Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, kurt angle, Paige, paul heyman, peacock, Roman Reigns, ronda rousey, Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, wrestling, wwe

Royal Rumble: Predictions For Who The Surprise Entrants Will Be

Tonight's the night wrestling fans!  It's Royal Rumble time again and this year, we will again have two different 30-entrant Rumble Matches, one men's and one women's.  As it stands right now, the men's match has 25 entrants, while the women's match has 23.  That leaves some spots to fill and if you've seen your fair share of Royal Rumble matches, you'll know that one of the reasons it's one of the most popular nights of the wrestling year is there are plenty of surprises and special returns every year.  Who will get the big pop from the St. Louis crowd tonight?  Let's take a look at who I think are the five potential surprise entrants in tonight's Rumble matches.

1. Ronda Rousey

Let's start with an easy one.  I posted about this the other day how it's been reported that Rousey is training hard and all but set for a WWE return.  The company has her booked for WrestleMania in April and what better way to get rolling than at the event that kicks off Mania season every year, the Royal Rumble.  Rousey will give the women's division on either show a much-needed boost in star power and she could very easily be looking for revenge on the woman who defeated her in her last WWE match, Becky Lynch.

2. Bray Wyatt

3. Paige

I'll be honest, this is the one I'm least confident in.  BUT, is it possible?  Oh yeah.  The good thing about the Royal Rumble match or any over-the-top-rope battle royal is the performers are more protected than usual.  You don't have to be in it for long and you don't have to do all you would do in a normal match.  Paige's in-ring career came to an abrupt and way too-soon end in 2018 when she was only 25 years old.  It was an awful realization of how fragile wrestling careers are and it was made all the worse because it happened to someone with so much potential.

Fast-forward to now, where Paige has been quite vocal as of late about feeling much better and wanting to restart her career.  While no two spinal injuries are the same, the incredible returns of Shawn Michaels and more recently with Edge have shown us that anything is possible.  Paige is only 29 and could very well give it another go if she's feeling up to it.  Could tonight be the start?  Or even just a nice moment back in the ring one more time?

4. Kurt Angle

Similar to Paige, Kurt Angle's career hit snags due to spinal injuries and was probably cut short as a result.  But come on, this is Kurt goddamn Angle!  He won the Olympic Gold Medal with a broken freaking neck!  You think he's afraid of the Royal Rumble? Angle has made it clear over the years that he still has the drive to wrestle and even thinks he can still physically pull it off.  While WWE isn't quite ready to believe him there and definitely won't be having him as an active competitor again, a one-off appearance for a huge pop in tonight's Royal Rumble match could be the perfect thing.  Angle wants to be told by St. Louis that he sucks!  St. Louis wants to tell Angle he sucks!  Let's make it happen WWE!

5. Brock Lesnar/Roman Reigns

I know, I know, I know.  Stop screaming for a second and allow me to explain?  Yes, I know these are currently the respective WWE and Universal Champions.  I know they each have a title match tonight at the Royal Rumble.  But that's the point.  What if one of them loses their title tonight?  And better yet, what if the other man is responsible?

We know Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar have unfinished business.  Their Universal title match at WWE Day 1 never happened because Reigns contracted COVID-19 and as a result, Lesnar entered the WWE title match that night and won the belt.  And we also know WWE has always planned for Reigns versus Lesnar in the main event of this year's WrestleMania.  So with each man currently as Champion and a title unification match highly unlikely for a number of reasons, how do we get to this planned result?

Say hello to Paul Heyman.  Heyman has been at the center of the Reigns/Lesnar war and recently returned to the beast he's served for 20 years now.  But what if Heyman is playing him?  We've seen there's tension between Lesnar and Heyman this time around, with Lesnar seemingly disapproving of Heyman's actions and feelings.  So what if Heyman and Reigns have laid a trap for Lesnar and plan to screw him out of the WWE title tonight, leading him to enter the Royal Rumble match right after, so that he can win and challenge Reigns at WrestleMania?

Or we can reverse it.  Heyman still has open wounds from Reigns turning on him last month and as a result, interferes to cost Reigns the one thing he cares about most: his Universal title.  Reigns goes on the warpath, enters the Royal Rumble match, and the same thing I just described, except with Reigns chasing Lesnar's WWE title.

Tell me you couldn't see either happening.  This year's men's Rumble winner isn't clear at all and maybe, just maybe, it's because he's currently, at least for the next few hours, one of the Champions we expect the match-winner to challenge.  Now THAT would be a good Royal Rumble surprise!

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