WWE setting up shocking Royal Rumble 2026 winner, claims Vince Russo: "There's no question in my mind" (Exclusive)

Former WWE head writer Vince Russo recently spoke about a major star winning the Royal Rumble. The major event is scheduled for early next year.

The Royal Rumble officially marks the start of the Road to WrestleMania. The winner of the Rumble match automatically gets a title match against the champion of his or her choosing in the main event of the Show of Shows.

During a recent episode of Writing with Russo, the veteran writer felt WWE was setting up the stage for Sami Zayn to win the Royal Rumble. He pointed out that this was the company's way of freeing him up for the World title picture. Russo was confident that Sami would eventually end up as the World Champion in the coming months. Speaking on Ilja Dragunov, he claimed that the hardcore fans would love the new United States Champion, but he wouldn't move the needle for the casual viewers.

"I really think this was about and we see this all the time, when somebody's going to get a shot at the bigger title, they lose the title. Bro, I'm telling you, he's gonna win the Royal Rumble, and he's gonna be the World Champion. I mean, there's no question in my mind. Dragunov, that fanbase is going to love him. He's not gonna mean one single thing to a casual viewer."

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Sami Zayn has been a fighting champion throughout his US title reign. He reinstated the United States Open Challenge to restore the prestige of the title. He had some stellar matches with the likes of John Cena, Rey Fenix, Carmelo Hayes, Je'von Evans, Aleister Black, and Shinsuke Nakamura before losing the gold to Dragunov last week.

It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for Sami in the coming months.

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About the author

Prityush is a WWE news writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling who started watching wrestling in the later part of The Attitude Era. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Prityush was a creative writer for his college, and his flair for creativity and love of pro wrestling eventually led him to the journalism field. After an initial stint in 2016-2017, he has been writing regularly for Sportskeeda since 2021.

As someone who loves and respects the business, he prides himself on factual, clean, and ethical reporting, free of plagiarism and AI usage. One of the ways he ensures this is by transcribing videos that he reports on.

Prityush had the privilege of interviewing superstar Matt Hardy in his career so far. Although, his favorite wrestler is CM Punk, as he relates to his Straight Edge philosophy.

When he is not reporting news, he loves reading and collecting WWE action figures. He currently owns over 500 wrestling figures and merchandise.

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Edited by Prityush Haldar