This Saturday, the WWE will hold the annual Royal Rumble event. Going into this year’s event, the possibilities are endless as we have the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns, defending his championship and reigning in a fatal four-match. The men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches have numerous favorites going into each Rumble match as you have the likes of CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Damian Priest in the men’s match and favorites like Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair and Bayley in the women’s match. Here are my 4 questions heading into this Saturday’s event.
Can Roman retain while keeping his opponents looking strong?
This is the first time in a long time that we have Roman Reigns defend the championship in a fatal four-match with the other 3 competitors being real threats to his reign. Randy Orton, the future Hall of Fame superstar, has not tasted championship gold in recent years. AJ Styles, like Randy, has not had a championship in a few years and is also returning from being away from the company.
While LA Knight, who some thought had the closest momentum outside of Cody Rhodes to dethrone Reigns. With that being said, the biggest question is how WWE keeps the championship on Reigns without lowering the value of these three. Realistically, AJ would likely be the one to end the pin, as he seems like the odd man out going into WrestleMania season. Orton will have a marquee matchup at Mania, likely against Solo Sikoa, while LA Knight still has unfinished business with Logan Paul.
Leaving Styles as the one who could eat the pin, but how can he still look strong in doing so when there will be no outside inference from the Bloodline? The best option is to have him possibly take a finisher from either Orton or Knight, which is followed up with a spear from Reigns. What we do know, is that this will be one of the better matches all four men will have this year.
Does Logan Paul retain?
I love Kevin Owens, all the way back to his ROH and PWG days; I wish he were in the Royal Rumble match, which is still an option. if anyone deserves a main event scene spot, it is Owens. Also, is this Paul’s first premier live event title defense? If so, Owens is the best possible contender. For what it is worth, Paul is a star, whenever he is in the ring he has delivered whether if it was against Roman Reigns, The Miz or as recently as winning the US championship.
With his mic skills and the aura that he brings from being famous prior to his run in WWE, we could be in a treat for a sleeper in a match of the night. This will be one of the more entertaining and exciting matches of the night, and I do see Paul retaining, as previously mentioned, I do think he has a date for WrestleMania with the aforementioned Megastar of WWE in LA Knight.
Is this Becky Lynch’s rumble to lose?
Going into this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble, I would have bet the house that Becky Lynch would become the first two-time Women’s winner. The last few weeks have made me hedge my bet, as this is now Becky’s Rumble to lose. From the promo on this past Monday Night’s RAW from Bayley to a few surprise entrants, a possible debuting Jade Cargill, to Bianca Belair, all now seem more plausible as winners. Becky should have the inside track on winning, as the matchup between her and Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania is too good to pass up.
With that being said, does Becky need to win the Rumble or could someone like Bianca or Bayley be better suited to win the Rumble? If Bayley wins, will she challenge for Smackdown’s WWE Women’s Championship or go to RAW and challenge Rhea to give Damage Control all the championships? I do see this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble giving us a glimpse at the plans for most of the women for this year’s WrestleMania.
We could get a stare-down between Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill, which has been a fan-cast dream matchup since the announcement of Jade’s signing. Could a possible returning star like Naomi spark a feud with Bayley, given their history? The odds are against Becky winning this year’s match, as there are 2 to 3 good winners to select from this year.
Will CM Punk capture his first WrestleMania main event spot in his WWE career?
If the Women’s Royal Rumble has 2-3 options on winners, the Men’s Royal Rumble has double that. This year’s match is probably one of the hardest to decide on. You have Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Gunther among the favorites listed for the match. We also have the Bloodline’s Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa looking to take away any chance of Cody winning and also stopping Jey Uso, who will look to finally get his hands on Jimmy. They could also have a few surprises for the match, as it is in the Tampa Bay area, where many wrestlers reside.
We could have the likes of Matt Cardona, Shawn Spears, and Andrade return for the match. We also could have a few debuts occur, as the last time the event was held in the state of Florida, we had a debuting AJ Styles enter the Rumble. Could we see some debuts like Kazuchika Okada or Tama Tonga? We could also have the return of superstars like Rey Mysterio, Sheamus, and Big E.
This year’s event could be one of the more surprising ones of the last few years. Putting all the who will appear in the match, this year’s match is really down to the 5 listed early, Drew has been on a tear since tearing heel, its highly possible he can win it again and capture his 2nd victory. Gunther and Damian Priest could capture their 1st victory in the match, especially after the promo between Gunther and Seth Rollins this past Monday on RAW.
Priest could be the first ever to win the Royal Rumble while still in possession of the Money In The Bank briefcase. Cody Rhodes does look to become the first back-to-back winner since Stone Cold Steve Austin did it in 1997 and 1998. Could Cody finish his story while adding this chapter to it? Lastly, we have the Second City Saint in CM Punk, who returned to a company he left 10 years ago, and his last event was the 2014 Royal Rumble. Can Punk, on the anniversary of his walking out on the company on January 27th, 2014, come back and win the 2024 Royal Rumble, which is also on January 27th?
I have him overcoming the odds, which are definitely not in his favor in this star-studded match. Punk has to win to validate him being one of the best of all time, and to do so, he has to do something he did not do during this first run with the company, and that is to headline WrestleMania and win one of the world championships.
For more on Wrestling, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
