The wrestlers we want to win the Royal Rumbles

For nearly 30 years, the Royal Rumble has been an annual tradition in the WWE and one of its finest institutions. It’s helped launch the careers of some of the biggest stars in the company’s history, and with such a big prize at stake for winning it — a title shot for either the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania — there’s always a bevy of dramatic moments to be had, including some that set up further huge matches down the line.

This year, we get a chance to see two Royal Rumbles in one night instead of just one. For the first time ever, we’re getting a women’s Rumble match for a shot at the WWE RAW or SmackDown Women’s Championships. That adds a lot of excitement to the night and adds a whole new crop of potential winners and new rivalries and all sorts of drama to be had.

Every year there’s a few obvious names to be in the running to win the Rumble. Of the 30 entrants, only five or six have a realistic chance of winning. Most are guys at the upper end of the match card on a regular basis already, but fans always hope to see someone new win and push their way up the card. This isn’t about the guys we expect to win — you can find those lists anywhere — but who we want to see win.

Now up front it needs to be said that there’s a high chance Strowman won’t even be in the Royal Rumble this season. He’s part of the Triple Threat match for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship, and with those two monsters and Kane filling up the ring, that’s bound to be such an intensely physical match that even if it’s the show opener, Strowman won’t be recovered in time for even a late Rumble slot.

But oh man, if he does enter the Rumble — there’s fun to be had.

WWE loves a monstrous wrestler. Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry, Great Khali, and other massive men have all been anchors of the Rumble over the years, because their sheer size and power makes them a huge target for attention — both literally and figuratively. Strowman’s power and surprising athleticism can see him clear the ring in an over-the-top-rope match like the Rumble with ease, and seeing him given license to just clear house and go nuts would be so much fun.

But more than that, seeing him win the Rumble would not just be fun, it would be meaningful — it’s been more than a decade since a true Big Man won the Rumble, when the Undertaker won his one and only Rumble victory in 2007.

Despite Kane long holding the record for eliminations in a single Rumble and still holding the total eliminations record, big guys like Strowman have rarely ever won the Rumble, instead being used as a mid-match burst of excitement. So a win for Strowman would not only be a break from that mold — it would be a sign that WWE trusts him to potentially be one of the guys at the top of the card moving forward.

The first-ever Universal Champion, Balor is a fun wrestler with a unique style, both in and out of the ring. Now we’re likely not going to see his famous Demon persona in this match. But his star has been back on the rise of late after seeming to flounder following his return from the shoulder injury that forced him to give up the Universal title less than 24 hours after winning it.

Simply put, Balor is one of the most popular wrestlers in the company outside of the main title scene right now. On top of that, he’s been having fun again after hooking up with his old friends and allies, The Club’s Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. He’s known the Good Brothers for a long, long time, and Finn’s old friends have helped propel him upward once more — we could wind up seeing them work as a team in the Rumble to help give Finn as deep a run as possible.

A win for Balor would likely pit him against Lesnar in an effort to retrieve his beloved Universal title. And while that would certainly be an uphill battle for the much smaller Irishman, we’ve seen the momentum of a Rumble win help smaller wrestlers earn some monumental triumphs before.

Just ask Rey Mysterio, who took down Kurt Angle and Randy Orton at WrestleMania in 2006 after winning the Rumble in the longest Rumble appearance in history. It would certainly be a wildly entertaining match to watch as two of the biggest international stars in the company go head to head to headline WrestleMania. It would definitely be a refreshing change of pace compared to other Rumble wins in recent years.

Once the brightest up-and-coming bad guy in the company, it’s been almost three years since we’ve really gotten to see Rusev at his brutal best. But his popularity with fans has steadily been on the rise, and the Bulgarian Brute seems poised to break out once more as one of the company’s top wrestlers.

A Rumble win would be exactly the kind of breakout surge in momentum Rusev needs, not to mention the fact that a match between the hyperathletic Rusev and the wonderfully varied style of World Heavyweight champion A.J. Styles at WrestleMania 34 would be a must-watch, match-of-the-year candidate.

Rusev has the pure ability to have a fantastic match with anyone in the company, and the crowd reaction to his victory would be fantastic. It’s exactly the kind of thing WWE needs after a couple of rough months for the company’s bigger moments, especially after how poorly parts of the 25th anniversary show for Monday Night Raw were received.

The Irish Lass Kicker has been one of the most popular women on the main roster since the moment she arrived, with her fiery hair and even more fiery spirit shining bright in the women’s division. Her high work rate and skill make her the kind of wrestler who can go a long ways during a Royal Rumble match, and that instantly makes her a favorite to win.

But she’s not just a favorite — Becky Lynch is also the kind of wrestler they want to see win a match like this, especially since it’s such a huge moment in WWE history. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and she visibly feels the same disappointments her fans do when she loses. She maybe even outpaces her fans’ exuberance when she triumphs, especially when she became the first to hold the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship.

Her career has been a little up and down since that moment, but especially with one of her best friends holding the title right now in Charlotte, the potential for an incredible match at WrestleMania between them is high. People will want Lynch to win both to see her joyful celebration — and to see the match that comes from it down the road.

She’s definitely not like most girls, and like Strowman in the men’s Rumble, Nia Jax is the standout physical presence in the women’s match. Not only is it going to be difficult for most of her rivals to get her out over the top rope, it’s going to be difficult to slow her down once she hits the ring and starts building momentum. That makes her an obvious favorite, sure — but it’s also just so much fun to watch her throw women around with a huge smile on her face.

It’s worth noting, as well, that Jax has a strong desire to win this match for more reasons than just it being the first ever women’s Rumble. She’s been champing at the bit for months to get a one-on-one WWE Raw Women’s Championship match against Alexa Bliss, having had to settle for multiwomen matches in the few occasions she’s gotten a title shot. She’s long been eager to prove her dominance by holding the title, and winning the Rumble is the best way for her to get there right now — it’s the one matchup her buddy Alexa can’t talk her way out of.

Jax isn’t just going to be in the Rumble to be in the Rumble. She’s going to be on a mission, and a woman like her on a mission in the ring can be a whole lot of fun to watch work.

The leader of the Riott squad went from a lovable fans’ darling in NXT to the leader of a diabolically disrupting force on SmackDown with her debut alongside Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan just after Survivor Series last year. Under her leadership, the self-styled Riott Squad has helped reshape the landscape of the women’s division on the blue brand. But despite several threats in that direction, Ruby has yet to inject herself into the championship picture.

Now is her chance. Riott an excellent wrestler in her own right, used to scraping and clawing for every inch of ground as she’ll need to in the high-pressure Rumble environment. But she’ll also have the presence of Morgan and Logan to leverage if all three wind up in the ring at the same time.

But seeing how she both utilizes that numbers game advantage to her benefit and uses her own significant talents will be interesting to watch unfold — and if Ruby does win, it will be nice to see a new face in the Women’s Championship scene after some relative stagnation there in recent times.