or Bruce or Jason or Damian she’s written as a villain. Steph only ever really had her first appearance and two glorious years as Batgirl where she was written as completely her own character without writers feeling the need to shove her connection to male characters in our faces. For years Steph was defined by being Tim’s love interest and Bruce worrying about her being out in the field. Even when Steph was dead we were constantly shown how much Steph death hurt and how it was affecting Bruce and Tim. It would be really cool for Talia to see Steph and try and stop Steph from ending up defined by her male relationships the same way Talia was for years, perhaps it would be cool for Talia to be invested in Steph’s growth and development because she does not want to see Steph make the same mistakes as her. Also I really want Talia to be like a mother figure to Steph because 1. Steph deserves all the mother figures because she has such bad luck with father figures and 2. If Talia acts like a mom to Steph she’ll have been like a mother to the entire dead Robin’s club.

Eiko Hasigawa: Eiko was the daughter of a Yakuza crime boss and she became Catwoman to foil her fathers criminal actions, she was Selina’s lover and Steph’s mentor until her father died and his death broke her causing her to become a ruthless crime boss and massacre over 15 crime families to make a point. Eiko’s men even hunted down and tried to kill Steph for weeks because they thought that Steph was a loose end before they learned that Eiko cares greatly for Steph and promptly backed off. Eiko was a mentor for Steph and was shown to care for Steph greatly, making her a lot of promises and wanting Steph by her side. I think Eiko and Steph saw a lot of themselves in each other both putting on masks to try and stop their fathers yet Eiko ended up taking up the role of the father she once tried to stop. Steph and Eiko have a complicated relationship in that they both care for each other yet are now on different sides with Eiko giving Steph the ultimatum of trying to save Gotham or standing by her side and Steph chose the life of a vigilante. Eiko’s kind of disappeared but it would be so cool to have those two interact again.

Amanda Waller: Tricky since Amanda being a villain depends entirely on your perspective. Cluemaster has ‘died’ a number of times in comics but the first time readers actually cared about his death is when Arthur joined the Suicide Squad, Waller’s team and Arthur later died on a mission. Arthur would later come back to life as ‘Aron Black’ and work to turn politician’s in Gotham and the people of Gotham themselves against the idea of Batman but I think it would be interesting to see Steph interact with the women who led the team her dad was on in one of his first deaths.

The Reapers: Remember those college kids with the Super Powered Tech suits that Steph fought in her Batgirl run? They were cool especially Harmony, you know the one with the sound powers I loved her, let’s bring them back.

Crystal Brown: Okay this one is going to make people upset I’ll admit, look I know we all love and prefer the Crystal Brown who got past her addiction and trauma and was trying to repair her relationship with Steph with waffles and board games that we got in Steph’s Batgirl run but DC got rid of her and now Crystal is even who helped Arthur with his plots and tried to kill Steph and then tried to emotionally manipulate Steph when that didn’t work and then abandoned Steph when *that* didn’t work. We haven’t seen Crystal since like 2014 and the last time she was even mentioned was when Bruce was setting up the Gotham Knights and said that Steph was raised by ‘two verifiable geniuses’ indicating that Crystal is intelligent and probably a dangerous villain if she wanted to be. And look we all prefer good mom Crystal but since we’re not having that I’d rather have a Crystal that gets to be a main antagonist than one that just disappears and is never seen from again. Also while the troupe of abuse victim becoming an abuser themselves does kind of suck it is important to see because it shows that just because someone has suffered it gives them no right to make others suffer as well, also evil Crystal would be super cool to see in contrast to Steph and how different the paths Steph and her mother took in response to Arthurs abuse was. Also if I wrote evil Crystal I’d give her cool shapeshifting powers as a little nod to how she had a different design every time she appeared before DC finally decided on the design we know today when Steph came back to life.

Those are the ones I have now though I’m sure I can think of more but feel free to add to Steph’s Rogue Gallery if you think there’s someone I missed, also I know they’re not villains anymore but Selina and Jason would also be cool options because not only was Steph briefly part of the Cat family in the New 52 and trained with Selina and Eiko but Selina was also one of the last people she saw before she died in War Games so they do have some strong connections and Jason and Steph are sort of universally connected despite never properly interacting both growing up in similar situations with addict mothers and criminal fathers, having complicated relationships with Bruce and dying and coming back. Before she died Bruce would make references to Jason when talking about Steph and War Crimes took place in the middle of the Under The Red Hood Arc heck Black Mask one of Jason’s primary antagonists was the one who killed Steph and in the reboot Steph has even MORE Jason parallels because she experiences homelessness and her own mother betraying and trying to kill her too so it would have been cool for Steph to face the Red Hood but honestly with all the connections and parallels any meaningful interaction between Steph and Jason is a long time coming.  

#DC comics #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #tim drake #jason todd #bruce wayne #edward nygma #dc #arthur brown #crystal brown #steph has a lot of potential for rogues and dc just keeps on making her fight her dad no matter how many times he dies

[wowza48]

Batfam Content War: Halloween week edition: Fifth Prompt Haunting/Spooky/(Jack Fenton voice)GHOST!!

When there’s something something... insert parody of ghostbusters theme here... who you gonna call? GHOST DAMI! *budadadadat* Yeah okay another S/I Dami story, but with a twist~. Two takes, one male, who will appear again in tomorrow’s death prompt (which will be a prequel to his part in this one), and one female, who already appeared the the celebration prompt day 2. Unimportant, but they reincarnated from the same person, but were raised/treated/acted differently, hence similar ideas here or there, but somewhat different personalities/outlooks.

Further information- Those who already read that prompt know fem!s/i!Dami has psychic powers, the male!s/i!Dami does not. He did, however get a healing factor- I’m not saying how, it will be revealed in tomorrow’s story. Both timelines mix multiple continuities, so Steph (as Spoiler) and Cass (as Black Bat) are both... somewhere. Not near the building. Fighting... ninjas. Yes. That’s why they aren’t there to stop Damian from dying. Because ninjas.

Also, to answer the question of- since the other two Batgirl’s are no longer Batgirls, does this mean Barbra Gordon is Batgirl or Oracle. The answer is- Yes. As in- she’s both Oracle AND Batgirl, although she created an Oracle AI to assist her when she went back to being Batgirl, but she NEVER stopped being Oracle either because she’s awesome like that. She’s also no where near the building because of ninjas. I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but there are a LOT of ninjas. Like, way too many for it to show realistic statistics.

Lastly, if someone wants to write from another character’s point of view for either of these, as long as you link it to this story, either the tumblr link or Fanfiction one once I submit it there, and then tell me about it so I can read it, you have my permission. To be fair, if I even make one or both of these into full multi chapter stories I’d probably include my own take on other peoples reactions, plus the lectures/yelling at Ghost!Dami for being a dummy head, but I wouldn’t mind seeing someone else’s belief on what would go through the minds of the characters.

Anyway, information done, now get ready for.... GHOST DAMI!

-------

“So... I’m a ghost now... does this mean I still have to go to school even though I’m dead?” I ask, raising an eyebrow as my botched up, age accelerated clone with a by FAR inferior healing factor tries to stab my ethereal form. I make a motion of brushing dust off my black and grey outfit- nope, not out as Robin. Nor Redbird- though I have been both of those too. This outfit’s called Mocking Bird “And could you quit that? You already toyed with my physical body, longer than you thought due to my gaining a healing factor, there’s no need to attack my ghost on top of that- I’m actually somewhat impressed you managed to kill me despite my healing factor, by the way, I mean I was in too much pain to be impressed at the time, but now I’m without that pain it’s actually quite a feat if I do say so myself.”

I turn towards Bru-Da-Fath-Batman, no even thinking that they are the same person when in public, being dead shouldn’t change that rule, who is staring at me strangely. “You still haven’t answered my previous question. Do you think the school would still require my attendance despite my no longer being alive, and do you think Father would let me?” I ask, pretending I’m merely talking to a vigilante under Father’s payroll and not Father himself.

Forgot to mention- I kinda hooked up a bunch of cameras and microphones weeks beforehand, and then today I hacked mother’s broadcast and connected the audio and video of my fight with Heretic -and I didn’t turn on the stream until I was about to start that fight, in order to keep my siblings’ and father’s identities secret at least-, plus streamed it online, linking the stream to multiple major news outlets prior to arriving at my place of death. It appears to still be running, since it’s being show on the screen is shared with mother, actually. I... did remember to have the stream linked to Gordon and the Batcave so they could shut it off when necessary? Ah, they should know about it by now, plus Richard and Tim aren’t dumb enough to miss their being filmed live so as to not mess up their secret ID’s, even though I did that to myself. To be fair, though, I thought I’d be at least badly injured, if not killed- which did happen- but I didn’t count on becoming a ghost. Speaking of-

Heretic is still swinging his sword through me. “I’m a ghost. That’s not going to work. Stop doing that.” Batman seems to regained enough sense that he knocks the sword from his distracted opponent, who- is still trying to hit me even though I’m lacking a corporal body now. Well, at least Batman is under control of himself. Ah, Richar- I mean Nightwing is waking up. I’ll go bother him next, while also pointing out we’re being filmed.

It took me a week to get an answer to my question though- the answer was yes, as I was a ghost, I still did have to go to school despite being dead. Just like when Luthor stole those 40 cakes- it was just terrible.

Oh, and Colin, Jon, Maya and Suren all ganged up to yell at me. So did Maps and her little club... and Supergirl... and Huntress... Okay, basically everyone I knew yelled at me for getting myself killed. But hey, I’m a ghost. And that’s pretty cool- and Grandfather’s trying to kidnap my corpse, DANG IT!

-------

(Meanwhile, in the timeline where the celebrations prompt took place)

So first thing I noticed when the pain stopped was that I can still read minds. Second thing I noticed was that- nope, being able to read minds does not mean I’m still alive, in fact I’m deader than zombie- which is pretty dead. So... if I’m dead, how am I- ooooh, I’m a ghoooost, silly me. I psychically shut off the cameras I had previously set up, and the screen went back to showing just mother. And now that I wasn’t distracted by arrows sticking out of me-

**FWOOOSH** “STRIKE! Into the wall with you, Heretic! Don’t you know it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird?” I grin cheekily, pointing him as my grey cloak goes SWOOSH as it flaps behind me- even though there’s no reason for it to as the wind shouldn’t be affecting me as I’m a ghost.

“*Ahem*” I freeze at that. Forgot Batman showed up shortly after I died. Keeping in mind that there were, in fact, people not in the know within seeing and possibly hearing distance, even if they aren’t exactly conscious right now- actually one of them is, but whatever- I remind myself that Batman is OBVIOUSLY not my father, and just an offshoot of multiple personality that takes over father’s body from time to time, and as such a completely different person.

“Hiya Batman. Kinda.... ruined my secret identity right before I died, ah well. Never good at keeping that thing anyway. Well, either of those things.” I pause and strike a thinker pose- you know, those ones where you tilt your head slightly one way, and poke your chin with your index finger, pouting slightly? That one. “You know, I wonder how Ivy and Harley will react to this. they didn’t exactly like mother anyway, especially after I told them about how I grew up. Plus Croc liked my cheesecake. I actually made one to give to him later this week- not possible now, I guess...” He is sorta batglaring at me, sorta not. Probably because Father’s upset that “Daddy’s little girl” is dead, but also annoyed that I put myself in so much danger, and the fact that my being a ghost means he can lecture me about it. Which I SO do not want to deal with. “... soooo, uh... I’m gonna just... head home if that’s okay with you?” And that’s when Richard started to wake up.

I did end up getting lectured, not just by Father in Batman Mode™, Alfred, my siblings, my psudo siblings (Maya, Steph and Colin), my friends who didn’t count as psudo siblings, my civilian teachers from my attending school in my civilian persona, my few mentors from when I was growing up that AREN’T dead, everyone I worked with or got taught by as Robin or Redbird or Mockingbird that do not fit into the above categories, even Grandfather when he showed up to steal my corpse- and an additional one when I decided to blow up said corpse with my still working psychic powers. Hell, BATCOW got into the lecturing too, taking advantage of the fact my powers allow me to understand other languages, even animal ones- do NOT CALL ME A DISNEY PRINCESS I WILL FITE!- so basically I got lectured by everyone I knew.

Oooo, did you know ghosts could change their outfits with their minds? I found that out, so now I can wear anything I want, even if it doesn’t actually exist in the living world. Meaning FREE COSPLAY, without the hassle of putting the stuff on, or letting Steph (and sometimes Cass) use me as a doll.

Another good thing about being a ghost? Can’t fall asleep, nor do I need to, meaning no nightmares- which is good because I got brutally murdered. If I was brought back to the physical plain, I’d totally have nightmares, and that would ruin my mood, by, a lot. Enough so that I could miss the Halloween Ball! I was looking forward to that... I convinced Jon to be my “date” for the night and everything... Ah well, no reason I can’t go as a ghost. I mean, it’s not like I’ll be brought back to life, thus leading to traumatizing nightmares that would prevent me from wanting to leave the house, possibly even my room, now my body’s been turned to mush, right? .... Right? Why are you looking at me like that, reader? Like you know something I don’t? Tell me! Please! Get back here and.... tell... me why....

... p...l....e...a...s...e....?

-------

nuuu Dami don’t cry! Nuuuuu I made her cry I’m a terrible person! TT^TT Especially since I wrote the celebrations one before this, but it takes place AFTER and she was so scared and confused and whyyyyyyyyy

#halloweencontentwar #batfamcontentwar

[dannybboytron]

Royal Rumble 2017: Thoughts and Predictions

Not gonna beat around the bush; this Rumble is unpredictable as hell. The fact that they took Seth Rollins off the title hunt and is now putting him in a program with HHH means we’re looking at at least 5 possible winners.

Here’s my list, in no particular order:

1) Braun Strowman

    - He’s big, he’s meaty and he’s become quite the popular lad lately, thanks in part to his pretty great booking as a squash monster, and a series of pretty great matches against another entry on this list.

   - Will he win it: I’m going to go with a soft “Not this year”. Yes, WWE has shown its preference for big hulking specimens in the past, but the new hero archetype they have these days is pretty easy to decipher; they want someone tough, badass, who’s not only an unstoppable physical specimen but also a catchphrase generator and merchandise mover. What they’re doing is taking a look at two of their most successful modern male babyfaces, The Rock and John Cena, and creating a new superstar from the ground up. Braun Strowman as of this moment, is very definitively a heel, and the last thing Raw needs is more male heels. 

- What’s he going to do in the RR: He’’s going to decimate each and every one he comes across, but he’s going to go down courtesy of Brock Lesnar and Goldberg putting aside their differences, before the next person on this list kicks him and eliminates him.

2) Sami Zayn

- Oh Sami, what the fuck have they been doing to you? He’s a modern indie hero who everyone thought was going to get the push he deserved after Battleground 2016. Although, looking at how they’re booking KO right now, I’m not too sure what they would’ve done with Sami in the title picture.

- Will he win it: While it would be a great notch on his underdog belt, I’m going for a definitive “NOPE.” Sami’s still allegedly getting backstage heat; not exactly news to people who have said that Rami Sebei can be a little too vocal with his passion for wrestling and wants things, from matches to his character work, a certain way. He wants matches to be as good as possible, and the thing is he’s usually right -- he has an immense wrestling IQ and puts subtle nuances into his actions and reactions that can be used to argue that wrestling is in-fact high-art. Add to the fact that his character is a little too smiley, a little too goofy, a geek who’s “just happy to be there” -- it’s about as far away from what WWE are looking for in a main-eventer. And before anyone brings up D-Bry, it’s well known that the audience basically had to riot before anyone in WWE would listen. Sami, as good as he still is, just isn’t getting the same reaction from the crowd anymore. 

- What he’s going to do in the RR: While him winning it would be a stretch, I expect him to get some form of revenge against Braun Strowman, likely being the one to eliminate him, with some help from Goldberg or Brock, maybe even Undertaker. What would also be a great way to keep him underdog-y without making him a loser is to make him the Iron Man of the Rumble; have him enter at #1 or #2 because he got on Steph’s nerves or something, but have him be in the final 5.

3) Samoa Joe

- If they do decide to bring the Samoan Submission Machine into the main roster, the Royal Rumble would be a great way to introduce him to mainstream WWE audiences. Joe is such a goldmine for new storylines; pit him against Brock, let him exchange blows with Goldberg. 

Personally? I’d love for him to go against Roman Reigns. They need to book Joe like an unstoppable killing machine, going up against another unstoppable killing machine like Reigns. Also, I kinda want to know what happens when a Samoan headbutts another Samoan.

- Will he win it: This is entirely possible, especially if they decide to give Roman the UC title; a triple threat between Reigns, Joe and Owens (who, by this time, has reverted to NXT-era Owens)? Yes please.

- What he’s going to do in the RR: Joe is gonna kill you.....Joe is gonna kill you....Joe is gonna kill you.....to pretty much everyone, except maybe Brock, Goldberg and Undertaker. That, actually, would be the perfect time for Joe to make his entrance. Imagine Brock, Goldberg and Taker, all sharing the ring, the audience going nuts as they re-enact their last face-off on Raw. All considered dominant juggernauts....who didn’t consider the other juggernaut who’s now making his way to the ring. Samoa Joe makes his entrance, but he doesn’t run to the ring, taking his time. He gets in and all 3 men hesitate. This isn’t just some random entrant -- he’s an actual, legitimate threat, even to them.

4) Chris Jericho

- Assuming his prediction comes true, Y2J may have one more chance at a world (or Universal) title reign. Story-wise, this could be the catalyst for the eventual dissolution of his friendship with Kevin Owens

- Will he win it: Surprisingly a great chance of this actually happening. Chris is a loyal, trusted employee and is one half of the most entertaining duo on Raw (sorry Enzo and Cass). He’s over as hell, very experienced and quite safe to work with. The man, along with Owens, is gold on the mic, no matter what stupid shit they force him to say; he says it with such conviction and commitment that it’s magical.

- What he’s going to do in the RR: Chris will use his considerable experience, teaming up with whoever; heels, faces, tweeners -- Jericho will try to make alliances with everyone to try and eliminate as many people as possible at once.

5) Finn Balor

- This one is such a difficult one to predict. Is he going to return? Is he cleared to compete? If he does return, how are they going to insert him into the storyline they created in his absence? Finn’s return will be a game changer; remember this was a guy who beat Roman Reigns on his first try when Seth and Dean, both of whom fought alongside/with Roman and knew him inside and out couldn’t beat him despite multiple attempts. That is how much WWE is putting on Finn Balor and its frankly both terrifying and amazing.

- Will he win it: If Balor returns, he’s 100% going to win, there’s no doubt about it. Every single one of the people on this list is fucked if Balor returns. This is a guy who the WWE likes and, very importantly, the audience also likes. He has accolades around the world, matched only by AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura (who’s also a candidate to win) and this seemed to be enough for WWE to move on from Roman as a pet project, which speaks volumes.

- What he’s going to do in the RR: If he returns as Demon King, like I said, everyone’s basically fucked. Dropkicks and slingblades galore. He’s going to be facing some very, very well-protected people like Brock, Goldberg and Taker, but let’s all remember that this guy beat ROMAN REIGNS ON HIS FIRST TRY. That is about as OP as you can get without bringing a fucking gun to the Rumble.

Whew. That’s the end of that. There’s actually a few more who could plausibly win this Rumble, but the five I listed, I think, are the most likely candidates for success. Thoughts, opinions, civil discussions welcome! We’re just a few hours away!

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