5 audacious predictions for Royal Rumble 2018

The Royal Rumble is always an event that brings a lot of intrigue to the WWE Universe.

There are big opportunities for some swerve booking whether it a shock title change, surprise return or an unexpected Rumble winner.

Here we put forward 5 bold predictions for the next Big 4 event on the WWE Calendar!

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#5 Becky Lynch wins the Women's Royal Rumble

Will the Irish Lass kicker win the big one?

For a long time, Becky Lynch has seemed to be the forgotten face of the Four Horsewomen of NXT.

Yes, she may have been the first Smackdown Womens championship. To be honest it was a forgettable reign for someone who easily could have been booked as the face of the Smackdown Live womens division.

Despite all of this though, Becky receives consistently great pops from the WWE universe and is still a big fan favourite. Having only appeared at house shows lately the creative team may be waiting for her to make a surprise return to TV at the Rumble event.

The real question is could she win the big one? I think so because although it seems to be all about Asuka, would the WWE really want to go down such a predictable route with the first Womens Rumble?

#4 The Miz regains his Intercontinental Championship

The Miz is heading back to Monday Night Raw!

When you think of the Intercontinental Championship one of the first names that pop into your head has to be The Miz.

Every time he holds the belt it always makes for captivating TV and when it is around MizTV is usually the catalyst for all the things that happen on Raw. With Reigns almost certainly getting the main event spot at Wrestlemania it is hard to see him not dropping the IC title on the way.

With Reigns soundly defeating Samoa Joe in an epic clash on Raw it seems unlikely that they will be putting the belt on the Samoan Bulldozer just yet.

Perhaps the Rolling Stone 'Wrestler of the year 2017' The Miz can return to stake his claim and through underhand tactics make history by becoming champ again. All of this before he puts over an up and coming face at Wrestlemania.

The Miz Vs Balor could be cool especially now it could be based on the warring factions of the Miztourage and Balor Club!

#3 Benjamin and Gable implode as Shelton Benjamin turns

Will this team stay together or is trouble ahead?

It is a strange one with Benjamin and Gable. They are a well-oiled tag team with great chemistry and seemed to be on a one-way train to the Smackdown Live tag titles but Creative does not seem to want to pull the trigger. This is usually the case when something bigger is in the works!

Gable has been a real breakthrough performer in the last few months and has too much in-ring ability to stay in the cocky heel role he has somehow fallen into. If you think about it though, every time this team comes close to winning the gold it is some type of communication error that is preventing them.

With the controversial fashion of the title match ending on Smackdown (with the wrong men being in the ring) expect there to be a rematch at the Rumble, and expect Benjamin to lose his cool and lay waste to his rookie partner in frustration after the match leading to an epic match at Wrestlemania. Even if its just the Pre-Show Stopper!

#2 Shane and Bryan come to blows physically

Where is all of this tension leading?

You may know from my previous articles that I love a good conspiracy theory.

In my opinion, Daniel Bryan is fine and was asked to fake this injury and step away for a few reasons. Firstly babyfaces were being booed just because Daniel was so over. This was happening at a time where the roster was full of new faces and it needed some time to breathe.

Removing Bryan not only means they could do a slow build to one of the best comeback stories in WWE history but also meant the WWE universe could get behind some of the other faces that the company wanted to push at the time.

With all of the tension between the Commissioner and General Manager, it is hard to see any other payoff than a match between the two which could be epic. If this is the route that creative is going to go down they need to light the spark.

Perhaps Shane screws Owens or Zayn and the tension gets too much and these two engage in a massive brawl telling the universe that not only is Bryan cleared to compete, but that we could have a classic on our hands at Wrestlemania that has been built perfectly!

#1 Dolph Ziggler wins the Royal Rumble match

Here to show the world!

Now I will be honest. I am a massive fan of Dolph Ziggler and have been waiting for his big payoff for over a decade. This, however, is the first time I think it actually might happen.

When Dolph vacated the US title on Smackdown it got people talking about him way more than they have done in years, what did it all mean? When your a company guy and spend years helping to build new stars they are eventually going to throw you a bone, especially when it seems like you might not stick around to do it much longer. Perhaps Vince finally decided to run with Ziggler and reward his years of hard work with a massive win at the Rumble.

Now I know a lot of people want to see Nakamura Vs Styles at Mania' but to be honest neither of these guys are going anywhere soon so there is no need to put this match on straight away. Also, Styles and Ziggler are two of the best in-ring performers in the world today and are more than capable of stealing the show at Wrestlemania.

Although Ziggler rarely wins the big ones when he actually does he always gets a great reaction. This is because although they do not expect it, the Universe is always ready to get behind a hard worker that has grafted to get to where he is regardless of a win/loss record. Could this finally be Ziggler's time to show the world?

No matter what swerves the WWE decides to pull this year the Royal Rumble is always one of the best PPV's and this year will be no different as they have so many options. Things are best when they're not predictable and this has never been truer than this year. If you have any predictions of your own please sound off in the comments below!