WWE Royal Rumble 2019: Predicting the final participants for the Women's Royal Rumble
The 2019 Royal Rumble PPV emanates from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona this Sunday. In addition to the annual men's match, this year will see the second version of the match for the women of WWE.
As of today, the following women have been listed as entrants:
Carmella, Natalya, Bayley, Ember Moon, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Alicia Fox, Zelina Vega, Mickie James, Naomi, Charlotte Flair, Tamina, Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Lana, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans
That makes 23 confirmed participants for the women's match, leaving seven openings for WWE legends, NXT call-ups and other surprises for the match.
Just who will those women be? Here are predictions for the remaining spots in the match. There are several possibilities but only seven spots. Will someone pull double duty? Will an NXT wrestler appear on both NXT Takeover: Phoenix and the Royal Rumble?
Kairi Sane
This is one of the predictions that could be most likely to happen. Sane has had her time with the NXT Women's Title and is currently out of the picture at present.
She has recently been teaming with Io Shirai in tag-team matches at house shows as well as recent NXT episodes. Since she has practically done all that she can in NXT, the next logical step is to enter this year's Rumble match. Having participated last year, it would make plenty of sense for her to appear once more.
It would hopefully signal a permanent spot on the main roster for her, but with the recent announcement of the Women's Tag Team Titles, she might be more slated for a call-up after WrestleMania.
They may want to test out the tag-team potential of Sane and Shirai first before calling up the Pirate Princess. Shirai will likely challenge Shayna Baszler at some point should the former UFC fighter retain at NXT Takeover: Phoenix - so this tag team might just be to kill time between a potential feud arising.