WWE Royal Rumble 2016 Match Staff Predictions

Who does the Daily DDT staff think will win the Royal Rumble match?

As always, the Royal Rumble match will headline the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view. However, this year will be different from the usual stipulation of the winner headlining WrestleMania in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match.

Roman Reigns will be defending his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against 29 other Superstars in this battle royal. No one has ever defended the belt in the Royal Rumble match. Vince McMahon made this official on the Jan. 4. episode of Raw.

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For this match, we turned to the Daily DDT staff to predict who will win the Royal Rumble and become WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Rob Wolkenbrod, Managing Editor, Daily DDT

Roman Reigns is defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against 29 other Superstars, which is a monumental task. He’ll have to go through the likes of Brock Lesnar, Triple H, and, well, everyone else. That’s the thing, though, who else is there as a legitimate option to win? WWE has built up Bray Wyatt to be a candidate to win, but is he actually going to hold the title with about ten weeks until WrestleMania? Probably not. AJ Styles is probably going to debut, but winning the Royal Rumble? That seems unlikely.

The popular choice here is Triple H and I’m going to indeed roll with it. WWE has made the Royal Rumble match predictable over the years and seemingly has no issue doing so. John Cena won in 2013 to set up an inevitable rematch with The Rock for the WWE Championship. Batista came back in 2014 full-time to win and headline WrestleMania 30, which was expected the moment his return was announced. Then Reigns won in 2015 after being rumored to for months. Plus, fans were aware that his push would to the WrestleMania spot, even without reading reports.

The Game winning makes sense, though for this storyline. He would most likely have a rematch with Reigns at WrestleMania 32 where the former Shield man wins back the title.

Joshua Gagnon, Contributor, Daily DDT

WWE just threw a ton of money at AJ Styles, so why not make a big impact with one of the best wrestlers in the entire world? It’s a swerve that most fans will love, while allowing Reigns to still have time to win the title back at Fastlane, and take on (most likely) Triple H at WrestleMania. Realistically, AJ winning probably won’t happen, but on this night, I’d rather go for unpredictability over Reigns or Lesnar getting the expected win. The Authority wants the title off of Reigns; so maybe, they should put a $100,000 bounty on his head like Vince did to Austin back in 1999 (interesting idea, terribly executed). If I was putting money on this selection, I’d go with Reigns, but since that’s not the case, I’m going with a more interesting pick, in fact, it’s a “Phenomenal One.”

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Carl Gac, Contributor, Daily DDT

The Royal Rumble match winner has to be one of Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar or Triple H. Lesnar and Reigns have been the two men pushed as the probable winner, and Triple H needs to come back strong and get some measure of revenge for the beating he took from Reigns back at TLC. If Reigns retains the title then Triple H can be the man to challenge him down the line at WrestleMania, trying to be the man that takes the belt away from Reigns for good. If Lesnar gets the win you can push towards the rematch from last year’s WrestleMania main event, only, this time, have one of them win clean. If Triple H wins the match (and the title) then both Lesnar and Reigns can stake a claim to be the opponent for the belt at ‘Mania.

Eugene Schacht, Contributor, Daily DDT

I’m going with the dark horse Bray Wyatt winning the Rumble. It may be overly optimistic, but if all four Wyatt Family members are in the ring, they’re about as unstoppable as any group can be.

All the rumors about Triple H and Reigns seem too complicated and risky. After the reception last year, the WWE would be foolish to have Reigns win the Rumble again. Triple H has too much going on from a corporate standpoint to simultaneously wear the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the foreseeable future. It’s more logical for Triple H to screw over Reigns, and then the two resume their feud without the title involved.

As for Lesnar, the go-home Raw demonstrated that the Beast Incarnate can be felled by the Wyatt Family’s onslaught. They will eliminate Lesnar at the Rumble, and Bray Wyatt’s reign over the WWE will officially begin.

Scott Littleton, Contributor, Daily DDT

This year’s royal rumble is probably the most unpredictable that it has been in years. Changing the stipulation that would force Roman Reigns would have to defend the title adds a completely new wrinkle to predicting the Royal Rumble match. Here are three options that I think could happen in order of what I predict most likely to happen. 1. Roman Reigns wins and successfully defends the championship. Ever since he won the title he has continued to find ways to one up the McMahons. Add in that he is the first entrant into the Rumble and that would build his overcoming character even more. 2. Brock Lesnar wins. Heading into the WrestleMania there is no bigger star to have the top title to push towards Mania. 3. A.J. Styles. While he’s not even officially on the roster this not only would be a huge surprise it could setup an amazing storyline. No matter what happens it should be a great match…unless Big Show wins.

Bryan Heaton, Contributor, Daily DDT

Smart money would be the obvious “swerve” the McMahons seem keen on – Triple H being a surprise entrant at 30 and winning. But I have a feeling we’ll get Roman Reigns as the last man eliminated, due to Triple H’s involvement, but not entry. The winner and new champion? AJ STYLES. (Bryan’s Note: this is why I do not gamble.)

As far as the match itself, I’m hoping Kevin Owens is victorious in the Last Man Standing match earlier in the evening so he’s fresh enough to enter the Rumble. I want him to go full Diesel, with a little CM Punk-ish mid-match promo before he’s interrupted by a returning Sami Zayn. Also, Kofi Kingston will somehow save the entire New Day from elimination simultaneously, though I don’t know how.

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