The Royal Rumble has long been one of WWE’s most popular pay-per-view events.
The concept of 30 men and now 30 women, battling in an over the top rope, every man or woman for themselves battle royal, captures the imagination and always delivers the excitement.
It begins the road to WrestleMania, as the stories leading up to the biggest show of the year begin to take shape during this January tradition.
In the early days of the event, it was something new and exciting for the WWE audience to watch. The biggest difference from the first four Royal Rumble matches and what we see today was there was no mega prize awarded to the winner.
That all changed in 1992, arguably the greatest Royal Rumble of all time, when the vacant WWE Championship was on the line. Of course, as wrestling fans know, Ric Flair emerged victorious that night, capping off one of the greatest performances in Rumble history.
The following year, when Yokozuna won, he earned a championship match at that year’s WrestleMania, a prize that has been awarded the winner every year since. The lone exception coming in 2016, when the WWE Championship was once again up for grabs.
For years the Rumble was a tool to push a wrestler who was right on the cusp of the main event scene into the spotlight. Guys like Shawn Michaels, Batista, and Stone-Cold Steve Austin won their first-ever WWE Championships after winning the Royal Rumble.
But, in recent years, the WWE has used the Rumble as a way to push more established talent or previous Rumble winners back into the Mania spotlight.
Since 2010 only two Rumble winners (Alberto Del Rio, Shinsuke Nakamura) were not previous world champions before winning the match and four times the winner picked up their second Rumble victory.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what route the WWE takes this year when it comes to the Rumble.
Here is a breakdown of potential winners for the 2020 Royal Rumble.
Previous Winners:
Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Sheamus
In my opinion, the most likely scenario for how the Rumble match will end is a final two confrontation between Rollins and Reigns. With the pair on opposite sides of the heel/face spectrum, it’s too good of an opportunity for WWE to pass on with their two biggest stars.
Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns are the favorites heading into the 2020 Royal Rumble, both have one win under their belt.
Randy Orton has won two Royal Rumble's so the likelihood he wins a third isn’t very high, but he is always a threat when it comes down to the final numbers.
Sheamus is set for a major return, but even with that momentum this probably won’t happen.
Established Stars:
AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston
Styles is the established star who seems most likely to pick up a win. He’s a bona fide star and has delivered in every scenario WWE has put him in. A Rumble win and match with Brock Lesnar at Mania for the WWE Championship would-be a big-time opportunity.
Drew McIntyre is more likely to eliminate a record number of competitors than win the match. Just doesn’t seem like WWE is ready to pull the trigger on putting one of the two big titles on him anytime soon.
Drew McIntyre could use a Royal Rumble win as a huge boost to his career.
Braun Strowman, see above.
Kevin Owens is currently on the cusp of his biggest run as a babyface, even with that in mind, I still don’t see that being enough to push him into the Rumble winner spot.
Kofi Kingston has potential. Kofi Mania proved the fans will back him and he always delivers the excitement with his elimination escapes. A Rumble win and rematch against Lesnar would go a long way in eliminating the sour taste left in everyone’s mouths after the way his reign ended at the hands of the Beast.
A Royal Rumble win for Kofi Kingston could put him back into the WWE Championship picture.
Up and Comers:
Aleister Black, Humberto Carrillo, Andrade, Ricochet, Buddy Murphy, Mustafa Ali
These six are all going to be major stars in the future so expect solid performances if they are in the Rumble. Just don’t have too high of expectations that one of them will win it.
Buddy Murphy, Mustafa Ali and Aleister Black are part of a new group of up and coming stars who could make a huge impact on the 2020 Royal Rumble.
NXT, NXT, NXT:
With the possibility that NXT might have competitors in this year’s Rumble match, it may be the best opportunity to pull the trigger on an NXT star winning it to earn the coveted WrestleMania “main event” spot.
The obvious pick for something like that is, Adam Cole. Love him or hate him (I lean more towards the latter), his popularity in NXT is through the roof and a win in the 30 man battle royal would immediately make him a top star on Raw or Smackdown if he chose to join either show.
Not as likely to pull off the feat, but one who could thrive in doing so is Keith Lee. There is a storm of popularity brewing for Lee and it won’t be long until he’s pushed to the moon.
There you have it wrestling fans a breakdown of the top contenders to win the men’s 2020 Royal Rumble. The beginning of the year is always an exciting time for pro wrestling as the road to WrestleMania starts to take shape.
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