The most exciting pay-per-view is just around the corner. The Royal Rumble event itself is exhilarating but nothing meets the thrill of the Royal Rumble match. This year holds plenty of surprises and a lot of shocking moments are sure to be in store as the WWE hold the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match. Ahead of a highly anticipated Rumble, here are my Royal Rumble predictions
Smackdown Tag Team Championship: Two out of three falls: Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable Vs. The Usos (c)
The Usos come in hot with a 112-day reign and this should be a fantastic match that tests their skills. The fact that this match is two out of three falls should make it a great one. Although Gable and Benjamin offer up a tough test for the Samoan brothers, if WWE does decide to take the title off the Usos soon, it won’t be at the Rumble but, instead, at the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania.
Winner: The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship: The Bar Vs. Jason Jordan & Seth Rollins (c)
With tensions growing between Rollins and Jordan, the WWE will look to take the titles off of them at the Royal Rumble and shortly after, begin their inevitable feud. This is the perfect time for The Bar to take the titles back and become four-time RAW Tag Team Champions. Who The Bar go onto face after the Rumble is still a mystery but this Sunday, we should witness a great match that hopefully puts an end to this rivalry
Winner: The Bar
WWE Championship Handicap Match: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Vs. AJ Styles(c)
As the Daniel Bryan-Shane McMahon saga continues, AJ Styles gets caught in the passive-aggressive crossfire and is forced to defend his WWE championship in a handicap match. Although the odds are stacked against him, I expect Styles to leave Philly with the championship. Styles will struggle against the 2-1 odds for the majority of the match but will win off a Shane McMahon distraction.
Winner: AJ Styles
Universal Championship: Braun Strowman Vs. Kane Vs. Brock Lesnar (c)
With rumors that Brock Lesnar will defend his Universal championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, Braun or Kane, most likely, will not be successful in their attempt to capture gold. Kane was only put into the match to take the pin for Lesnar so that Lesnar and Strowman both look strong at the end of the match. This should be an interesting match to watch with three mountains of meat colliding to see whose the most dominant.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
Women’s Royal Rumble
With rumors of legends and new faces being added to the first ever women’s royal rumble match, it should be an exciting one to watch. Favorites to win include Nia Jax, Asuka, and a debuting Ronda Rousey. If Rousey does debut, it’s a perfect opportunity, for her to put Asuka over and give Asuka even more of a rub. Look for the dominance of Asuka to continue and the path to her very first women’s championship on the main roster begins.
Winner: Asuka
Men’s Royal Rumble
As earlier stated, the rumor is that Roman Reigns will be challenging Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania. The assumption is then, that either Roman will win the rumble again or someone from SmackDown will win. WWE will not want to risk the fans raining boos onto Reigns if he were to win. This means a SmackDown superstar will win.
The favorites to win from SmackDown are John Cena, Daniel Bryan, and Shinsuke Nakamura. The best guess would be that Bryan isn’t medically cleared and Cena will either face the Undertaker at WrestleMania or someone younger than Styles to help put them over. This leaves Shinsuke who will win his first rumble and go on to face Styles at Mania.