By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
For anyone that’s dealing with snow and freezing cold, I hope you’re all staying warm and safe. It’s been a while since New York has had a storm like this. We can handle it, but this one was notable. But enough about that – this Saturday is the Royal Rumble, my favorite show of the year, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at King Abdullah Financial District. I’m a little bit behind on the weekly shows but heading into go-home week, aside from talents “declaring” themselves, the build for the Rumble matches has been flat. I am sure once the bell rings, there will be stories told that will play into the finish and ultimately, WrestleMania. And if you forget that the Rumble kicks off WrestleMania season, WWE will remind you multiple times throughout the show. Now then, let’s run down the card!
Men’s Royal Rumble match for a world championship match at WrestleMania 42: (Entrants: Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Jey Uso, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, Penta, Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Je’Von Evans, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Austin Theory, Oba Femi, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Damian Priest, Trick Williams, The Miz, Ilja Dragunov, nine TBA).
I see three main stories developing. First, can Cody win the Rumble for a third time? Second, will Bron Breakker emerge as the WrestleMania main eventer WWE is telling us he will be? Finally, what role does Brock Lesnar play and will we get some idea around his WrestleMania opponent? To answer the first question, Cody will challenge for one of the two titles, but I don’t think he wins it here. Rather, I think they save that for the Elimination Chamber.
For the second question, ESPN kind of tipped off a Seth Rollins return. Now, it could be a swerve, but assuming Rollins returns, he likely eliminates Breakker which sets up a series of matches that could culminate at WrestleMania. And finally, we’ll see Brock toss a lot of guys but I think the match everyone wants to see at WrestleMania is Gunther. So, I think that plays into either man’s elimination here. If Brock plans to retire this year, there’s always the chance they save that match for SummerSlam in Brock’s home state of Minnesota but to me, that’s a WrestleMania match.
As for who wins, I’d really like to see one of the newer talents win but I think they’re committed to having both Cody and Roman in the WrestleMania main event picture, so with Cody presumably winning at Elimination Chamber, I see Roman taking it here. It also wouldn’t shock me to see the return of Chris Jericho and the debut of Powerhouse Hobbs.
Don Predicts: Roman Reigns wins the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
Women’s Royal Rumble match for a world championship match at WrestleMania 42: (Entrants: Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley, Roxanne Perez, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Bayley, Lyra Valkyria, Asuka, Chelsea Green, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Lash Legend, Nia Jax, Jordynne Grace, Giulia, Maxxine Dupri, Becky Lynch, 13 TBA).
This one has less of a build than the men’s match. As of now, both champions are cold booking-wise so for me, there’s not an intriguing path to a compelling WrestleMania match. Of course, the odds would seemingly go with Rhea Ripley or Charlotte Flair, but they’ve gone to that well before. I considered Jordynne Grace as a dark horse pick given the current storyline with Jade Cargill but she’s just not winning the crowds over as much as I think WWE would hope.
So ultimately, I think an unadvertised return will be the one that takes the match – Bianca Belair. There’s a story with Jade that I think they could build nicely for WrestleMania and her return might give the division a little bit of the boost it needs. For surprises, Paige seems like a possibility, so watch for that. And I think we’ll see AJ Lee return to further her story with Becky Lynch. Otherwise, we’ll see the usual mix of NXT and TNA wrestlers, and perhaps a few legends.
Don Predicts: Bianca Belair wins the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn for the WWE Championship. This is the right match for this show. I’ve enjoyed the story of Sami committing to win the big one the right way, as well as his ongoing challenge of never having beaten McIntyre. He’ll definitely play the crowd favorite but I think he comes up short again. For me, this raises some interesting questions. If he loses, what is his WrestleMania path? And does it involve ditching “doing things the right way” and turning heel? Also, if they decide to keep him as a babyface, do the fans start to give up on him after consistently being let down after thinking he may finally win the big one? As for Drew, I don’t think he’s the champion come WrestleMania but he’s doing strong work as always and I’m interested to see how things unfold for him over the next two and a half months.
Don Predicts: Drew McIntyre retains the WWE Championship.
Gunther vs. AJ Styles (Styles must retire if he loses). This one is tough. There are strong rumors that this is AJ’s last month, especially given a deleted tweet by Shinsuke Nakamura. I’m going to call this a red herring as I can’t believe he would retire this early in the year without having one more WrestleMania match. And, as I said earlier, the match for me at WrestleMania is Gunther and Brock, but I could equally see the rubber match between Gunther and AJ at Mania, with that being billed as AJ’s last match.
Don Predicts: AJ Styles defeats Gunther.
Join Jason Powell for his live review as the 39th annual Royal Rumble streams live on ESPN Unlimited in the United States and via Netflix internationally on Saturday afternoon at 1CT/2ET. Jake Barnett and Jason will co-host a same-day audio review for Dot Net Members (including Patreon
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