Source: WWE.com
The WWE Royal Rumble 2018 really is the starting-point on the road to WrestleMania 34.
I look forward to the Royal Rumble every year. This year’s event will be particularly special because we’ll be seeing the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match as well as the traditional Men’s version all on one show. The card is full of interesting match-ups and will be pretty difficult to predict… but that’s what I’m here to try and do. Here are my predictions for the always unpredictable WWE Royal Rumble.
Enzo Amore (c) vs. Cedric Alexander – WWE Cruiserweight Championship
This is probably the easiest prediction to make on this whole show.
Cedric Alexander seems like he’s just filling a space as a contender in this one. 205 Live has been on a steady decline and the Cruiserweight Championship has held very little value in my opinion, especially after Neville lost it along with any credibility it had to begin with.
I could sit here and tell you about how many different ways WWE has screwed up this division ever since the amazing CWC tournament back in 2016. The Cruiserweight division is full of incredibly talented in-ring performers but has suffered due to incredibly poor booking decisions.
I don’t think that Enzo will lose his belt anytime soon because he’s really the only member of 205 Live that regularly appears on Raw and is involved in storylines with the rest of the “main roster”. I think he’ll be champion until WWE is confident that they have someone for him to drop the belt to that they think can be a star on both Raw as well as bringing more eyes onto 205 Live.
As talented as Cedric is, he is currently not that guy. Also, I love that Goldust is involved in something because he’s too great to just be sitting on the bench, but his abundance of charisma actually highlights Alexander’s lack of it. Enzo will get a cheap win.
Prediction: Enzo Amore
Source: WWE.com
Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) vs.”The Bar” Sheamus & Cesaro – WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
The Curb Stomp is back! Well, technically it’s being called the “Blackout” now, but either way it’s great to see Rollins get his move back.
The dynamic between Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins has made for great TV up to this point. I really like the idea that Jordan is teetering on the fence of a full heel turn and that Rollins is kind of teetering that line along with him.
The Bar recently dropped the titles to Jordan & Rollins just a few weeks back so I don’t see another title change happening so quickly on this show. Don’t get me wrong, I think that The Bar are a much better tag-team overall but a loss won’t hurt them because they’re so solid at what they do as a team.
The Bar will always be in the tag-title mix. I just think there is so much more that WWE can explore with this Jordan & Rollins team. I don’t want to see it end or take too much of a turn just yet. I think Jordan pulls out some heel tactics similar to what he did on this past Raw and Rollins takes advantage to retain the belts.
Prediction: Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan
Source: WWE.com
The Usos (c) vs. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin – WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
We’ve recently seen somewhat of a double-turn between these two teams in recent weeks. It now seems like The Usos are the crowd favorites while Gable & Benjamin are the heels.
The Usos’ babyface turn was totally organic, as the crowd got behind them due to their stellar matches and they’ve been phenomenal on the microphone. They are truly doing the best work of their careers and are one of the most entertaining things going in all of WWE right now, in my opinion.
A couple of weeks back, it looked like Gable & Benjamin had won the titles clean on SmackDown but the match was restarted per the legal men not being involved in the deciding pinfall. The Usos ultimately retained their titles but not without controversy. This controversy drove Gable & Benjamin to go full-heel which I think was the right move. I also think it’s the right move to put the belts on Gable & Benjamin at the Royal Rumble.
Similar to The Bar on Raw, The Usos can afford this loss because they will continue to be perennial title contenders. We all watched American Alpha get lost in the mix before the team was split up. The pairing of Gable & Benjamin has been received with mixed and lukewarm reactions up to this point. I think they need this win and a solid push with the titles. It’s time to see if this team will sink or swim as champions.
Prediction: Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
Source: WWE.com
AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn – WWE Championship (Handicap Match)
This is a really interesting match-up and a fantastic storyline between AJ, Owens, Zayn, Shane McMahon, and Daniel Bryan. Bryan’s involvement has been especially intriguing because this story has been the most interesting thing that he’s been a part of since becoming SmackDown GM.
I think that this match will be highly entertaining. The stipulation that if KO & Zayn win then both are co-WWE Champions leads me to believe that AJ will retain. The real question is how will AJ retain with the odds stacked so heavily against him?
My bold prediction is that Daniel Bryan will interfere and actually hit a move (possibly the “Running Knee that beat John Cena”) on either KO or Zayn to help Styles overcome the odds. If Bryan were to hit an actual move in the ring for the first time in years the crowd reaction would blow the roof off of the top of the arena.
I firmly believe that we will see Daniel Bryan return to in-ring action in the WWE in 2018 and this match & storyline has done a terrific job of planting those seeds. I think that AJ Styles retains in an entertaining match and then goes on to defend the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34.
Prediction: AJ Styles
Source: WWE.com
Brock Lesnar (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Kane vs. Braun Strowman – WWE Universal Championship (Triple Threat)
I’m not going to lie, I’m not that excited for this match-up.
Kane seems like he’s involved simply to take the pinfall from either Brock or Braun in an attempt to “protect” both superstars from being truly defeated. I’ll go ahead and write off Kane as the potential winner immediately.
I really enjoyed Braun’s antics on this past edition of Raw. The dude is a legitimate monster among men. This might upset some readers but I’m going to be honest, Braun’s stock dropped drastically in my mind when he lost to Brock last year at No Mercy. Not just because Braun lost the match; but because I thought that the match was pretty unentertaining and it exposed Braun’s inexperience.
Seeing that match made me realize that while Braun can be incredibly entertaining as a character he isn’t ready to carry other superstars to great matches with him as the champion. Sure, it’s fun to watch him Powerslam opponents and flip over giant vehicles but that can only take him so far.
I think Braun is being built perfectly from a monster standpoint as a character but he can’t be relied on to put the company on his back, at least not yet. I definitely think that Braun’s time as the top guy will come but it will be later down the line. I think Brock Lesnar goes in, does what he does best, and heads to WrestleMania 34 to defend his Universal Championship one year after defeating Goldberg for the strap.
Prediction: Brock Lesnar
Source: WWE.com
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
This match is the first of its’ kind. I even put together a list of my top 5 potential Women’s Royal Rumble swerves here on this website (check it out if you haven’t, cheap plug!).
My prediction for this match is simple. If Ronda Rousey is an entrant, she will win this match. I’m actually so confident that Rousey will enter that I’m officially picking her as my prediction to win the Rumble.
Rousey by far has the most to gain with a win. She will already be bringing in the legitimate credibility that she earned while trailblazing women’s MMA over in the UFC & Strikeforce. Ronda is a true pioneer for what she was able to do in that world. She’s an easy choice, in my opinion.
This would also be quite the feather in her cap, as she could lay claim to being the first ever UFC women’s champion and also the first ever winner of a Women’s Rumble. Winning this match would obviously grant Rousey a shot at either WWE Women’s Champion at WrestleMania.
If it were up to me, Rousey would eliminate Asuka during the Royal Rumble (planting the seeds for the two to have a match somewhere down the line) and challenge Charlotte Flair for the SD Women’s title at WrestleMania. Rousey vs. Flair is a dream match that fans have wanted for years and has the potential to be something really special. The WWE has a huge opportunity here with Rousey.
Prediction: Ronda Rousey
Roman Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble Match. Can he repeat? Source: WWE.com
Men’s Royal Rumble Match
This year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match can go in so many different directions. Right now there’s two front-runners and one dark horse, in my opinion.
My first front-runner is Roman Reigns.
It has been speculated since WrestleMania 33 last year that Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship would headline WrestleMania 34. Having Roman win this Rumble would be an easy way to set up the rematch between himself and Brock. Roman and Brock have unfinished business from their WrestleMania 31 main event where Seth Rollins famously cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to pin Roman for Brock’s WWE Championship.
Since we never got a true winner back at WrestleMania 31, I could definitely see us getting this rematch at WrestleMania 34 so this set-up makes perfect sense. The obvious problem is that the live crowd will most-likely reject a booking decision that allows Roman to win the Rumble again (we’ve already been down that path back in 2015).
My second front-runner is Shinsuke Nakamura.
Assuming that AJ Styles retains the WWE Championship at this show, a Nakamura win sets up a match that die-hard pro wrestling fans have wanted to see under the WWE umbrella since both men were signed to the company.
For those that don’t know, AJ Styles and Nakamura had a classic match at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship with both making the move to the WWE right after. We were even teased at this potential match-up with both men squaring off in the center of the ring in this past year’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
Nakamura vs. Styles is a match that the WWE audience deserves to see on the biggest stage possible and WrestleMania 34 seems like the perfect place to make it happen. The timing of this potential match couldn’t come at a better time for Nakamura because he’s somewhat lost in the shuffle on SmackDown right now.
A Rumble win immediately skyrockets Shinsuke’s credibility once again and he and Styles could put on an absolute classic against each other for the WWE Championship. I think that Nakamura needs this win more than everyone else in this match to help re-gain the momentum he had during his run as NXT Champion.
My dark horse is Dolph Ziggler.
Do I really think Dolph is winning this match? Not really.
WWE has done a fantastic job of conditioning myself (along with most of the audience) that Ziggler is not allowed to advance past a certain mid-card status. We did however see a glimmer of hope with Dolph’s recent US Title win & subsequent self-vacation of that title.
Most fans assume that Dolph will pop back up in the mix to challenge new US Champion, Bobby Roode in what would be considered a type of title-unification match. But wouldn’t it be a great and unexpected moment if Ziggler was a surprise entrant in the Rumble and somehow got the win? There has never been any doubt that he’s one of the best in-ring workers of his generation. Maybe a win at the 2018 Royal Rumble finally cements him as the main event-level talent that we all know he can be.
Next: 5 Royal Rumble Eliminations That Must Happen
That all being said, I think Nakamura has the most to gain and WWE would be crazy to pass up an opportunity to have him challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34.