2019 Men's Royal Rumble Match Predictions

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January is generally a miserable month for those of us that live in the Northern Hemisphere, but it's one of WWE's most exciting. All eyes turn to the Royal Rumble and its namesake match. Aside from being a lot of fun in general - the chaos, the surprise entrants, the odd moments that can only be seen there - we'll get to find out who will headline WrestleMania.

More than that, though, the Royal Rumble is a match that can create new stars. Good performances can make them even if they don't walk out with a victory. Roman Reigns' 2014 performance, where he broke the elimination record and lasted to the end, certainly set up his victory, however unwelcome, a year later.

So who will be made stars in this year's edition of everyone's favourite match? Who will perform poorly?

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First entrant: Kevin Owens

Why not?

Kevin Owens is reportedly supposed to return soon, perhaps at the Royal Rumble. What better way to give him a huge moment than having him be the surprise first entrant to kickstart the Royal Rumble match?

Owens has been down on his luck for the past year or so. His feud with Shane McMahon on SmackDown dragged on forever. Making the jump to Monday Night Raw didn't do him many favours, either, as he found himself embroiled in a one-sided feud with Braun Strowman that was nothing short of embarrassing. An injury hiatus was in many respects a merciful interlude for the former Universal Champion, who has since fallen far from that high.

Kevin Owens can begin returning to a more respectable form by entering the Royal Rumble first and making an impact there. A surprise entry in the first position would certainly get the crowd amped up for the hour-long match to come.

Longest time in the Rumble: Andrade "Cien" Almas

Part two.

Andrade "Cien" Almas made his Royal Rumble debut last year while still the NXT Champion. The night after his classic with Johnny Gargano, which many fans consider WWE's best match of 2018, Almas impressed there, too, lasting for a good while before he was finally eliminated.

Almas' main roster career hasn't been as successful. He lacks that one signature moment to push him further up the card. The Royal Rumble match would be an ideal time to turn a lot more heads. The higher-ups backstage trust his ability to impress in long matches. They will do so again in the Royal Rumble, where he's in an ideal position to be the match's iron man.

With Almas in the match for a long time, he can have good, exciting sequences with anybody in addition to boosting his own status, which he's reportedly unhappy about.

Shortest time in the Rumble: Baron Corbin

Fall from grace.

Baron Corbin has been the one taking the blame for the horrible state Raw was in during the final weeks of 2018. He's become the butt of jokes and been used to get stars on the undercard over.

I expect the same thing during the Royal Rumble match itself. Baron Corbin will try to weasel his way into victory but will find that his old enemies are only too eager to humiliate him once again. They'll all stop their brawling, gang up on him, and unceremoniously toss him over the top rope just to make sure he's gone. Then they'll resume their hostilities with WrestleMania on the line.

It would be one of the nice touches of humour that the Royal Rumble match is known for. One can't fault Baron Corbin for being the fall guy and giving back to the roster. He's done a great job of that.

Most eliminations: Drew McIntyre

The king of the Raw jungle.

This is a more or less obvious prediction. There's no one that looks more menacing heading into the Royal Rumble than Drew McIntyre, especially after this week. Although it's far from out of the question that Lars Sullivan could have a monster performance, McIntyre is the one that WWE will probably want to invest more resources in. In fact, McIntyre eliminating Sullivan would send a major statement.

I've got Drew McIntyre down for eliminating at least half a dozen people on January 27th. He'll come in during the middle of the match and clean house, having his greatest performance yet since returning to the main roster. It will set him up for a probable Universal Championship run later on this year.

Drew McIntyre is also going to last a long time, which gets us into our final four for the evening.

The final four: Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Mustafa Ali

The final confrontation (hopefully).

After Drew McIntyre goes on his rampage, he'll be faced with some familiar people. Seth Rollins had his battles with McIntyre throughout 2018, but dangerously, he'll be facing an even more personal enemy in Dean Ambrose, who will antagonize him to the end.

Mustafa Ali will be the wild card. He's been getting a big push ever since debuting on SmackDown in December, first having a lengthy match with Daniel Bryan, then pinning him, and then being the star of the fatal five way to determine his Royal Rumble challenger.

Ali didn't win there, but that probably means that an even bigger push is coming for him, since it won't mature too early. To cement Ali's new push, he will make it to the end of the Royal Rumble match, only to find that Drew McIntyre is too much for him.

During the distraction in the aftermath of Ali's elimination, Seth Rollins will strike and finally eliminate Raw's "king of the jungle," leaving only him and his perpetual frenemy, Dean Ambrose.

Winner: Seth Rollins

A year too early.

When the dust is finally settled, however, Seth Rollins will finally get his vengeance over Dean Ambrose. He won't have gotten his Intercontinental Championship back, but he'll have won himself an even bigger prize - a title match at WrestleMania 35.

Seth Rollins has indeed "been carrying Raw on his back for the last year," and this will be his ultimate reward. It will be a formidable one, because Brock Lesnar would be waiting for him, but he vowed he'd even burn Lesnar down if he got in his way.

Raw's MVP vs. its absentee, lazy champion is an obvious story to tell heading into WrestleMania, one which will feel authentic for Rollins while it didn't for Roman Reigns a year earlier.

Rollins' Royal Rumble victory will begin a new phase for Raw, one which it desperately needs after a year where the red brand cratered.