From the WWE Rumour Mill: Number of NXT talents in women's Royal Rumble revealed

What's the story?

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has released a report from their WWE sources suggesting that the female Superstars of NXT have been told how many of them will make an appearance in the historic women's Royal Rumble match at the pay-per-view of the same name.

In case you didn't know...

We know that this will be a full Royal Rumble match, just like the men's, with thirty competitors. Currently, 17 women from the main roster have been announced for the match, and are included in the graphic below.

Starting from the top left we have, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Ruby Riott, Nia Jax, Mickie James, Natalya, Lana, Tamina, Carmella, Naomi, Asuka, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville.

Becky Lynch is also in the match, despite not being in the below graphic

The heart of the matter

Aside from the main roster, the WWE have reportedly reached out to two former female legends like Michelle McCool and Molly Holly, meaning that, providing both women agree and appear, there are still 11 places left to fill in the match.

There's also some doubt over Paige's Royal Rumble status with reports suggesting that she will miss the event due to an injury she sustained at a house show. If this happens there are at least 12 spots to fill.

So, it stands to reason that some of the Superstars from NXT will be used to fill the match out and make some neat surprises along the way. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter indicates that as many as nine are being considered.

NXT talent has been told that nine women on the NXT roster will be in the Rumble but the decision on which nine hasn’t been made.

What's next?

It's also strongly believed that the Bella Twins will be returning to the Rumble, which would leave the numbers just about right at thirty, this seems to have been spoiled by an episode of Total Divas

Author's take

There was a time where many people believed there would be around ten returning female legends, but this new development suggesting that as many as nine Superstars from NXT would be in the match means we're getting a much smaller list of big-name surprise returns than we thought.