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The Royal Rumble is right around the corner and it appears that WWE could be saving several returnees for the show now that the likes of Sheamus, The Usos and The Big Show have all returned to the ring in recent weeks.
Sheamus and The Usos had been out of action for a number of months before they made their return on SmackDown this past week before The Big Show was the shock returnee on Monday Night Raw a few days ago.
Despite all of these stars stepping back into the ring ahead of The Rumble, there are a number of other superstars who could return as part of the show, or later in the year since many of wrestlers on WWE's injured list could be looking at missing this year's WrestleMania.
#9 Ember Moon
Ember Moon has been sidelined over the past few months after she revealed on WWE Backstage that she had suffered a torn Achilles whilst chasing Carmella backstage hoping to get a shot at the 24/7 Championship.
Moon revealed as part of her recent appearance on Booker T's podcast that she won't be returning to the ring anytime soon since she doesn't want to rush back and risk reinjuring her leg once again.
Of course, this injury means that Moon could be missing her second WrestleMania after being forced on the sidelines following last year's Women's Royal Rumble when she suffered an elbow injury. Moon's chat with WWE Hall of Famer Booker T revealed that she could be sidelined up until 2021 with the injury, but it means that she will be completely healed by the time she makes her return.
#8 Jinder Mahal
Jinder Mahal was last seen on WWE TV when he was pinned by R-Truth on the plane on the way to Super ShowDown in the Middle East. Mahal had pinned the champion on the tarmac a few hours earlier and lost the title on the plane before he landed in Saudi Arabia.
It was later announced that Mahal suffered a knee injury and would be out of action for up to 12 months but was still drafted to Monday Night Raw as part of the WWE draft. Interestingly, Mahal was cleared to make his return to the ring back in December, and many believed that he would be the man who Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe chose to partner them this past week on Raw.
It could be that WWE are saving Mahal's return to be part of the Royal Rumble match on January 26th. Mahal hasn't been part of a memorable storyline since his WWE Championship run back in 2017, so if he is able to return at the Royal Rumble then it will be interesting to see if the company decides to push him back into a main event picture heading into WrestleMania 36.
#7 Lars Sullivan
Lars Sullivan was promoted to the main roster alongside the likes of Nikki Cross, EC3, Lacey Evans at the beginning of 2019. But on the day Sullivan was expected to debut, reports suggested that he had suffered an anxiety attack and was sent home.
Interestingly, he later made his debut the night after WrestleMania where he attacked Kurt Angle before going on to attack a number of other stars including Rey Mysterio and The Hardy Boyz. Sullivan was then drafted over to SmackDown where he started a feud with The Lucha House Party. But a few weeks later, it was revealed that The Freak had suffered a severe knee injury during match against the trio which would sideline him for up to nine months.
This timeline would see Sullivan make his return in time for WrestleMania, but recent reports surrounding the former NXT star have revealed that he could be missing WrestleMania this year with his expected return date around June instead.
Sullivan has had a number of personal issues throughout his career, but hopefully, he's able to put that behind him when he returns to WWE later this year.
#6 Mickie James
Mickie James returned to WWE back in 2017, but hasn't been able to recreate the glory days that she had alongside the likes of Lita and Trish Stratus as part of her first run in WWE. Instead, James has been used as more of an enhancement talent as the six-time Women's Champion has pushed to help the Women's Division throughout the current Women's Evolution.
James has been on the sidelines since the summer of 2019 when it was revealed that Virginia native suffered a torn ACL in a live event match against Carmella. James underwent a successful knee surgery back in July, but the injury was expected to sideline the former Impact Wrestling star for around nine months which would see her make her return just in time for WrestleMania 36.
Interestingly, over the past few months, James has become a commentator on WWE Main Event and was made a free agent as part of the recent WWE Draft. James' contract is expected to expire whilst she's struggling with injury, so right now the former Women's Champion's WWE future is still up in the air.
#5 Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy and his brother Matt have been on an interesting run in WWE since their return back at WrestleMania 33. But that took something of a turn back in April when Hardy was sidelined with a knee injury.
Jeff and his brother Matt were able to defeat The New Day just two nights after WrestleMania to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, but before they were able to celebrate their victory, the duo was attacked by Lars Sullivan and Hardy suffered a legitimate injury as part of the beatdown.
The Champions were then forced to vacate their titles a few weeks later because of the injury to Jeff Hardy and it was then revealed that he would be out of action for up to nine months.
This timeline means that Hardy could be back in time for the Royal Rumble at the end of the month, but the former World Champion has suffered a number of personal issues recently which could have pushed his return date back somewhat. There is currently no official return date linked to Hardy, but he is expected to return to his brother's side ahead of WrestleMania 36 in April.
#4 Nia Jax
Nia Jax was in the hunt for the Women's Tag Team Championships back in April when she teamed up with Tamina to take on The IIconics, Sasha Banks and Bayley, as well as The Divas of Doom, at WrestleMania 35, but this would be Jax's last match for some time.
The former Women's Champion revealed on an episode of Total Divas ahead of the show that she knew she was injured walking into the match since her legs had no ACL's at all. She underwent successful knee surgery following the show and has since been rehabbing both of her legs as she looked to make a return to the ring as soon as possible.
Jax's return date was expected to be around January 2020 which means that she's another star who could be a shock returnee in the Women's Royal Rumble match at the end of the month. Jax has recently updated a number of videos on her Instagram of her back in the ring at the Performance Center which means that it's likely that she will be back in time to be part of the build-up to WrestleMania 36.
#3 EC3
EC3 hasn't had as much success in WWE compared to his spell back in Impact Wrestling. It was revealed recently that EC3 had suffered a concussion and could be out of action for a number of months.
EC3 is a four-time 24/7 Champion after he traded the Championship with R-Truth a number of times throughout 2019 but he is still thought to be someone who is unhappy with his current situation in WWE.
EC3 could return as a surprise entrant in the upcoming Royal Rumble since he only suffered a concussion back in November. He isn't expected to be sidelined for very long as long as he can pass the impact tests that WWE will put him through in order to be cleared for his WWE return.
Concussions don't sideline Superstars for very long but they are thought to be quite serious injuries since they can lead to a number of problems at the end of wrestlers' careers. So the company could be ensuring that EC3 is back at one hundred percent before allowing him to step back into the ring.
#2 Xavier Woods
Xavier Woods had a fantastic 2019 and was one of the men behind Kofi Kingston's push towards the WWE Championship. Following Kingston's victory back at WrestleMania 35 in April, Big E and Woods won the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, and defended them a number of times. Woods suffered an Achilles injury at a live event in October that could sideline him for up to a year.
Woods has been quite vocal online since his injury and his teammates have since been wearing XW armbands to show that he is still in their minds even though he's no longer by their side. Woods is expected to undergo an assessment in May 2020 which will allow WWE to see how far along his rehab is coming, but the man himself has stated that it's likely that he could be out of action until 2021 if he gives the injury the right amount of time to heal.
Many wrestlers rush back following an injury, but it seems that Woods has decided to make sure he's definitely ready to return before he steps back between the ropes.
#1 Ruby Riott
Ruby Riott was once the leader of The Riott Squad, but over the past few months, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan have started new storylines without Riott, whilst the former NXT star has been sidelined due to injury.
Riott suffered a bilateral shoulder injury back in Spring 2019 and was then forced to undergo surgery back in May. The former Riott Squad leader suffered an injury to both of her shoulders, which meant that she had to undergo the same surgery again in August on the opposite shoulder.
Despite undergoing two harrowing surgeries over the past year, Riott's return date was still set for January 2020, which means that she is one of the stars who are expected to make their return at The Royal Rumble on January 26th.
It will be interesting to see what storyline Riott steps into when she is able to make her return since Liv Morgan is now part of the storyline with Lana and Bobby Lashley, whilst Sarah Logan seems to have gone after Charlotte ahead of the first pay-per-view of 2020.
