WWE Royal Rumble 2021: 6 Last-minute predictions: Former World Champion returns, long-term alliance is finally broken, surprise victor

The 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view kick starts the Road To WrestleMania and tomorrow night could see two WrestleMania matches made official. Once again the men and the women will be handed respective Royal Rumble matches and the fields for the matches have filled up quite quickly.

As of writing, there are 12 women and 20 men announced for their respective matches, which means that there is still a lot of room for surprise returns or even debuts.

The Royal Rumble matches are not the only ones on the card either, since four Championships will be defended as Drew McIntyre puts the WWE Championship on the line against Goldberg. Roman Reigns collides in a Last Man Standing Match for the Universal Championship against Kevin Owens, whilst Charlotte and Asuka defend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships against Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax.

Last night on SmackDown, the Women's Championship match between Carmella and Sasha Banks was also made official. With the show now just hours away, here are six last-minute predictions for the show.

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#6. Carmella wins her second SmackDown Women's Championship at The Royal Rumble

Carmella has been pushing Sasha Banks to the limit over the past few months thanks to her new sidekick Reginald. The former SmackDown Women's Champion has finally been handed another chance at the title this weekend at The Royal Rumble and it could be Carmella's best chance to become Champion.

Reginald will obviously be at ringside for the match and look to help Carmella in any way that he can, which hasn't worked out in the duo's favor in recent months. Carmella knows that this is her last shot at the title since the Royal Rumble winner could decide to challenge Banks instead and a change of Champion would shake up the SmackDown brand heading into WrestleMania.

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#5. Jimmy Uso returns to help Roman Reigns defeat Kevin Owens

Jimmy Uso has been out of action since the former Tag Team Champion suffered a knee injury back at WrestleMania in 2020. Uso's brother Jey has since been part of an interesting storyline with his cousin Roman Reigns which Jimmy was recently dragged into.

Jimmy Uso was last seen back at Hell in a Cell when he was the reason why Jey Uso lost his match to Roman Reigns and at present, it's unknown if he is on the same page as his brother. Uso should be ready to make his WWE return this weekend at The Royal Rumble and could shock the WWE Universe by actually helping his cousin to retain his Championship.

In a Last Man Standing Match, interference is within the rules, and whilst Kevin Owens has already prepared himself for interference from Jey Uso, the return of his brother could be an interesting swerve.

#4. Drew McIntyre defeats Goldberg and retains his WWE Championship at The Royal Rumble

Drew McIntyre takes on Goldberg this weekend at The Royal Rumble knowing that the WWE Hall of Famer has made a career out of short Championship wins. McIntyre could finally be the man to stop the WCW legend in his tracks and force him to take a Claymore on Sunday night.

It's obvious that WWE has some huge plans for Drew McIntyre in the future and since Goldberg's contract only needs him to wrestle two matches a year, it makes little sense to award him another short Championship reign that would obviously come to an end at WrestleMania.

McIntyre has already dedicated his match at the Royal Rumble to everyone around the world who is struggling with COVID-19 after recovering from the virus himself. This move by itself almost guarantees that the Scottish star will find a way past Goldberg and not become another name on his list of conquests.

It will be interesting to see if Goldberg then enters the Royal Rumble match if he's unable to win the WWE Championship.

#3. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax implode at the Royal Rumble

Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax challenge Charlotte and Asuka for the Women's Tag Team Championships at The Royal Rumble. The two women are easily the most dominant in the women's locker room and haven't been on the same page for a number of weeks.

There have been several teases that the two women could turn on one another at some point in the future and at present it's unclear if this will happen in their Women's Tag Team Championship match or as part of The Royal Rumble.

It could be that the two women are unsuccessful in their quest to become Champions once again which leads them to turn on one another in the Women's Royal Rumble and then Baszler could eliminate Jax.

Shayna Baszler was one of the women who was expected to win the Women's Royal Rumble last year and could easily be seen as a favorite for this year's match. The former NXT Women's Champion deserves a huge push on RAW and that can only begin after she has cut ties with Nia Jax.

#2. Braun Strowman wins the men's Royal Rumble match

Braun Strowman has now officially been declared as an entrant in the Men's Royal Rumble match after he made his surprise return last night on SmackDown. The former Universal Champion has already won one Royal Rumble match in the past and could be the man booking his place at WrestleMania on Sunday night.

Strowman was suspended by Adam Pearce back in November and was able to make his return to the company last night because it was Pearce's night off. Strowman is officially in the Royal Rumble match, but if he's victorious then it could be a win that's taken away from him since Pearce hasn't said that he can return yet.

This would definitely add some controversy to the Road to WrestleMania and mean that Strowman is forced to fight for his chance at a World Championship.

Strowman has already dominated the Royal Rumble in the past and has the joint record for the most amount of eliminations, so Sunday night could see him push forward for the all-time record.

#1. Bianca Belair dominates the Women's Royal Rumble match

The Women's Royal Rumble match only has 12 women officially announced at present which means that there is a lot of room for surprises and swerves tomorrow night.

There are several women who have the ability to dominate the match and go on to challenge a Champion of their choice at WrestleMania, including The EST of WWE Bianca Belair.

WWE has finally started to push Belair in recent weeks and she picked up a huge win over Bayley on SmackDown this past week. Belair currently holds the joint elimination record for The Royal Rumble match alongside Shayna Baszler with eight but this could become many more this weekend.

Belair is many fans' favorite to win the match overall, but if Ronda Rousey makes her return then she would definitely go on to win. It's likely that Belair will be the Ironwoman of the match and have a memorable display, but it's unclear as to whether or not The EST is ready for the push that comes with a Royal Rumble victory.