Is there anything in wrestling better than The Royal Rumble? The annual WWE premium live event not only offers the best gimmick match of the year, it also tells fans very directly which stars the company is going to push into key spots at WrestleMania. Sometimes the winners are very obvious, like last year when we got Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley. Sometimes the winners aren’t obvious at all, like when we got Shinsuke Nakamura, Alberto Del Rio and Yokozuna. Even if you think you know what WWE is going to do, you can never truly be sure until it happens. Luckily, half the fun of being a wrestling fan is speculating wildly about what might happen at upcoming premium live events; so, let’s talk out the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble.
WWE is hotter right now than it has been in a long time. There are a ton of dudes over with the crowd and at least a half dozen that feel like they could believably fight in a world title match at WrestleMania 40. There are a few relatively obvious, high upside crossover options like Cody Rhodes and CM Punk, a few really intriguing storyline options like Drew McIntyre and Gunther, some fan favorites like LA Knight and of course, there’s always The Rock who has teased possibly fighting his cousin Roman Reigns at ‘Mania. I can’t remember a year with this many possible choices. Here’s my list of the 15 most likely…
15. MJF
I don’t think MJF is going to WWE. Conflicting rumors have been swirling about whether or not he's resigned with AEW. I think he has and it won’t be announced publicly until a key storyline moment. I’d be shocked to see him at The Rumble. That being said, I didn’t think CM Punk was showing up at Survivor Series, and if MJF did show up at The Royal Rumble, would he be a real threat to win? Absolutely.
14. Damian Priest
Damian Priest would be higher on this list if winning The Royal Rumble made more logical sense for his character, but his Money In The Bank briefcase allows him to have a title shot whenever he wants. He doesn’t need to win The Rumble to get it. That being said, if he were to screw up his cash-in either on Monday Night Raw or at The Rumble, he would become a major threat to enter and win. That seems like a huge rigamarole, but that’s still more likely than a random mid-card guy winning.
13. Sami Zayn
You might be asking yourself… Sami Zayn? Well, I think there’s a believable case to be made, if a few really unfortunate things happened. Let’s say Cody Rhodes gets, Dusty forbid, hurt and won’t be available for WrestleMania. Then let’s say The Rock is unavailable, despite all his maybes. Roman Reigns needs someone to wrestle. I’d prefer it be Gunther, but Triple H and company will probably want him to defend the Intercontinental Title at ‘Mania. So, in that case, who would be the best person to wrestle Roman? The biggest match he’s had over the last year in terms of fan interest, outside of Cody, has been Sami Zayn. The build for and their match at Elimination Chamber were among the loudest we’ve heard WWE fans in decades, and if need be, I think WWE would trust Zayn to find greatness with Roman one more time.
12. Seth Freakin' Rollins
Seth Rollins is scheduled to wrestle Drew McIntyre at Day 1. The assumption is Rollins will win that match and go into WrestleMania as the World Heavyweight Champion. But given the good work McIntyre has been doing, there is a very real chance he could lose, and if he does lose, Rollins will enter The Royal Rumble and be a major threat to win. I still think the plan is to get to CM Punk and Rollins at 'Mania, but rule out Seth Rollins at your own peril.
11. Brock Lesnar
Lensar is only one of nine people to win The Royal Rumble twice. He’s also the biggest draw on the entire roster to casual wrestling fans, and he’s done some of the best work of his career over the last few years, especially on the microphone after his split with Paul Heyman. I would never rule him completely out to win The Rumble, especially when he’ll almost certainly be in a key spot at WrestleMania 40. But since we did the Roman Reigns thing at ‘Mania 38 and he’s been off television for awhile, I don’t think a win this time is likely.
10. Finn Bálor
No one has been riding harder for Judgment Day than me. I think they’re a fantastic stable and have everything they need to run Monday Night Raw, except a prominent men’s singles belt. I thought we’d see Finn get there at SummerSlam. Then I thought we’d see Damian Priest get there via a Money In The Bank cash-in at some point. Now I’m not so sure, and the fact that I don’t have any Judgment Day members higher than tenth here is odd considering they consistently open and/ or close Monday Night Raw. Regardless, Finn has another world title run in him. I’m almost positive of that, and while I don’t think that’ll start by winning The Rumble, I don’t hate the idea.
9. Solo Sikoa
We’re still in super longshot territory here, but don’t let that distract from the fact that Solo Sikoa winning The Royal Rumble and challenging his cousin Roman Reigns would be a fantastic story to tell. In fact, I think we’re almost certainly going to see some version of that story in the future when The Bloodline officially breaks up for good. Solo vs Roman Reigns could Main Event any premium live event and have fans buzzing, but we need some more character work in order to get there. So, hold this idea in your back pocket for the 2025 Rumble, particularly if Roman beats Cody and still has the WWE Universal Championship.
8. Bobby Lashley
Fans are just not going to boo Bobby Lashley. WWE can have him and The Street Profits attack whoever they want, but short of ending Rey Mysterio’s career via some kind of cheapshot, I don’t think there’s much he can do to get the heel reaction he’s going for. So, maybe the play here is to turn him into some kind of anti-hero and give him a big push forward. He still looks fantastic, and the fans clearly love him. After missing last year’s Mania under unfortunate circumstances that later proved tragic, it would be really exciting to see him in a high profile title match this year, which would need to start with a Royal Rumble win.
7. AJ Styles
AJ Styles just returned last week after a few months off television, and in a move most people didn’t see coming, turned heel. I’m very excited for whatever comes next for his character. It would be fantastic if WWE was able to build him back up to the main event level, and if they’re going to, now is the time. He’s forty-six years old and looks to be in fantastic shape. Over the last few years, he sorta got lost in the shuffle and felt like a low main eventer/ higher mid-carder, to the point where almost no one gave him a chance to beat Seth Rollins at Clash Of The Champions. Now is the time for him to prove he can still be at the top of the industry. I don’t see him winning The Rumble, but there is definitely a great story to tell here if WWE wants it.
6. The Rock
If The Rock was going to show up at a Royal Rumble and win, it should have been the 2023 version. He could have entered The Bloodline story when it was at its absolute hottest, and the ensuing few months of build would have been some of the highest rated wrestling episodes in decades. That didn’t happen. But Dwayne Johnson is still one of the biggest movie stars in the entire world. His presence is guaranteed to generate significant casual fan interest, and if he agrees to come back and work WWE for a few months, you almost certainly have to say yes. Given his comments, it’s certainly possible, though I’d put it in the unlikely camp, especially with Hollywood back at work.
5. LA Knight
Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the other writers have clearly listened to the fans and elevated LA Knight over the last several months. He tagged with John Cena at Fastlane, worked a premium live event with Roman Reigns, has a heavy merchandising presence at WWE live events and is almost always featured prominently on SmackDown. Along the way, he’s gotten plenty of small payoffs and nice little moments, but he’s yet to get one that would be anything close to career-defining. Winning The Royal Rumble is the sorta thing that people mention near the top of any wrestler’s accomplishments. I think he’ll probably lose and face Logan Paul at WrestleMania for The United States Championship, but I certainly wouldn’t rule him out as a possible winner here.
4. Drew McIntyre
I love this new heel work from Drew McIntyre. This is exactly what he needed to start getting some momentum again. Contract rumors and other alleged frustrations aside, this current version of the character is an obvious main event star, and I’d love to see him win a world championship sooner rather than later. But he needs to start picking up some wins and doing so quickly. Victories over Sami Zayn and Jey Uso on TV aren’t enough. He hasn’t won a match at a premium live event since he beat Karrion Kross in November of 2022. The Rumble could be the start of his return to glory.
3. Gunther
Right now, the assumption from pretty much everyone who watches wrestling on the regular is that we’ll get CM Punk and Seth Rollins in one WrestleMania Main Event and Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes in the other. But how fantastic of a swerve would it be if Gunther eliminated Cody to win The Royal Rumble, then called out Roman Reigns in a post-match promo for not respecting the mat enough to show up for work? I love Cody. I’d love to see him win the WWE Championship at some point, but the single story I want to watch most right now is a heel versus heel Gunther vs Roman Reigns program. That’s my WrestleMania Main Event, and I do think it’s within the realm of possibilities.
2. Cody Rhodes
Before CM Punk made his surprise appearance at Survivor Series, I thought there was a good chance we’d see Cody win the Rumble two years in a row, joining Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin as only the fourth person to win in consecutive years. Now, the general consensus seems to be that he’ll probably lose The Rumble and guarantee his rematch with Roman Reigns by winning Elimination Chamber in February. That certainly works, but the fact that so many people are predicting it gives me pause. Imagine Cody winning his second consecutive Rumble, then grabbing the mic and giving a fantastic promo about finishing the story this year. Fans would love it, and it’s way more likely than people are pretending.
1. CM Punk
The overwhelming consensus among WWE fans is that CM Punk and Seth Rollins are going to face each other in the main event of WrestleMania Night 1. Sign me up. I’m here for that too. But exactly how we get there is a much more complicated question. The easiest path would be by CM Punk winning The Royal Rumble and challenging Rollins at WrestleMania. I think that’s probably what’s going to happen, but given there are some very good alternate candidates and WWE may not want to pick the very obvious and logical choice two years in a row, I think there’s still like a fifty percent chance this doesn’t happen.
