WrestleMania might generate most of the mainstream crossover headlines, but to me and a great many wrestling fans, there is no better or more exciting premium live event each year than WWE’s Royal Rumble. The battle royal variation has been held every year since 1988, and during those thirty-five years, it has launched countless storylines and helped to propel numerous wrestlers into the main event scene. For the winners, it also often becomes one of the biggest moments of their careers.
If you were writing about all-time legend Ric Flair’s career accomplishments, how long would it take you to get to winning the 92 Rumble? My guess is not very long, and the same could be said for so many others. In fact, the winner’s list is a murderers' row of historical greats like Flair, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Rock and Bret Hart. So, who will add their name to those ranks?
Well, much to the delight of WWE fans, there are actually a lot of options this year. There are a handful of people with spectacular cases to win the Rumble. There are a handful more with pretty solid cases, and there are a few more that would be a super fun swerve. But which will Triple H and WWE’s writing staff actually pick?
Will it be the (probably) returning Cody Rhodes? Will it be a celebrity like The Rock? Will it be someone from Roman Reigns’ own bloodline like Sami Zayn or Jey Uso? What about a rising star like Gunther? I’ve picked who I think are the 20 most likely possibilities and ranked them. Now SHOOOOOOOSSSSHHHH and let me get to my picks...
20. The Miz
You’d have to give me a thousand to one odds on The Miz winning The Royal Rumble to put any money down, but I’m putting him on this list because he’s one of the few people on the entire roster that consistently generates heat from the crowd. Always has and probably always will. That means something. The fact that we can all visualize The Miz winning The Rumble and spending the next two months on television bragging about how awesome he is, only to get heckled and screamed at by the crowd means something. He’s just capable of playing out any storyline, whether it’s a Money In The Bank briefcase, a feud with a new celebrity or a ridiculous, borderline stupid midcard plot.
I’d love to see The Miz have one more run with the big belt. I’m not saying he needs to have some epic year long reign, but he could do a lot with two or three months on top of the ticket. I think he might get his chance at some point too, but it’ll be after Roman Reigns drops at least one of the belts and the creative possibilities open up a bit more.
19. John Cena
Rumor has it WWE wants Roman Reigns and Dwayne Johnson to potentially face off at WrestleMania 39 given it’s in Los Angeles. That sounds like a great plan, but if The Rock isn’t ready to drop the People’s Elbow for whatever reason, do you know who else is a big star in Hollywood? The Face of WWE John Cena. He got in the ring on the last Smackdown of 2022 and delivered WWE its best ratings in years. That dude loves wrestling, and you know he’d be down to play a key role in WrestleMania if his schedule allows it.
Cena has won 2 Royal Rumbles in the past, and it would certainly go over with some fans to see him surprise everyone and deliver some five knuckle shuffles. But, to me, it’s not smart to give a storyline as important as the Royal Rumble winner to someone who isn’t going to be around long-term. Even if Cena were to agree to stay for the Road To WrestleMania between late January and April, he’d almost certainly be leaving after ‘Mania to go back to Hollywood. Plus, even though it’s always a joy to see him come back, it’s not quite as special as some of the other former guys, given he’s done plenty of appearances and runs since he first left. As such, I'd rather see WWE pay off the rumors and have him fight Austin Theory.
18. Austin Theory
A lot of people predicted Austin Theory would fall on hard times after Vince McMahon left. For a little while, that fall from grace seemed like it was happening too. He lost quite a few matches and dropped his Money In The Bank briefcase trying to cash it in on the United States Championship. His follow-up explanation promo was excellent, however, and he’s been feuding with Bobby Lashley and Seth Rollins in the time since, which is great news.
Whether you think McMahon was pushing Theory too hard or not, the dude has so much natural talent. He’s terrific inside the ring, and his microphone work is already better than 2/3rds of the people in the company. He’s one of the biggest long-term assets WWE has, and I’m really glad Triple H is recognizing that and keeping him involved in key storylines, as well as letting him hold the United States Championship. I think it’s far too soon to give him a Rumble victory, but the fact that he’s even on this list is a credit to where he’s at.
17. Bobby Lashley
Bobby Lashley and a handful of other guys like Drew McIntyre and Sheamus are victims of Roman Reigns’ over the top success. Were he only holding one of the belts, the other one would undoubtedly be held by one of the other main eventers and another would likely be actively feuding for the title. Since Roman holds both belts, however, there are less total people involved in the title picture.
Lashley still gets a terrific pop when he comes out though, and he’s one of the few guys on the roster who feels like he could beat anyone on any given day. I’d personally like to see him back with MVP and The Hurt Business, which they've been teasing. That would give his character a bit more direction and maybe lead to another title push down the road. I don't think he'll win The Rumble, but it could be a chance for him to take a bit step forward and get some character development.
16. CM Punk
I don’t know what I’m doing here. CM Punk probably shouldn’t be on this list. I don’t even know if his well-documented issues with AEW have been resolved to the point where he could make an appearance even if he wanted to. But part of the goal of The Royal Rumble is to generate buzz for WrestleMania, and I can’t imagine anything else that would generate more buzz than a surprise appearance by CM Punk. Wrestling Twitter would be unstoppable for weeks.
Even if you set aside all the possible legal issues, though, I wouldn’t put CM Punk much higher than this because I don’t think having him win the Rumble necessarily makes sense. CM Punk back in WWE is the story. He doesn’t need to win the Rumble to generate buzz, and I don’t think you’d go from 0 to 60 and book him with Roman Reigns at ‘Mania. He could wrestle a mid-carder who is over like The Miz and get a gigantic fan response. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kevin Owens didn’t need a championship match to create a moment last year.
15. Roman Reigns
Wait, is Roman Reigns going to enter the Royal Rumble? Probably not. The champion rarely participates in the Rumble, but it happens on occasion and a Roman Reigns win would solve a lot of problems regarding his WrestleMania opponent. Rumors have swirled for awhile that WWE’s preference would be to have him face The Rock, but as champion, he is going to need to face whoever wins the Rumble, unless there’s some shenanigans later on that might piss off fans. If Reigns were to win himself, however, he could pick his own opponent and choose his cousin The Rock.
The only reason I don’t have this higher, however, is that WWE needs to be careful about how dominant they make the Tribal Chief. Yes, Reigns is the biggest story in wrestling right now and for good reason. He’s a freakin’ star, and it’s obvious how over he still is every single time he shows up. Every bit of his extended title run has been deserved, but he’s not a prime Stone Cold Steve Austin and he hasn’t proven popular enough to change the overall fortunes of the wrestling business. He’s simply a huge star in the middle of a brilliant run, and in my opinion, putting both belts on him and having him win the Rumble is just asking fans to start turning on him. Wrestling is bigger than any one performer.
14. Jey Uso
Jey Uso has done some of the best work of his entire career over the past few years. His character, with a scared deference to Roman Reigns and at first a mistrust and later an embrace of Sami Zayn, is so complicated and well-developed. Wrestling stories don’t normally dig this deep emotionally, and other wrestlers should take a lesson from him on how to do character work. It’s been excellent.
Now, is that going to translate into a Rumble victory? Probably not. The Usos have their own storylines with the Undisputed Tag Team Championships, and I’m sure there are other stories Triple H would rather tell. That being said, the fact that you could so easily course out a compelling narrative here is a testament to everyone involved in the Bloodline. Imagine if Jey won. What would Jimmy’s reaction be? What would Sami’s reaction be? How about Roman? I would love to watch it.
13. Logan Paul
I’m not sure what to do with Logan Paul or how highly I should be rating him on a list like this, but given the timeframe on his injury, he should be coming back somewhere around The Royal Rumble. And given how spectacularly he has overperformed in his three matches and how much star power he brings with him, he always has to be considered a contender for something bigger. Such a huge push like this would likely involve him having to make a commitment to do wrestling full-time. That seems unlikely, but he reportedly did redo his contract to make a bigger commitment and work more dates. So, we’ll see.
I think what’s more likely going to happen, if he comes back from injury at The Rumble, is we’ll see him go on a nice little run, eliminate a few people and then start a feud with either one of the people who eliminated him or someone he eliminated. I’d expect a high mid-carder like Damian Priest, who would seem more physically imposing than The Miz but is also someone WWE would conceivably let him beat at WrestleMania.
12. Sheamus
Talk about a career renaissance. Sheamus seemed destined to keep sliding down the mid-card until he found new life alongside Ridge Holland and Butch over the last year as the Brawling Brutes. They went from getting like two and a half minutes against The New Day at ‘Mania 38 to main eventing Survivor Series War Games against The Bloodline. That tremendous run also included a match of the year candidate for Sheamus against Gunther at Clash At The Castle, as well as an incredible 3 v 3 match at Extreme Rules with Imperium.
Absent any clear stories to tell, Sheamus would be an excellent candidate to win his second Royal Rumble this year. And some years there aren’t any clear stories to tell. But that’s not this year. WWE is overflowing with possible directions to go in, and I think a Sheamus arc just isn’t going to look as appealing. That being said, I fully expect The Celtic Warrior to do some damage and get some nice little moments. He’s earned it.
11. Braun Strowman
I don’t know what to make of Braun Strowman since he returned to WWE. He’s getting really good pops and engagement with the crowd, but he feels quite detached from the main event scene and the storylines going on there. He’s currently feuding with Gunther, but it’s hard for me to imagine Gunther losing the Intercontinental Championship anytime soon. So, if he comes out on the wrong end of that feud, can he really progress to the main event? That doesn’t seem to logically track. So, he’ll probably end up with a feud with a higher end performer outside the main event scene like Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre or Sheamus.
That being said, I’m not going to write him off on The Rumble. He, of course, won the unofficial Greatest Rumble in Saudi Arabia and should always be viewed as a threat to win anytime he’s in the ring, no matter who it’s against. I suspect we’ll probably see him come in like a house of fire, only to get gang eliminated Omos-style by 5 or 6 people working together. That’ll keep him looking strong.
10. Randy Orton
We don’t know exactly when Randy Orton might return from his back injury. I tend to think he won’t be around for The Rumble, but if “Voices” hits over the loud speaker, people will lose their freakin’ minds in the crowd. He was white hot over when he got injured and had to step away back in May, and if you want to know how over he still is, watch how much bigger of a reaction his tag team partner Riddle was getting when he did one of Orton’s moves versus one of his own.
There are lots of fans who probably have different preferences for who they’d like to see win The Rumble. We’ll get to most of these candidates in a minute, but I think it’s a testament to Orton that I think pretty much everyone would be happy with him winning. They might prefer Cody Rhodes or The Rock or Sami Zayn or some of these contenders later, but I think an Orton return and win would bring a smile to every single person’s face.
9. Drew McIntyre
I’m still a bit shocked WWE didn’t put Drew McIntyre over at Clash At The Castle. So much seemed to be lining up in his favor. Roman Reigns was stepping back and doing less appearances. He was in front of a ravenous home crowd that wanted to give him his British Bulldog at SummerSlam '92 moment. Given how he essentially carried WWE during lockdown, many felt he deserved a big thank you moment in front of a live audience. But it wasn’t to be. He lost, which begs an obvious question: then why would he win the Royal Rumble?
Wrestling is about creating moments and then paying them off. You put in months of prep work to create a match the crowd is invested in. The winner of The Rumble will face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania in the main event, and it’s impossible to imagine that moment could possibly be bigger than the Clash At The Castle one. So, it just doesn’t seem like a good option. That being said, he’s Drew McIntyre, one of the biggest stars the company has, and he’s going to be a threat to win any Rumble he’s in.
8. Brock Lesnar
I have no reason to think Brock Lesnar is going to show up at The Rumble, except that he’s either the biggest or second biggest star WWE has and The Rumble is the second biggest event of the year. He, of course, won the last installment to set up the main event of WrestleMania 38, but it’s hard to imagine Triple H and company will want to tell the same main event story again this year. I love both, but WWE has only run back the same main event a few times in ‘Mania’s history, mostly recently with The Rock vs John Cena back in 2013.
But Brock Lesnar is Brock Lesnar. Every single person employed by the company wishes they had his resume and pop culture crossover appeal, and he’s always going to be a threat to main event any single card he agrees to participate in. I assume he’s going to be at WrestleMania, which means he’ll need something very important to do. I don’t think it’ll be main eventing again with Roman Reigns, but I’m not going to write the possibility off, especially after how awesome SummerSlam '22 was.
7. Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt has a separate match at The Royal Rumble against LA Knight, who, by the way, is terrific and should keep getting pushed. I don’t expect to see Wyatt in the actual Rumble because I think they want to take a lot more time with the Uncle Howdy storyline. Figuring out what’s going on with him and where his character is headed long-term feels a lot more important than The Rumble. But you can’t ever count out guys who are extremely buzzy and over with the crowd. Apart from dudes returning, is there anyone else who would get a bigger reaction if their music hit during The Rumble? I don’t think so.
Wrestling is about a lot more than just the main event though. You need to fill the rest of the card, and in that way, Wyatt figuring out what the hell is going on with him since his return is a huge asset. It seemingly exists outside the standard hierarchy and doesn’t need other A-list performers to matter. It’s not the main event, but the fans care deeply about what’s going on. WWE is going to want to extend that as long as it can, because if and when it combines with the main event/Roman Reigns, then there are less total things on the show fans are interested in.
6. Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens is due to wrestle Roman Reigns in a big spot. The two have been feuding as part of the ongoing Sami Zayn Bloodline story for awhile, and it feels like their confrontation is coming to a head… which is why they’re booked to wrestle each other at The Royal Rumble. Were it not for that match, Owens would be even higher on this list. He did a spectacular job during his main event match with Stone Cold during night one of WrestleMania 38, and WWE could certainly trust him if he was put into a big spot again this year. Here’s the case for it.
Kevin Owens loses during the first match at The Royal Rumble, probably via Bloodline interference. Then he shocks everyone by returning during The Rumble, shouting about how he’s going to get vengeance and another crack at Roman Reigns. He wins The Rumble and then spends the next few months on TV assembling his own backing support to keep The Bloodline away during ‘Mania. It’s a pretty worthwhile story. It’s just not as good as the next ones (and also probably too close to what WWE did last year with Lesnar at The Rumble).
5. Seth Rollins
Seth Freakin' Rollins is getting huge reactions from the crowd in the middle of a feud for the United States Championship. Imagine how much more magnified those reactions would be if the Visionary was on the road to the main event at WrestleMania. Fans would be screaming his theme song and cheering every little thing he was doing in the ring. And he’s doing so much right in the ring. That’s the best thing about Seth Rollins. He’s spectacular on the microphone. He’s very fundamentally sound in the ring. He can do all the flippy flops, as Braun Strowman would say, but he also choreographs his match out in such a way that it allows him to be a spectacular troll and create tons of little winks to the audience.
Seth Rollins is, for me, the absolute best wrestler on the planet. He does so many things well, and I’d love to see him rewarded with another big moment like winning The Rumble and main eventing WrestleMania. It’s probably not going to happen because it doesn’t play into a current storyline, but it would be so cool to see him and Roman Reigns work ‘Mania given their long Shield past and Rollins’ beloved Money In The Bank cash-in at WrestleMania 31.
4. Gunther
Gunther is the monster heel to end all monster heels. He’s a throwback from another era that somehow fits perfectly into this one too. He’s must watch television every single time he’s on, and his entire presentation with Imperium works so freakin’ well. I think he’s going to have multiple extended reigns with one of the big belts during his time in WWE, and I think if all goes well, he could go down as an all-time legend of the sport.
Plus, with the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship restored thanks to tons of great matches from Gunther, it would be a delight to see ‘Mania main evented by another WWE Champion vs Intercontinental Championship match like at WrestleMania 6 with Ultimate Warrior vs Hulk Hogan. I can just imagine the promos where Roman Reigns talks about how he’s going to win every belt the company has before he’s done, and I can imagine Gunther staring right back at him.
3. The Rock
We’ve all heard the rumors. WWE and The Rock apparently have a shared interest in him main eventing WrestleMania 39 which just so happens to take place in Los Angeles. The obvious match would have him wrestling his cousin Roman Reigns to see who the real Head Of The Table is. Unfortunately, that’s currently complicated for logistical reasons. Roman Reigns holds both of the major WWE titles, which means, barring a change in circumstance, he will be facing the Rumble winner at ‘Mania. That leaves WWE with three choices if they want Reigns and The Rock to happen: Reigns can lose one or both of the belts, he can wrestle once on each night or The Rock can win The Royal Rumble.
The Rock won the Royal Rumble all the way back in 2000. I don’t necessarily love the idea of having him win The Rumble again this year, given he’s not likely to be around after ‘Mania, but if The Rock is willing to come back and work for a few months to set up a truly epic main event to remember at Hollywood WrestleMania, I think most fans would sign up for that in a second. Besides, it’s not like everyone loved The Rock because he did all the moves perfectly in the ring. No one is expecting him to look like a prime Mr. Perfect. The People’s Elbow is maybe the dumbest signature move ever, but it all works because of his charisma, which he’s only improved since becoming a movie star. So, I have full confidence he can still put on a hell of a match in his own way.
2. Sami Zayn
What was Sami Zayn doing last year at the Royal Rumble? Oh, that’s right. He was in a feud with Johnny Knoxville from Jackass. I loved it, by the way. It was a lot of fun and later led to one of WrestleMania 38’s most memorable matches (and an epic Wee Man bodyslam), but we both know damn well that was the most mid-card storyline ever to exist on the mid-card. It was fabulous and I wouldn’t change a thing, but it didn’t even have a vague relationship to anything at the top of the card.
You know what’s not mid-card city? Winning the freakin’ Royal Rumble. And we are all sitting ringside in a world in which Sami Zayn could possibly win The Royal Rumble. He’s easily one of the most over guys on the entire roster, and he’s spent the last few months slowly proving his loyalty to Roman Reigns. Him winning The Royal Rumble would be a pretty natural extension of that storyline. Imagine he wins and Roman laughs in his face and is super dismissive. Or maybe he tells him he needs to lay down and lose on purpose or give up his title shot? There are so many options. All of them good.
1. Cody Rhodes
Since practically the moment Cody Rhodes got hurt around Hell In A Cell, more long-term focused wrestling fans were pointing to a possible return at The Royal Rumble. The storyline seemed to write itself. The prodigal son returned home to WWE with a goal of capturing the title that eluded both him and his father. He got over with the crowd, rattled off wins and seemed destined for his chance at Roman Reigns. Then he got hurt and was out for months. What could possibly be more perfect than having him return at Royal Rumble, win and get a title shot at WrestleMania? How could anything top that?
If Dwayne Johnson wasn’t possibly coming back with an eye to Main Event WrestleMania 39. If the Sami Zayn/ Jey Uso/ Roman Reigns Ucey storyline wasn’t the hottest thing in wrestling right now. If the entire world wasn’t looking at this event and thinking damn, Cody makes a lot of sense to win here, possibly creating pressure on the writing team to swerve. If people weren’t singing Seth Rollins’ theme song. If Gunther wasn’t engineered in a lab to be an all-time talented monster heel. If. If. If. If all of those options weren’t options, it would for sure be him. But they are options and really good ones.
I think Cody Rhodes is the right man to win the Rumble, and all signs point to him returning. I want that for him and his career, and I think it makes the most sense given the story told over the last year. I think he’s the most likely of every one of these possibilities outlined above. He belongs in this spot. But would I risk large amounts of money on it? No. Because there are just so many good choices this year.
Some things you might be wondering before we wrap this up...
Where's Riddle?
The original version of this list included Riddle. He might technically be out of rehab and available for The Royal Rumble, but I refuse to believe WWE would reward him for an alleged failed drug test by putting him over in The Rumble. That doesn’t make any sense at all. Had that not happened, however, he would have been somewhere in the 10-15 range.
And what about AJ Styles?
I also removed AJ Styles given his recent ankle injury. I remain convinced he has one more big push left, but given he’s been stuck around the mid-card, he would have been near the bottom of the list but still on it because he's AJ Styles.
Also... about some other people who didn't make the list:
I am high on some other people who didn’t make the final list like Finn Bálor, Montez Ford, Bron Breakker and Karrion Kross, but it was just too difficult to mentally make a case for why they were better candidates than the others on the list. I'll also shout out Chad Gable who is an absolute delight and deserves better than putting people over every week.
The Royal Rumble is the next upcoming premium live event in WWE's calendar. It'll take place on January 28th, 2023, and it can be watched with a Peacock subscription. Premium starts at only $4.99 a month, which, as anyone who ever ordered a pay per view from WWE can tell you, is a spectacular price.
