WWE Royal Rumble 2021: 5 potential favorites to win the Men's Royal Rumble match
A victory in the Royal Rumble match is often rated as an achievement as big as winning a World Title. Since its inception back in 1988, every year, 30 male superstars try their luck in the gargantuan match. But only one lucky star outlasts 29 others and books his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania that year.
However, there are only a handful of performers each year who enter the Royal Rumble match with a legitimate chance of going all the way to the end, while the others enter the match only to get thrown over the top rope. This makes the Royal Rumble a highly unpredictable encounter, with the excitement and thrill at the very peak, until the very end of the match.
Each winner in the past few years was the pre-match favorite, and there is a talented bunch of Superstars who have a solid chance of winning the Men's Royal Rumble. While one can add the likes of 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Kevin Owens to this list, the fact that they are either involved in other high profile programs (all except Nakamura) or have won the match recently, means they are not part of this list.
Here are five potential favorites to win the Men's Royal Rumble match.
#5 Potential favorite to win the Royal Rumble: Sheamus
Sheamus is a former Royal Rumble winner, with his victory over Daniel Bryan in the WrestleMania XXVIII World Heavyweight Championship match a monumental part of both his and Bryan's career. However, he hasn't been in the World Title picture in more than 5 years now, with his last World Title reign coming back in late 2015. He has performed mostly in the Tag Team Division or the Mid Card since then.
Sheamus had one of the shortest stays in the Royal Rumble match when he was eliminated in just 2 seconds by, of all people, Heath Slater. The situation is different this time around, as not only is he back to being a singles star, he has been involved in a program with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.
Given WWE's obsession with programs initiated by betrayals and the fact that a WrestleMania caliber feud between Sheamus and Drew McIntyre is a mouth-watering prospect, The Celtic Warrior enters the Royal Rumble match as a favorite to win the bout. Even if he doesn't emerge victorious he will, for sure, have a massive impact on the match, maybe by being the Iron Man of the Royal Rumble.