Predicting each brand's remaining representatives for the Royal Rumble matches
It has been rumored for the last few months that this year's Royal Rumble will involve 10 Superstars each from RAW, SmackDown and NXT. While that's great for NXT and it furthers the yellow and black brand's place in the WWE hierarchy, it will mean that a lot of stars will miss out on a chance in the annual battle royal.
The big news from RAW was that current WWE Champion Brock Lesnar would be entering at #1 instead of defending his title at the PPV. It's a way to prolong his reign as Champion but it takes away a title opportunity at the PPV for someone like Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens or someone else.
The fact still remains that each brand could very likely be represented by 10 stars each. Paul Heyman claimed that it didn't matter if the stars in the match were from RAW, SmackDown or NXT because The Beast would destroy all challengers.
In addition to the current WWE Champ, six more RAW stars were also announced for the match. SmackDown's Roman Reigns had announced himself as the first participant in the match last week and he was joined this week by Lesnar, Ricochet, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Ricochet and Erick Rowan. That only leaves three more spots for RAW competitors.
Regarding the women, only Charlotte Flair has been officially announced as a participant in the women's match. Who will join those already announced in the match?
Here are predictions regarding who will represent each brand in the 2020 Royal Rumble. These are educated guesses based on current storylines and TV appearances, but there are always some surprises and unexpected returns.
10 SmackDown Women
Only one woman has been declared for the match in Charlotte Flair. She's on RAW and it appears that Lacey Evans will be challenging Bayley for the SmackDown Women's title at the PPV. That potentially takes both Evans and the Champ out of the battle royal, but Becky Lynch competed in the Rumble after failing to recapture the title last year.
The weird thing about the blue brand's female roster is that due to current circumstances, it only would offer up nine entrants if Bayley and Evans don't join the match. Ember Moon is listed as a member of SmackDown but had double knee surgery. She's likely not going to be back in time to join the action at the end of the month.
If Evans and/or Bayley do double duty, then SmackDown's entire female division will essentially be in the Royal Rumble match. That's perfectly fine because most of them deserve a chance at a potential title shot anyways. Mickie James was out with an injury but may not be cleared in time to compete.
Naomi, Ruby Riott and Nia Jax were "left out of the draft pools" and thus could be explained away as members of SmackDown during the match should they return. Riott and Jax are both rehabbing injuries but are listed as returning in January 2020 according to Fightful's list of wrestling injuries and expected return dates.
The Usos returned to the blue brand, so when Naomi comes back, she'll be most likely be rejoining Friday night. WWE tries to keep married/dating couples together on their shows. The Rumble match would also be a good way to further the dissent between friends Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville since it appears they are headed for a break up.
10 SmackDown entrants: Evans, Rose, Deville, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Carmella, Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, Tamina