The Royal Rumble is the one PPV in WWE’s annual calendar that every fan looks forward to.
Royal Rumble starts us off on the Road to Wrestlemania as WWE like to tell us and it goes down this Sunday.
As you would expect from a marquee WWE PPV, this years Royal Rumble card has the potential to be fantastic.
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defends his strap against WWE Hall of Famer, Goldberg.
Roman Reigns continues his feud with Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. These two beefy boys will square off in a Last Man Standing Match.
Elsewhere on the card Smackdown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks faces her foe Carmella.
Plus, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and Asuka put their titles on the line against the imposing team of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax.
We could see more matches get announced last minute.
US champ Bobby Lashley may face Matt Riddle and we could also see Intercontinental Champion Big E defend his gold, but at the time of writing nothing is official.
However, with all due respect, all us fans are really tuning in for is the Royal Rumbles matches.
Even when a rumble match is bad, they still provide fans with memorable moments.
We get surprise returns, shocking debuts and hints to future feuds heading into Wrestlemania.
While the headlines on Monday will be dominated by the winners of the Men’s and Women’s rumble matches.
These other aspects of a Royal Rumble match are just as fun to predict and discuss.
So, without any further ado, let’s look at what we might witness from the 2021 Royal Rumble matches.
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
Potential Surprise Entrants: Melina, Eva Marie, and Kaitlyn
Most Eliminations: Rhea Ripley
Iron Women: Bianca Belair
Shortest Time: Billie Kay
Potential Winner #1: Bayley
Smackdown superstar Bayley is the front runner for this year’s women’s rumble in the eyes of the Big Kick Off.
Bayley spent the majority of 2020 entangled with Sasha Banks.
The pair have a lengthy history as friends and enemies.
Both Banks and Bayley ruled over the women’s roster last year. They reigned as the Women’s Tag Team Champions, during this time Bayley also held the Smackdown Women’s Title, big double champ energy.
The writing was on the wall for the duo and once they lost their tag titles, the team crashed and burned.
Banks set her eyes on Bayley’s women’s championship. With their feud building up to a Hell in the Cell match. Banks was victorious and ended Bayley’s 380-day title reign.
Since then, Banks has ruled the roost on Smackdown.
Now it’s time for this feud to reignite, climaxing with Banks and Bayley going head-to-head at Wrestlemania.
That could all start with Bayley winning the Women’s Royal Rumble.
Potential Winner #2: Bianca Belair
Bayley’s current rival, Bianca Belair is another very likely candidate for a women’s title match at Wrestlemania.
Belair made her way onto the Smackdown brand during the 2020 WWE Draft back in October.
She has been turning heads and most importantly picking up big wins on a consistent basis ever since.
Bianca Belair is one of the purest athletes in wrestling today and surely WWE must see massive potential in her.
So, give her a key spot at Wrestlemania against Sasha Banks.
Bookend her feud with Bayley on the Road to Wrestlemania and put her in the title picture where she belongs by having her win the rumble.
Potential Winner #3: Rhea Ripley
Reports are suggesting that former NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley is moving away from her NXT home.
If the dominant Australian is heading to the main roster, giving her a massive showing at the rumble is surely the way to start her off on the Raw brand.
Honestly, Ripley has all the tools to be one of the biggest stars in the entire WWE. She has an imposing look, excellent in ring ability and charisma for days.
The 24-year-old lost her NXT Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania 36 to Charlotte Flair. This could be the perfect opportunity for Ripley to get her revenge by eliminating Flair from this year’s rumble.
Follow this up by either having her win the rumble or run riot while she’s in the match.
Rhea Ripley is a special talent, so use this edition of the Royal Rumble to treat her as such.
Men’s Royal Rumble Match
Potential Surprise Entrants: Brock Lesnar, Wade Barrett and Carlito
Most Eliminations: Big E
Iron Man: Cesaro
Shortest Time: Cedric Alexander
Potential Winner #1: Daniel Bryan
Fan favourite Daniel Bryan is undoubtably the man to bet on heading into the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
The in-ring technician has never won a rumble during his storied WWE career. Now seems like the ideal time to rectify that.
Bryan will celebrate his 40th birthday this year. He also has a very young family and has said his time as a full-time wrestler is limited.
While he may never fully retire, WWE simply must give this man another run at the title as a babyface before he transitions into a lighter schedule.
Bryan recently got the better of Jey Uso. Now it’s time for him to move on to his cousin and Universal Champion, Roman Reigns.
Bryan vs Reigns would be the perfect combination of good vs evil at Wrestlemania.
While someone like Brock Lesnar could certainly return and win the rumble, it’s easy to see why Daniel Bryan is a lot of people’s clear favourite.
Potential Winner #2: Edge
Edge is another superstar that is being heavily tipped to win the rumble and challenge for a title at Wrestlemania.
The Rather R Superstar returned at last years event, in one of the most emotional wrestling returns of all time.
This time last year, Edge was stuck in a bitter blood feud with Randy Orton. It was believed that would pick up again coming into this years Wrestlemania, this time for the WWE Championship.
Things haven’t worked out that way and Orton has his hands more than full with the twisted antics of Bray Wyatt.
This makes Edge’s path back to the WWE title that he never lost before his force retirement even clearer.
It certainly would be the best feel-good moment of the year. Just be a shame no fans will be in the building to witness it.
Potential Winner #3: Sheamus
Originally, this was a toss up between either Cesaro or Shinsuke Nakamura. I couldn’t confidently pick, and the pair could go on to face each other at Wrestlemania when their team inevitably splits up.
So, let’s select somebody that is going under the radar, Sheamus.
The Irish man has been pulling out some stellar performances on Raw over the past couple of months.
During episodes of Raw, Sheamus and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre have had some nice interactions. They have harked back to their days on the indies together, playing off their friendship and professional edge in the process.
These moments have seemingly been leading to the pair teaming up or colliding.
Sheamus is one of the more intriguing potential opponents for the champion at Wrestlemania.
So, why not let it happen and WWE can put the wheels in motion by giving Sheamus his second Royal Rumble win of his career.