WWE Royal Rumble 2021: Ranking the build-up to every match

The 34th WWE Royal Rumble is set to take place this weekend (January 31st) in the WWE ThunderDome. The Royal Rumble is one of the most anticipated WWE pay-per-views of the year, with fans speculating over what will go down at the event months in advance.

At the 2021 Royal Rumble, a handful of WWE titles are on the line, including the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the WWE Championship.

The biggest draws of the night, however, are the 30 man, and the 30 women elimination matches. The Royal Rumble matches have seen some big shocks and surprises over the years, and the 2021 event may be no exception to the rule.

Here is the build-up to every match at the 2021 Royal Rumble, ranked.

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#6 Royal Rumble build-up: WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match, Asuka and Charlotte Flair (c) vs Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax

The women's tag division of WWE is in somewhat of a strange place right now. Towards the end of 2020, multiple tag teams split, including Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, The Golden Role Models and The IIconics, who all called it a day for varying reasons.

Given that the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships haven't been on Asuka and Charlotte Flair for too long, fans haven't got to see too much of their dynamic as a tag team, especially as they have only been teamed up since December.

Both Charlotte Flair and Asuka seem preoccupied with their storylines as singles stars - Flair has been feuding with Lacey Evans over her father, Ric Flair, and Asuka has been defending the RAW Women's Championship against Alexa Bliss and her ever-shifting personas.

In WWE, the women's tag team division has seemed like an afterthought in comparison to the other action that is currently going down. The title defence was announced by WWE following the go-home edition of RAW, so there hasn't been much chance to build hype for this match on television either.

#5 Royal Rumble build-up: WWE SmackDown Women's Championship match, Sasha Banks (c) vs Carmella

The current WWE SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks has been feuding with Carmella since the latter returned to television in November 2020. During their rivalry, the pair have battled back and forth over the title, with Carmella even having a shot at it at TLC in December.

The feud has been a great way to showcase Carmella's new gimmick, and also debut Reginald her sommelier. During the rivalry, fans have seen weeks of sparring between Carmella and Sasha Banks that has resulted in some great promos from the pair and has showcased the star power of both women.

As well as this, fans have even seen some inter-gender wrestling action, which is a bit of a rarity in current-day WWE. On the January 22nd edition of SmackDown, Sasha Banks took on Reginald, who had been interfering in matches between Banks and Carmella in recent weeks.

The title match between Sasha Banks and Carmella was one of the last ones announced for the Royal Rumble. There hasn't been as much build to their title match as there was for their previous one at TLC, and the Royal Rumble feels like it will spell the end of their rivalry.

#4 Royal Rumble build-up: WWE Championship match, Drew McIntyre (c) vs Goldberg

Like a few other matches on the card for the Royal Rumble, the WWE Championship match between Drew McIntyre and returning legend Goldberg hasn't had much time to build towards.

After Drew McIntyre defended the WWE Championship against Keith Lee on the Legends Night edition of Monday Night RAW, Goldberg issued a challenge to Drew McIntyre in a promo as the show came to a close, and the pair exchanged vicious words back and forth.

Drew McIntyre vs Goldberg came as somewhat of a curveball, as fans were coming to expect the returning star to face Roman Reigns, given that he has been calling him out online, and dropping hints about a future rivalry, especially as their WrestleMania 36 match ended up canceled.

To throw a spanner in the works, a week after WWE Legends Night was broadcast WWE disclosed that Drew McIntyre had tested positive for COVID-19. Due to this, the star was forced to take a two-week break from television to quarantine. McIntyre was able to take part in RAW segments via a video link, but the build for this Royal Rumble championship match has been brief.

#3 Royal Rumble build-up: WWE Universal Championship match, Roman Reigns (c) vs Kevin Owens

Roman Reigns has been a dominant star of SmackDown since his WWE return at SummerSlam, and shortly after his comeback, he won the WWE Universal Championship.

Fans have been captivated by the heel turn of Roman Reigns, and his Tribal Chief storyline. The first Superstar that fell victim to Reigns' newfound villainy was his cousin Jey Uso, who challenged the champion, and after losing the star was forced to fall in line.

Fellow WWE SmackDown Superstar Kevin Owens rose to challenge the actions of Reigns around the time of Survivor Series, and the star has had an ongoing rivalry with the Tribal Chief ever since. The pair have fought over the championship at TLC, where Reigns managed to retain.

Initially, the WWE Universal Championship match announced for the Royal Rumble was Roman Reigns versus current WWE official Adam Pearce, which left some fans confused, and some suspicious of a twist in the tale. The latter were correct, as Pearce replaced himself in the match with Kevin Owens.

The rivalry between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns has been a great one, with many layers to the story, and it will be interesting to see how it will come to a close during their Last Man Standing match at the Royal Rumble.

#2 Royal Rumble build-up: Men's WWE Royal Rumble match

This year's WWE Royal Rumble is set to be one that is completely different from what has come before. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, there will be no fans in attendance at this year's event, which will look and feel very different due to the level of fan interaction that usually goes down at the Royal Rumble.

In the build-up to this year's men's Royal Rumble, multiple WWE Superstars have come forward to declare their spot in this weekend's match. In fact, most of the 30 places have already been taken by previously announced performers, leaving little room for the surprises that fans love to see in the Royal Rumble.

On the most recent edition of WWE Backstage, the first two entrants of the Royal Rumble were announced as long-time rivals Edge and Randy Orton, so it is clear that fans will be able to see the animosity between the two play out in this year's match.

As well as this, multiple Royal Rumble competitors have been cutting some intense promos about their desire to win this years match, including fan favorite Daniel Bryan.

#1 Royal Rumble build-up: Women's WWE Royal Rumble match

Just like the men's Royal Rumble match, the women's event will be a very different affair this year, due to fans being absent from WWE's ThunderDome. However, some big names have already been announced for this year's match, starting with current WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Charlotte Flair.

Other huge stars have declared their entry for their Royal Rumble, but there are still more to come, leading to more of an element of surprise in comparison to the men's Royal Rumble.

On the most recent episode of WWE Backstage, SmackDown mainstay Natalya was revealed as the number thirty entrant. There are also some surprises in the women's match that have been hinted at, including returns from stars such as WWE Legend Trish Stratus, who Natalya posted and then swiftly deleted a photo of and was also featured on a WWE on BT Sport poster. Along with former RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, who's iconic skirt was featured on the same poster.

As well as this, fan favorite to win the rumble, Bianca Belair defeated Bayley on the go-home edition of SmackDown, and called it her "biggest win yet" before launching into a promo where she laid out her plans to be this years Royal Rumble winner.