5 Superstars who almost definitely are not winning the men's Royal Rumble this year

Disclaimer: The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those of Sportskeeda.

Right now, there are more than 20 names announced for the 2020 Royal Rumble. The competition is stiff, and it's a pretty star-studded list. It's a 'who's who' of WWE Superstars.

Everyone's talking about potential winners and the like, as that's always fun to do. There's nothing wrong with harmless speculation (unless you're the kind of guy who bets money on these things). But we're not doing that.

We're going to flip the script and do the opposite, let's talk about the dudes who almost definitely aren't winning.

Obviously, we're only going to pick Superstars who are in the match (there's no way The Fiend is winning!), and Superstars who are credible enough to win (there's no way Aiden English is winning!). So let's get right to it and talk about who probably won't get to point at the WrestleMania sign and watch all those fireworks.

#5 King Corbin

In every Rumble he's been in, King Corbin could have easily been in the top five, and no one would have complained about it being unbelievable. They'd complain that Corbin was too lame to make it so far, but it's not the same complaint they'd make if Primo made it to the top five.

The King is one of the top stars on SmackDown right now, and his high profile feud with resident golden boy Roman Reigns has only boosted his stock. However, I don't think this is Corbin's year to win.

The Fiend is the Universal Champion, and it seems he'll be holding onto that title for a while. There's probably a big-money match being saved up for him at WrestleMania, and Corbin is not the guy for that. Plus, Reigns is probably tossing him out of the ring in five minutes.

#4 Seth Rollins

There are a lot of reasons why Seth Rollins is almost definitely off the table for consecutive Royal Rumble victories. First off, he just won. While consecutive Rumble victories are not unheard of, the Rollins of 2019 is a very different man from the one of 2020.

Secondly, The Architect is fresh off a heel turn and is currently locked in some sort of gang warfare against Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens, The Viking Raiders, and occasionally the Big Show. This is the sort of feud that will divide Monday Night RAW, and it is only going to get more chaotic before it ends.

To disrupt all of that by having Seth win the Royal Rumble would make things more chaotic and unpredictable. But the Rumble win could get lost in the story, and it's hard to imagine where they'd squeeze Brock Lesnar into the fray.

Instead of The Road to WrestleMania being about one man's journey to the top, it will instead become five guys' journey against five other guys to make it back to the top. It's a bit confusing, so it's highly likely that WWE won't go with this.

#3 Braun Strowman

With all the other big guys like Mark Henry, Kane, and Big Show retiring or just slowing down in general, Braun Strowman is now the new favorite to win any Rumble that he's in. How are you going to get a man of his size to go over the top rope?

Jokes aside, Strowman has been, at certain points in his career - hot stuff. He is larger than life, and his character is one that many people like to watch. Who doesn't like watching a juggernaut just wreak havoc and do as he pleases?

Right now though, it's highly unlikely that Strowman gets to point at the WrestleMania sign this year. Although he's in a good place right now, he's not the hottest thing going on at the moment.

Besides, it's almost guaranteed that The Monster Among Men is facing Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship, maybe even at WrestleMania. Nobody wins the Rumble to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship, because why would you?

This could be the year Strowman wins some gold for himself as a singles competitor, but it won't be because of the Royal Rumble.

#2 AJ Styles

AJ Styles has only been in WWE for a few years, but if you look at his achievements, you'd think he's been there forever. He's a two time WWE Champion and a three-time United States Champion. His second reign as WWE Champion was 371 days long, and he's put on so many classic matches.

What hasn't AJ Styles accomplished? A whole lot to be honest. Winning the Royal Rumble is one of those things the Phenomenal One hasn't done. It's hard to say if he will get to accomplish that though. He probably won't win this year, and he might not win it ever.

Right now Styles is feuding with Randy Orton. The duo had a match at WrestleMania last year, and it was pretty great. Right now I don't think anyone can say with any certainty that Orton and Styles will have a WrestleMania rematch, but it seems possible.

Even if they were to make amends before WrestleMania rolls around, both WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Styles are heels, and it seems unlikely that WWE would go for a heel vs heel match-up as one one of its big-money matches at its biggest show of the year.

#1 Brock Lesnar

This is the big one. There's almost no way the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar gets to enter the Royal Rumble at number one and then win the whole thing, as it's almost too crazy to think about. If Lesnar wins the whole thing, he probably gets to pick his opponent. What's to stop him from picking Curt Hawkins and win at WrestleMania in 10 seconds?

The absurdity of it all notwithstanding, this whole thing about Lesnar entering at #1 seems like a convenient plot device more than anything. It's a really easy way to determine who will challenge for the WWE Championship. Some poor shmuck just has to knock Lesnar over the top rope, he doesn't even have to win - Brock will probably be angry enough that a match could be arranged.

All that tomfoolery frees up the Rumble winner to maybe challenge the Fiend at WrestleMania. But that's a topic for another time (although I think we all know who's facing the Fiend at WrestleMania).