WWE Royal Rumble 2021: Full match card and winner predictions
United States Championship Match: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Riddle (Royal Rumble Kickoff Show)
The most likely contest to end up on the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show would be Bobby Lashley defending his United States Championship against Riddle. We’ve seen the issues between Riddle and The Hurt Business for several weeks now, and this week on WWE Raw, it was Riddle’s opportunity to earn another United States Championship match.
In order to do so, Riddle had to run the gauntlet and defeating the three other members of The Hurt Business. With an assist from some in-fighting between the faction’s members, Riddle beat MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander in succession to earn himself a shot at Lashley.
While the match wasn’t announced on WWE Raw, the most likely and logical time for it to take place would be at the Royal Rumble. With this potential final card in mind, it would also find its way to the Kickoff Show, where we will hopefully see Bobby Lashley retain and move on from this rivalry.
Prediction: Bobby Lashley
Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Match: Big E (c) vs. Sami Zayn vs. Apollo Crews
Since losing the Intercontinental Championship to Big E on 2020’s final episode of SmackDown, Sami Zayn has continued to insist he’s the true champion while interfering in Big E’s business. Lately, that’s included Big E forming a budding rivalry with Apollo Crews.
After a championship match technically saw Crews pin Big E, though Crews’ shoulders were also down and he eventually lost the restarted match, it was the words of Paul Heyman on Talking Smack after that which fired the former United States Champion up. When Crews got another shot at Big E last week on SmackDown, the match ended in a disqualification after Sami Zayn interfered in the contest.
Considering Zayn still hasn’t received a rematch since losing the title, and Apollo Crews hasn’t really received a full and fair shot, the only logical conclusion is a triple threat at the Royal Rumble. This could be a quiet match of the night contender if given some time, and look for Crews to pin Zayn to capture the Intercontinental Title for the first time in his career, if the match happens.
Prediction: Apollo Crews