WWE Royal Rumble 2020 – Predictions

Here are our WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Predictions.

Men’s Royal Rumble

The Rumble is, and always likely will be, my favourite of the “big” WWE PPVs. Even the least entertaining Rumbles still have an element of drama and exciting tension as the crowd counts down from 10 waiting for the next man.

That man might be Mojo Rawley or the fucking Warlord, but still…

This year’s Men’s Rumble currently has two main narrative threads – “who is going to win the Rumble?” and “what’s happening with Brock Lesnar?”

It’s an interesting call for the current WWE Champion volunteering to enter the Royal Rumble at Number One as it’s both completely in AND somehow completely out of character – with Lesnar being both an egotist & also a wrestler who is notoriously against longer matches. He insisted his match was on first at Wrestlemania as he “didn’t want to wait around” so are we really to expect that Lesnar wants to (or is going to) last from number one to thirty?

Lesnar ain’t winning, but in all likelihood, Brock is going to be eliminated *early*. With the winner getting a shot at either the WWE or Universal Champion, I’m predicting that by putting a bullseye on himself, Lesnar will face whoever eliminates him from the Rumble for his Mania match, and the Rumble winner will face The Universal Champion instead.

On that note – has it discussed whether the Rumble winner can challenge the NXT Champion instead? I mean… I don’t see it happening (not this year at least) but there was a Rumble where the winner could face the ECW Champion (which also – obviously – didn’t happen). Just curious if it’s been discussed?

Any-hoo; So who eliminates Brock? I had hoped elsewhere originally, but the smart money is on Cain Velasquez. He’s been featured in BT promotion, he’s said he’s in The Rumble… eliminating Brock won’t be tough work for the inexperienced Velasquez and sets him up as the challenger. The only shame is that he’s already had a match with Lesnar in Saudi, but I’m growing increasingly convinced that WWE just wish we ignored the Blood Money shows and they are being treated as increasingly non-cannon (if there’s even such a thing in WWE). Predict Cain to come in between numbers 2-5, eliminate Brock… but then probably get eliminated himself shortly after so as to not take away from the other narrative thread… who wins the Rumble?

At time of writing, Roman Reigns is the favourite at 8/11 and although the odds are short, it’s worth a gamble given the field. The next 5 (all between 5-6 to 1) are Kevin Owens & Drew McIntyre (who have a less obvious story than Roman), CM Punk & Edge (who could win if they were in the Rumble, but are unlikely to be) and the aforementioned Velasquez.

You can’t put money on it, but also expect Rollins/Owens to eliminate one or the other (I’m expecting a Mania match between the two) and hopefully WALTER gets to appear vs McIntyre to avenge Survivor Series. You could also swap Riddle for Velasquez for a more interesting story

But, Roman winning is one of the safer bets of the night. Back McIntyre to finish in the top four too and you can make some money here.

Finally, if you’re betting on “which number wins the rumble”, the highest numbers which HAVEN’T ever had a winner are 26, 21 and 20 – expect a winner from one of the night’s numbers to come from these 3 picks.

Prediction: Roman Reigns wins

Women’s Royal Rumble

We’re onto year three of Women’s Royal Rumbles – and with previous winners Asuka and Becky Lynch otherwise occupied – I’m very much expecting a third (and new) name to be added to this list. And the number three for Royal Rumbles is very linked to a particular surname….. Flair.

Ric Flair won his first rumble in 1992 at the first go and I’m quietly surprised that WWE have let Charlotte Flair go this long without winning a Rumble (even if there have only been two of them). What makes this even more interesting though is that Charlotte isn’t even close to being the bookie’s favourite for the event… at time of writing she is 6/1. Third favourite. You get shorter odds on England winning the Euros, so a Flair win could be worth a shout here.

The current bookies favourite is the former NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler and it wouldn’t be shocking. Since dropping her title to Rhea Ripley (in what was a genuinely lovely moment), Shayna’s story arc in NXT feels very much complete. It’s the right time for her to make a step up to the main roster and appearing in the rumble – especially winning it – is a great way to do that.

Shayna also feels a more rewarding story than the bookie’s second favourite – another former dominant champion – the returning Ronda Rousey. This is reflected by the odds; Baszler is a narrow 3/11 whereas as Rousey is 11/2 (only slightly shorter than Flair’s 6/1). The bookies are predicting that Baszler wins and then (presumably) challenges Lynch at Mania.

But then where does this leave the Smackdown Women’s Title? I do think we end up with Lynch/Baszler, but we don’t need “The Queen of Spades” to win the Rumble to achieve this (see the Lynch/Asuka match for more on this). You can use The Rumble to build up the other match; this is where Charlotte Flair gets her Rumble win.

Charlotte wins, teases a match with Lynch before “shenanigans” (tbc) sets her attention elsewhere.
And at 6/1? Whilst I always suggest you follow the odds, this is one to keep an eye on.

Prediction: Charlotte Flair Wins

WWE Universal Title

“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (c) vs Daniel Bryan

I recently learned that – much like Divock Origi is a fun name to say in a Scouse accent – “Bray Wyatt” is great fun to say in a Geordie accent. Wwaart. This joke feels better spoken than written down. Any-hoo…
This is the second match which is influenced by a thread of inevitability running through the show; that Wrestlemania will end with Roman Reigns beating The Fiend to win the WWE Universal Title. Sadly, that makes Bryan but a service station on the road to Wrestlemania. Sports Entertainment’s Leigh Delamere, if you weeel.

And this is a real shame as it’s somehow forgotten sometimes that TAKFA Bryan Danielson is still legit one of the world’s greatest wrestlers – the sort of wrestler who really should be headlining Wrestlemania. He’s done it before, and hopefully he’ll have the opportunity to do it again in the future.

But it won’t be this year as all signs on the Road to Wrestlemania are pointing towards The Big Dawg vs The Fiend. I like Wyatt’s character – his charisma is off the charts – but is often the victim of his own worst excesses, especially in-ring. Hopefully Bryan can pull him back from them and between them put together the match they both deserve, but expect wackiness here. Full on zany. And the addition of this being a strap match doesn’t help.

I think we’re going to see something this will be brutal – but nervously I’m thinking “comically” brutal rather than the viscerally brutal (which it does have the potential to also be)

Put your money on Wyatt to win here… where Bryan goes next is to be seen. Hopefully a Mania match against a motivated Shinsuke Nakamura, but we’ll see.

Prediction: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt Wins

WWE RAW Women’s Title

Becky Lynch (c) vs Asuka

Tough one this, but as we’re looking at a story of “you’ve beaten everyone… except me” I think it can only go one way. Although WWE is criticised for its failure to do long term story telling – and it’s some rose tinted glasses to suggest this was intentional – but having Asuka tap Lynch out way back at the last Rumble is actually some *fantastic* story-telling and plays towards justifying a win that (at the time) seemed somewhat deflating.

This should hopefully be a good in-ring match (Asuka is one of the world’s best when she’s on form) and I think the real intrigue is what happens *after* the match. As mentioned earlier – I think we are eventually heading to Lynch vs Baszler at Wrestlemania – so expect it to happen on this show. I think we see Lynch beat Asuka (by submission) with Baszler attacking post bell. It might happen the next night, but I’m confident that “The Man” gets her win here to set up the Mania match, whilst Asuka defends the tag belts against opponents TBC (possibly whoever eliminates her and/or Kairi from the Rumble).

Prediction: Becky Lynch Retains

Roman Reigns vs King Corbin

This is an interesting match… not so much in a “who wins” but rather a “huh… why are they doing this?” With The Big Dawg as the odds on favourite to win The Rumble, it feels like this match exists to put the lid on the Reigns / Corbin feud and perhaps give some doubt to Reigns winning the Rumble. Ultimately, the end of this match will be forgotten (at least in the short term) if the narrative quickly moves onto Reigns/Wyatt.

This makes it actually more challenging to predict as you can either set Reigns on a positive track – winning the feud with Corbin before going onto the Rumble. Or, “The King” wins, Reigns regains his kudos with The Rumble win and sets Corbin up as an obvious first challenger post-Mania.

Because Corbin got the tainted win over Reigns at TLC (despite Wikipedia currently saying the opposite… for some reason) I’m predicting that Reigns here. With the feud presumably ending, then it makes more sense for Roman to get the win. It’s perhaps a less interesting story, but it’s one I’m okay with. It’s possible that Corbin wins this match and Roman actually closes the feud by eliminating Baron from The Rumble, but I’m going to stick with the more obvious “good guy beats bad guy” – just avoid betting on this one.

Prediction: Roman Reigns Win

Sheamus vs Shorty G

My favourite story to come out of the recent return of Sheamus has been his claim that WWE wanted him to return with short, swept hair, a pencil moustache and braces… like a jacked Irish Jack Gallagher (an analogy Sheamus himself made)… Is it wrong I wouldn’t have objected to this?

Sheamus could benefit from a fresh start and a Sheamus/Gallagher team could actually quite fun. But, alas, we’ll never know (I assume Vince McMahon has just started watching Peaky Blinders given this and Ridge Holland).

Not sure where this one is going – wrestling logic says that the returning wrestler wins (especially when the returning wrestler is a former multi time World Champion) and I’m expecting that here. I’m a fan of stories, but I have a feeling this is going to be the standard of filler. Maybe we get a shock upset – Shorty gets the roll-up starting a feud between the two which is a decent enough “chapter one” – but I think we go for the even more simple story. No chapter. No arc. Just the big ‘un beats the Shorty ‘un and we move on in a completely directionless way. Pure pre show fodder.

Prediction: Sheamus Wins

Smackdown Women’s Title

Bayley (c) vs Lacey Evans

It’s rather surprising in a way that WWE had a highly athletic, attractive blonde WHO IS AN EX MARINE with a defined character and hadn’t made her a face yet??

Whilst Lacey has got a way to go in improving as an in-ring talent (which isn’t a criticism) but she does have a noticeable upside and I’d imagine she’ll be a part of the WWE’s women’s scene for a while – even in the face of what is a *stacked* female roster. Although her Twitter game still needs some work.

For this to happen, Lacey needs an increased level of legitimacy (to assist the aforementioned upside) and this can be found with a title reign starting here. I think we see Evans beat Bayley for the title – not sure how long she’ll have the belt, but Evans vs Flair at The Rumble sounds right.

Dropping the belt here also frees up Bayley to join with Sasha Banks and take on “The Kabuki Warriors” at Wrestlemania (I imagine a “face” team gets added here too, maybe two, for a big multi woman Mania Smozz) so the title change makes most sense and would be a sound investment.

Plus, it’s the only title change I’m predicting – and The Rumble usually has at least one.

Prediction: Lacey Evans Wins

WWE US Title

Andrade (c) vs Humberto Carillo

Ahh… the obligatory “announce so late that I was planning to hand in my preview tonight but now can’t because I’ve got to do a write-up for this as well now” match.

I’m a little shocked to see this on the card. They were clearly building towards it, but the short build and already sizeable card gave the impression that they might be holding off on this match until Elimination Chamber – or even perhaps Wrestlemania itself. But that’s not to be and we get this match now.

With the shorter build up, I’m predicting Almas retains, but WWE have shown themselves to hotshot title changes previously – especially with secondary titles. Almas however has the higher upside and I think WWE are now finally realising that the man formerly known as La Sombra may well be the future Hispanic star they desperately wanted Alberto Del Rio to be.

WWE also does appear to currently have plans for Humberto as well, but this very much as a feeling of a ‘nothing’ match (like Sheamus and Shorty) it’s sad to say. Expect both guys to deliver a solid performance with Almas retaining his title in under 10 minutes.

Prediction: Andrade Retains

These are our predictions, what are yours? Please leave them in the comments below!