Predicting the final 4 for the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches

WWE’s first pay-per-view extravaganza of the year, the Royal Rumble, is coming up this weekend. The winners of both the men’s and the women’s Rumble matches are completely up in the air. Everyone has their favourites and there are plenty of dark horses just like every year.

With only 17 men and 18 women officially announced, there are a lot of possibilities for surprise entrants, and it’s not out of the question that one of them could win and head off to WrestleMania as well. Anything indeed can happen in WWE.

The Betting Odds

royal rumble — Will Ronda Rousey win the women's Royal Rumble match?

If you’re a person who pays attention to the betting odds you have seen that the odds have changed so many times that over the last few weeks anyone from Roman Reigns to Shinsuke Nakamura to Dolph Ziggler and even Daniel Bryan have been seen as top contenders for the men’s match. On the women’s side, it’s pretty much Becky Lynch, Asuka and Ronda Rousey leading the pack.

I won’t get deep into the actual numbers because they’re largely inconsequential and change every day, but less than two days from the matches, the people seem to believe that the top choices for the women are Ronda Rousey and Asuka (which have been the predictions of everybody in general, not just oddsmakers) and the men with the biggest chance of winning are Roman Reigns and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Surprises (Men’s Royal Rumble Match)

sting — Could Sting make a surprise return to WWE in the Royal Rumble?

I don’t expect that we will be treated to any big surprise entrants in the men’s match. There are a lot of men on the main roster who haven’t been announced, and at least one cruiserweight is sure to find his way into the 30-man fray. Don’t count on seeing any legends or past stars, and don’t expect to see the two most recent men released from Impact Wrestling. Bobby Lashley, according to all reports, isn’t cleared to wrestle for another company until February 1, so if he is returning to WWE the earliest he can appear is the February 5th episode of RAW.

Ethan Carter III, formerly known in WWE/NXT as Derrick Bateman, is eligible for the match but is extremely unlikely due to his relatively unknown status. He was a joke in WWE that they had no confidence in, and TNA/Impact Wrestling was an afterthought for his entire stay. That’s not to say that EC3 didn’t develop and become a top-notch wrestler, but he’s not the kind of guy who would make a splash by returning to WWE in the Royal Rumble match. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him sitting front row for the NXT Takeover event, however. Speaking of NXT, the only current NXT star that I could possibly see entering the Rumble would be UK Champion Pete Dunne, but I would call that an extreme long shot.

I’ll throw out one name: Sting. He’s been posting some cryptic stuff on Twitter lately, and why not?

Surprises (Women’s Royal Rumble Match)

peyton royce and billie kay — The Iconic Duo could make their main roster debuts in the Rumble match

In contrary to the men's match, I would not be surprised to see at least a couple women from NXT join the fray. Two specific women who a lot of people have been talking about are the Iconic Duo of Billie Kay and Peyton Royce. Not only would I not be surprised to see them, but if they are in the women’s Rumble, I would expect to see them stay, probably as new additions to the SmackDown Live roster. On top of that, we could see a Nikki Cross appearance and maybe Kairi Sane, but neither will stick around after the match.

That still leaves a huge eight spots open. I would bet on Trish Stratus, and sadly, Ronda Rousey may bring that number down to six. There’s even been speculation that Stephanie McMahon, who has been announced as a special guest commentator for the match (a decision that seemingly everybody with a Twitter, Instagram or Facebook account is against, myself included), could be a surprise entrant. Let’s all cross our fingers that such a travesty does not come to pass.

There aren’t any big name free agents in the women’s wrestling world right now, so the field will probably be filled with some of the women who competed in the Mae Young Classic but haven’t spent much time on NXT TV such as Abby Laith. Maybe Serena Deeb will show up. It’s a tough field to call.

The Final Four (Men’s Royal Rumble Match)

royal rumble 2018 — The Royal Rumble has an all-star field this year

I’ll start simple. Here are the four men I expect to see in the ring once 26 other men have been eliminated: Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Randy Orton, and Roman Reigns.

My favourite when it comes to the winner is Nakamura, although my preference is Finn Balor. I would love to see WWE go in a completely different direction and have Balor finally get his shot at the Universal Title that he never lost by trying to wrestle it from the gigantic hands of Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. That would be amazing.

That said, Nakamura is my pick to win. Orton will eliminate Balor much to the chagrin of the Philadelphians in attendance. Not long after, Nakamura will eliminate Orton, and then it’s going to get really, really, really tense in Philadelphia. The last time the Royal Rumble took place in Philadelphia, just a few short years ago in 2015, Roman Reigns was NOT the man the WWE Universe wanted to see come away with the WrestleMania title shot, and not even celebrating with The Rock could turn the hostile crowd around.

It will be crowd favourite Nakamura and the man who for one night will be the most hated man in Philly, Roman Reigns, squaring off. The crowd will be rabid to see Nakamura win and get a shot at AJ Styles while at the same time crossing all of their fingers and toes and doing everything they can to beg whatever God they believe in to make sure that Reigns doesn’t come out on top.

Their prayers will be answered, but Reigns' path won’t be diverted much, as he is likely to win the Elimination Chamber match in February to earn his shot at Brock Lesnar and the Universal Title at WrestleMania.

The Final Four (Women’s Royal Rumble Match)

This is a more difficult one for me to narrow down than the men’s match. It will most certainly be four women currently on the roster, so no surprise returns or NXT wrestlers. I also really don’t want to see Ronda Rousey in the match, so as far as I’m concerned she won’t be there, so it’s not possible for her to be in the final four.

With that in mind, my final four is Becky Lynch, Asuka, Nia Jax, and Carmella.

Carmella is Ms. Money in the Bank, but she would definitely benefit from not only getting a title shot at WrestleMania but having the briefcase as a backup. I think a lot of people have been sleeping on her, and while I don’t expect her to win I think reaching the final four would raise her profile, which she very greatly needs. Becky Lynch is my sentimental favourite, and also my pick to win the match as well. She’s the first ever SmackDown Live Women’s Champion, the crowd loves her, and she has a history with Charlotte as part of the Four Horsewomen of NXT. The story writes itself, doesn’t it?

As for Asuka and Nia Jax, I think they are going to end up eliminating each other. Nobody’s going to eliminate Asuka, and the cliche spot of having a bunch of wrestlers gang up on the biggest wrestler in the match is played out. I think the two women will get into an intense battle near the ropes, possibly escalating to the second or top turnbuckle, and they will both crash to the outside.

It’s possible that making Becky and Carmella the final two could cool the crowd off too much because of Carmella’s fairly low status since winning the Money in the Bank match (twice) but I think it’s worth a shot in order to make her more prominent. Plus, the people want Lynch and they will get her.

The Bottom Line

There are two Royal Rumble matches this year for the first time in history. The matches will probably bookend the show, with the women’s match kicking off at the top of the show and the men’s match closing it out. It’s a big night, especially for the women. Depending on how the match is laid out and even more importantly depending on the winner, this could be a make-or-break moment for the women’s division.

The stakes aren’t so high for the men’s match. Truly the worst case scenario is that WWE is dumb enough to have Roman Reigns win again in Philadelphia and expect anything other than an extremely negative response. He’s not turning heel, so he shouldn’t win the match. With the amount of talent in the men’s match it’s shaping up to potentially be an extremely good contest, and the winner truly is a toss-up. It could be one of the obvious favourites or it could be a complete surprise. While there’s not a lot riding on it, there’s some mystery this year, and that’s exciting.

Send us news tips at [email protected]