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For the third year in a row, the 30-woman Royal Rumble will be among the featured matches at the 2020 Royal Rumble in Houston, Texas on January 26.
In 2018, the first women’s Rumble in WWE history saw the undefeated Asuka outlast 29 other Superstars to set up a SmackDown Women’s Championship match against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34. The event also included the debut of Ronda Rousey, who appeared after the match and pointed at the WrestleMania sign.
One year later, Becky Lynch bounced back from her defeat against Asuka earlier in the night by going on to win the 2019 Royal Rumble and book her place in the main event of WrestleMania 35, where she defeated Rousey and Flair to claim the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships.
With Survivor Series now over, let’s look ahead to the next ‘Big 4’ pay-per-view on the WWE calendar by counting down the five most realistic contenders to win the 2020 women’s Royal Rumble match.
#5 Rhea Ripley
On a Survivor Series weekend that featured in-ring performances from over 60 WWE Superstars across RAW, SmackDown and NXT, Rhea Ripley stood out as the top star of the future from the three brands.
Having defeated Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks in a Triple Threat match on Friday’s episode of SmackDown, the Aussie emerged as one of three survivors as Team NXT picked up the victory over Team RAW and Team SmackDown in Sunday’s five-on-five-on-five elimination match.
The former NXT UK Women’s Champion’s biggest achievement arguably came during Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames event, where she became the first woman in 14 months to pin NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler.
Given the extraordinary amount of momentum that she built up over those three days, we can expect another strong showing from Ripley if she is selected as one of the NXT representatives in the 2020 Royal Rumble.
It would not be a surprise if WWE decided to allow future Rumble winners to challenge for NXT Championships, as well as World Championships from RAW and SmackDown, so Ripley would not necessarily have to leave NXT if she wins the Rumble.
#4 Nia Jax
In November 2018, Nia Jax cemented her status as the top heel in the women’s division when she broke Becky Lynch’s nose during SmackDown’s invasion of RAW before Survivor Series, forcing the Champion vs. Champion match between Lynch and Ronda Rousey to be cancelled.
Jax went on to challenge for the RAW Women’s Championship (vs. Rousey) and Women’s Tag Team Championship (w/Tamina) over the next five months, while she followed up her appearance in the 2019 women’s Royal Rumble by also entering the men’s Royal Rumble.
Unfortunately for Jax, she was forced to undergo double ACL surgery in April 2019, ruling her out of in-ring action for the rest of the year. Her return date is unknown but it was reported at the time of her surgery that she was expected to be sidelined for 6-9 months.
Provided she is healthy, the Royal Rumble would be the perfect time to reintroduce Jax, who has a history of success in Battle Royal matches, back to WWE programming.
Regardless of whether or not she wins, Jax is always going to be involved in some of the key moments in any Rumble she participates in.
#3 Charlotte Flair
With WrestleMania 36 just over four months away, it is safe to assume that Becky Lynch will be involved in the RAW Women’s Championship match at the event.
Given the number of matches that the two women have had in the past, it seems highly unlikely that Lynch and Charlotte Flair will battle it out for the second year in a row at WrestleMania, which means “The Queen” would almost certainly switch brands if she wins the 2020 Royal Rumble.
From a storyline perspective, WWE could potentially revive Flair’s rivalries with Sasha Banks and/or SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley in time for WrestleMania. However, it might not prove to be a popular decision if they kick-start that story with a Rumble triumph for Flair, whose frequent victories in high-profile matches are often questioned by fans.
That being said, this is Flair we are talking about, and WWE has shown on multiple occasions that fans’ opinions on her 10 World Championship victories are not going to stop the WrestleMania 35 main-eventer from being one of the most decorated Champions in WWE history.
#2 Sasha Banks
Heading into Survivor Series, the SmackDown women’s division mostly revolved around two people, Bayley and Sasha Banks.
As the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Bayley had the task of facing RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler in the main event. However, she ended up losing the overall battle of brand supremacy for SmackDown in the closing minutes of the show, as she submitted to Baszler’s Kirifuda Clutch.
Banks, meanwhile, led Team SmackDown, which also consisted of Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans and Nikki Cross, in the five-on-five-on-five elimination match. “The Boss” was the last remaining member of her team before she was pinned by Team NXT’s Rhea Ripley.
Many fans mentioned ahead of Survivor Series that Team SmackDown had the weakest women’s division in the elimination match, with Banks being the standout name for the brand.
With that in mind, it seems inevitable that “The Boss” will challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship in the near future, especially as her long-time frenemy, Bayley, is the current title holder.
A Rumble win for Banks, leading to a one-on-one WrestleMania match with Bayley, cannot be ruled out.
#1 Ronda Rousey
The 2019 Survivor Series pay-per-view was largely viewed as a success, with the exception of the main event between RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler.
Unfortunately for the three women involved, many fans were expecting Ronda Rousey to make her return by joining forces with Baszler to attack or confront Lynch, who took the RAW Women’s Championship from her at WrestleMania 35.
However, as that did not end up happening, it felt like Baszler’s win was overshadowed by a moment-that-never-was and the Chicago crowd never really got hooked into the match.
Moving forward, we are destined to see a Lynch vs. Rousey singles match one day. The two women were involved in the most heated rivalry of 2018-19 but, due to Nia Jax’s face-breaking punch before Survivor Series, they never met one-on-one.
Triple H recently mentioned that Rousey has pitched ideas for her return and he expects her back in WWE “sooner rather than later”, so it is safe to assume she will be on television again by the time WrestleMania 36 comes around.
An 18-months-in-the-making match between Lynch and Rousey is worthy of headlining WrestleMania, and the Royal Rumble is the perfect stage to set it up.
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