WWE Royal Rumble 2019: Pre-HIAC Predictions For Women’s, Men’s Winner

Men’s Royal Rumble Winner: John Cena

Remember No Mercy 2017 when a downtrodden John Cena messed around with the crowd before losing convincingly to Roman Reigns? Remember the promo he cut after the match on Raw Talk? Remember how he threw every finisher he had at Reigns, only to lose to one Spear?

That loss at No Mercy started Cena’s mid-life crisis, as “The Face That Runs The Place” started to question whether he still had it. Time after time, Cena failed in big matches. He lost at the Royal Rumble, he lost in the Elimination Chamber, and he even failed to dethrone AJ Styles at Fastlane in a multi-man match for the WWE Championship.

All of this led to Cena vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34, where Cena was essentially squashed in mere minutes. Cena had called out Taker every week on Raw for at least a month to utter silence, until he showed up to WrestleMania “as a fan”. That is, of course, until The Undertaker used his sorcery to show up and mystify the audience once again.

In 2019, there will be nothing like that. While a rematch with The Undertaker is possible, I’d prefer it if we didn’t go that route, since I’m not sure there’s any real story to tell there. The story should be a Reigns vs. Cena rematch, pitting two of the most polarizing wrestlers on the planet against each other. Cena wants his rematch against Reigns to show that he still has it after that debacle at No Mercy, whereas Reigns is riding high after conquering “The Beast Incarnate”.

Right now, Reigns is unequivocally WWE’s top star, and he’s shown it, putting together a red-hot main event match against Finn Balor in his first title defense before helping start an even hotter angle with a returning Shield.

Imagine Cena vs. Reigns at WrestleMania 35. Neither are fan favorites, but they are both respected by millions and draw reactions/attendance. This could be a special rematch, and we all know Cena can spin (to borrow from Reigns) a brilliant promo together. Their work on the road to WrestleMania could surpass what they did in the build to No Mercy.

Then again, Cena could choose to have a rematch against somebody else he has a history with. I mean, could you imagine how “fire” Cena vs. AJ Styles would be at ‘Mania…