This week’s episodes of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown LIVE gave us answers to the questions surrounding the upcoming inaugural Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Raw General Manager Kurt Angle announced on Monday that the match would feature 30 female wrestlers and that it will have the same rules of the Men’s match.
The match starts with two female participants, with new superstars entering the ring every 90 seconds. This will continue until all 30 superstars have entered the bout. The only way to be eliminated is to be thrown over the top rope, with both feet touching the ground and the last woman standing will be declared the winner and go on to challenge the Raw or SmackDown Women’s champion.
WWE News & Predictions for January
With just under 20 women on the Raw and SmackDown LIVE rosters combined, we can expect to see some NXT call-ups, returns and even surprise debuts take part.
Some of the expected NXT call-ups, returns and surprise debuts are: Nikki Cross, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Lita, Trish Stratus, Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly, Eve, The Bella Twins and former Strikeforce and UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey.
We also got more announced entrants for this historic match: Asuka, Paige, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Naomi, Natalya, Carmella, Tamina, Lana, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan.
Research 5Dimes for the latest odds on the 2018 Royal Rumble.
Confirmed Men’s Royal Rumble entrants
As for the Men’s Royal Rumble, for now just Elias, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena, Finn Balor and Baron Corbin have been confirmed as entrants.
Out of all the confirmed entrants for this match, I don’t see Elias, Randy Orton, Finn Balor or Baron Corbin winning it. Elias is getting over with the fans and he has the potential to be an incredible heel for years to come, but it’s too early for him to get that kind of push.
Randy Orton has already won the Royal Rumble two times, including last year’s version, but he’s been a midcarder for most of the year and WWE rarely makes a superstar win this match two straight years.
Baron Corbin recently lost the United States Championship and it wouldn’t be wise to push him to the main event so fast. Corbin will have a great showing and look strong but is hard imagine a scenario with him prevailing over 29 other superstars.
Finn Balor is an extremely talented superstar and his in-ring skills are second to none, but he hasn’t been able to make a mark on Raw after coming back from the injury that forced him to relinquish the WWE Universal Championship.
Balor didn’t lose the title in a match and he never got his rematch so it would make sense to make him win the Royal Rumble so he can challenge Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. However, for some reason management doesn’t trust him, which is why he won’t emerge victorious on January 28. If it was up to me, I would give him the win but I don’t think that WWE brass will agree with me.
Cena and Nakamura can win it for the following reasons, Cena’s time in the company could be coming to an end soon as his appearances are more and more sporadic as time passes and it’s inevitable that he’ll win his 17th world title at the showcase of the immortals, whether it’s this year or in 2019.
After being the face of NXT for a long time, Nakamura needs an unforgettable moment on the main roster to cement his position in the company and what better way to achieve that than by winning the Royal Rumble.
Not to mention that it would set up a dream match with AJ Styles, which is something that WWE fans have been wanting to see for a long time. Styles and Nakamura faced each other in a five-star match in New Japan Pro Wrestling and making them collide at WrestleMania with the WWE Championship on the line would simply be phenomenal (pun intended).
Other matches for the 2018 Royal Rumble:
WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane
WWE Championship
AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
