4 Early Predictions for WWE Royal Rumble 2019
With Tables, Ladders, and Chairs in the rear-view mirror and 2018 almost over, the road to WrestleMania 35 officially begins on January 27, 2019, with the Royal Rumble, which will take place at Chase Field, home of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks.
As of this writing, we know of three matches that will be taking place at WWE's Winter Classic. First, Brock Lesnar will return to defend his Universal Championship once again against Braun Strowman in a rematch from Crown Jewel. Strowman earned his rematch by "defeating" Baron Corbin this past Sunday at TLC in a Tables, ladders, and Chairs Match.
Also, the annual 30 Men and Women's Royal Rumble match will take place. What we do know about the two matches thus far is that R-Truth and Carmella will enter at #30 in their respective Rumble matches via winning Season 2 of the Mixed Match Challenge. The Royal Rumble matches are the most eagerly anticipated events of the WWE calendar with the possibilities of many surprising returns and debuts that can occur.
Since the Royal Rumble matches take over an hour a piece to complete and WWE needing to fill 60 spots in total, I don't expect many other matches to take place on the card. My expectations are that WWE will add one or two tag team title matches and possibly a Cruiserweight championship match to round out the remainder of the card.
With that in mind, here are four early predictions for next month's Royal Rumble Pay Per View. Be sure to stay tuned to Sportskeeda for the latest breaking news and rumors as the event draws closer and closer. Also, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below and leave your predictors for the show and what you believe will happen on the show.
#4 Mustafa Ali will take on Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship
A week ago, it was announced that Mustafa Ali would be having a one on one match with Daniel Bryan on SmackDown. Ali went on to lose the match but looked good in doing so. Earlier this week on SmackDown, Ali shocked the world by pinning Bryan in a tag match that also featured AJ Styles and Andrade "Cien" Almas. I have a feeling that this is leading to a match between the two at the Royal Rumble.
The Royal Rumble is an event that is sold on one thing and one thing only, and that is the Royal Rumble match itself. This gives WWE a chance to try new and random title matches, even if they are predictable or non-realistic since people really only care about the Rumble matches and winners. For example, Hardcore Holly faced Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble one year, so who is to say Ali v. Bryan can't happen?
Another thing that supports this is that most of the babyfaces on SmackDown are currently doing other things. Russev is feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship. Jeff Hardy is feuding with Samoa Joe. AJ Styles is a possibility, but he lost pretty cleanly to Bryan at TLC and I see him being placed in the Rumble match itself. So that leaves Ali, who is now an official member of the Smackdown roster. He has a pinfall victory over Bryan and seems to be being built up, so don't be surprised if Ali becomes #1 contender and takes on Bryan for the WWE Championship next month.