Really Early Predictions for WWE Royal Rumble 2019
The Royal Rumble is less than two months away.
It sets the tone for the beginning of the year and begins the Road to Wrestlemania.
It also provides the WWE with two challengers for major titles at Wrestlemania and it jump starts several storylines that usually play out up until and sometimes through April.
One match is already set between Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.
The only potential hindrance is if Braun cannot recover fast enough from surgery.
Since there are two rumble matches slated for the card once again, at least two-plus hours will probably be set aside for those to play out.
That likely only leaves room for around four singles' matches beforehand and a match or two on the pre-show.
Since WWE hasn't shown much faith in the US Title or Tag Team titles of either show, either those two or a cruiserweight title match will likely fall on the pre-show.
These are predictions based on educated guesses and some are based on logical rumours.
Others have been strongly speculated to be happening at Wrestlemania.
A lot can obviously happen between now and the Royal Rumble, but here are predictions for 2019's first main roster PPV.
Pre-Show Matches
Since the rumble is considered one of the 'Big Four' PPVs, it will likely start around 5 p.m. and have two matches on its pre-show.
United States Championship Match: Shinsuke Nakamura (C) vs. Rey Mysterio
The US Title is lowest in the pecking order of WWE Titles, so it will likely be featured on the pre-show.
There aren't many credible babyfaces left to challenge for the title since AJ Styles will be tied up elsewhere and Jeff Hardy has already had a run with the belt.
Rusev is apparently headed for a feud for the title currently, and that may carry over to the following PPV.
If it doesn't, that leaves Rey Mysterio as a likely challenger for the US Championship.
He beat Nakamura at Starrcade by DQ, so that can be used as an impetus for the match.
Raw Tag Team Title Match: AOP (C) vs. Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt
Wyatt faced Baron Corbin twice at Starrcade but hasn't appeared on television yet.
Finn Balor and Elias need some backup and Wyatt needs another jump start to his career.
Teaming with Balor would give both of the wrestlers a soft reboot as tag wrestlers and it would add another layer Corbin's proclamation of remembering who was on his side prior to potentially becoming full-time commissioner of Raw.
The current attacks on Corbin's opposition seem like they are happening more so because Corbin is confident he'll beat Strowman at TLC (or win whatever match may take its place).
Wyatt needs a believable feud to get back into the swing of things and a brief feud with the AOP would help get him on track.
If Corbin wins at TLC, he could send AOP after Finn, Elias and potentially Wyatt to beat them down. It could lead to a non-title match and eventually a title match at Royal Rumble.