It is that time of year. The Royal Rumble is finally here in less than two weeks and anticipation is building. Each year, I break down some possible scenarios for the men’s and women’s match and talk about some possible surprises, what to expect, and how betting odds could correlate to the actual result. I have a lot of fun with these articles and I really like the fact that it is on a Saturday night. The only thing that is in the way is the NFL Playoffs and if my Titans advance, it looks like I’ll have to break out another TV. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it though. The Royal Rumble means a shot at a major championship and the main event of WrestleMania. It can be the making of a new star or the solidification of a star. It is an exciting time to be a fan and we get to get a preview of WrestleMania plans a couple months in advance. I’m not wasting anymore time, let’s dive in.

Odds-On Favorite

I always like to give the favorite(s) a section of their own because, well they’re the favorites to win the match. This year we have two. Usually there is one somewhat definitive favorite, but Big E and Brock Lesnar are sharing the honor as of this moment. Both superstars are at +350 and the odds discrepancy between these two and 3rd place isn’t very close. Big E quickly moved into a share of the top spot after losing his WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar in the last-minute booking change at Day 1 earlier this month. Big E is certainly deserving of this share of the favorite odds, but why is Brock Lesnar sharing it? Well, they’re trying to convince us that there will be a title unification at some point in the near future and they teased us of this when Lesnar and Roman Reigns met on SmackDown a couple weeks ago. Between these two, I wouldn’t be shocked if either of them wins, but personally, I’m not fully convinced either of them will actually win given the current circumstances. This year is one of the most difficult RR’s to get a grasp on. At the moment, Big E is a confirmed entry, Lesnar isn’t.

Big Returns?

As of today, 15 entries have been confirmed for the Men’s match. There’s a lot of potential for shocks and surprises, but will we get it in the Men’s match? Who Knows? As far as big returns are concerned, who would be the biggest shock that could possibly win the match? The Rock. Yes, we go down this road every, and I do mean every, single year, but it is always a possibility. Why? Well, because simply it has been done before. The Rock coming back would mean only one thing. A match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. I think a lot of fans would agree with me here, but right now, I don’t want to see that. Not the Roman/Rock match, that would be great, but The Rock winning the Royal Rumble, taking a legitimate spot away from a regular competitor to face Roman for a belt, again, taking someone else’s spot. If this happens, it needs to be a non-title match. Currently The Rock has +1200 which are tied for 5th highest. It seems like he is always in this general area each year and no matter what he says, people will always kind of be expecting it. Do I think it happens this year? No, maybe next year.

Other than The Rock, John Cena is another name that is a possibility to return, but again, highly unlikely. Cena and Roman had their big match at SummerSlam and they likely won’t revisit that. Cena currently has 25/1 odds. Other than these two, I can’t see any possibly big return winners, but there are some talent on the roster now that may have been forgotten about. One in particular, Elias. Elias hasn’t been on TV since July/August and a return would be a nice surprise.

Will Any Recently Released Superstars Make an Appearance?

I think there will definitely be some of those this year. Some people I feel like were simply released due to budget cuts and both parties have no hard feelings. That likely isn’t the case for most of those released, but there are some out there that I feel have only received an unpaid vacation. Now, I don’t think any of these superstars are going to win, but I think that a return is a possibility. I’ll start with one. Braun Strowman. Braun Strowman’s release was honestly the biggest shock of all of those released superstars. He was in a big title match at WrestleMania Backlash with Bobbly Lashley and Drew McIntyre and out of thin air, two weeks later, he was released. Strowman made an appearance at Ring of Honor’s last PPV, but who knows if they’ll actually be a thing by the end of the year. Strowman could easily fit right back into the WWE with no worries. A great match back for him would be against Omos. Strowman has 33/1 odds to win.

Another one, naturally, is Bray Wyatt. Since getting released in July, Wyatt hasn’t made any sort of appearance anywhere. A lot of people think he will end up in AEW, but who knows? He could return back to WWE with a big splash. It is a shame to see such creative talent go to waste, but Wyatt has a creative mind and wherever he goes, he could be successful. I don’t think he will return, but I’m not ruling it out. He has 40/1 odds to win. Other than these two, I can’t really see another big release coming back because most of them are already signed elsewhere.

Is the Forbidden Door Cracked or Wide Open?

I’ll discuss this in the Women’s article too, but apparently WWE is totally open to the idea of “forbidden door” Royal Rumble entries. For those of you who don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. Vince McMahon and the WWE have liked to stay in their own world. In their eyes, there are no other companies that offer wrestling and if they do, they’re not worth mentioning. Fans can be stupid at times, but they’re not that naïve. This possibility of this has been discussed for decades and in some forms, it has been successful on a low-key level, but with the announced entry of Impact Women’s Champion Mickie James into the Women’s match, fans are wondering if the Men’s match will have entries from other promotions.

The biggest question in all of this is can big wrestling promotions coexist with the WWE? Back in the 70s and 80s NJPW was somewhat successful with the WWE, but since then, it hasn’t really been attempted. I guess you could count ECW in the 90s, but I don’t really. Honestly though, unless AEW and WWE are working together, I don’t think there will be a lot of intrigue. Will that happen? Doubtful. The only person I could see jumping ship to make an appearance is Chris Jericho. He made a surprise appearance on Broken Skull Sessions last year and while I think it’s highly unlikely, it isn’t out of the question for him to make an appearance. My only concern with this would be, what good would it do him? Not a bit. If he enters, he’s definitely not going to win. Fans are also buzzing at the possibility of a Jon Moxley appearance. Fans are thinking this because he is being shown in all of the Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns footage leading up to the PPV. Fans think he will sabotage the match. Again, not likely this will happen. There is another guy that is apparently a Free Agent at the moment who could possibly enter the Rumble. Cody Rhodes. Again, not likely.

Other than AEW, there are some Impact performers that could appear. Heath Slater, Rhyno, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Big Cass, Aiden English, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, and Bronson Reed are all former WWE superstars currently on the Impact roster. Any of them are a possibility to enter and none of them would be threats to win. It would be cool to see WWE working with another company though.

Could We See a Repeat Winner?

Of the 15 confirmed entrants at the moment, only 2 have won the Rumble match previously. Those two are Rey Mysterio (2006) and Sheamus (2012). Both have pretty low odds to win the match. Sheamus is at 40/1 and Rey is at 66/1. The short answer to the information that we currently have is a big no. I can’t see either of these guys having a shot, however, I think there will be some future storylines built here. Particularly, with Rey Mysterio. He and his son Dominik are in the Rumble and I think they’ll finally get that WrestleMania feud on the fast track. As for Sheamus, who knows?

What about those unconfirmed entries? Well, the only unconfirmed former winner that I could see winning this year would be Drew McIntyre. He had a somewhat dull 2021 and 2022 could be a nice refresh for him. He is still one of the most talented top guys out there and I think it would be interesting to see him and Roman Reigns or another Lesnar match for that matter. He currently has the 3rd highest odds at 8/1. Riddle and Randy Orton are tied into a feud with the Alpha Academy, so Orton likely won’t be in it. Edge has a mixed tag match on the PPV, so he won’t likely appear in the Rumble match. Seth Rollins could be a possibility, but I’m not expecting a win in any way. Shinsuke Nakamura probably will enter but won’t likely win. Roman Reigns would be an interesting possibility, but I’m not expecting it. And of course, Brock Lesnar, who we mentioned earlier, who is in a share of the top odds spot.

Dark Horse Pick

This is a tough prediction here, because I really can’t imagine anybody outside of Top 5 odds winning the match. I guess I’ll go with Kevin Owens at 20/1. Owens has found himself in some relevant storylines lately and his alliance with Seth Rollins could be turn sour at any moment, especially if Rollins wins that Universal Championship from Roman Reigns. Do I really think Owens will have a shot in the match? Probably not, but it isn’t out of the question by any means.

Best of the Rest

I felt like I missed a couple more possibilities that could wind up winning the match. For starters, what veteran has done virtually everything they could dream of in the WWE, but is missing this particular milestone? AJ Styles. Styles currently is tied with The Rock for 5th highest odds at 12/1. Could he win? Sure, he could. If you pair AJ Styles with anybody on the main roster, you’re in for a great match. He can give you a great match with any opponent. Styles is definitely on the backend of his career and at Rumble victory would give him the career boost he may need. On that note, his former tag partner Omos is at 14/1. I’ve broken this down before, but big guys rarely ever win the match. They’re the imposing threats that throw a wrench in some scenarios, but they almost never win. I don’t think Omos will win, but I could honestly see him winning within the next 5 years.

Austin Theory has been getting a massive push lately and while it would be improbable, I wouldn’t rule it out. Theory’s odds are at 25/1. The US Champ, Damien Priest currently sits at 22/1 and he’s another possibility, but the fact that he was recently beat by Kevin Owens makes me think that he won’t win the match. Other than that. I think the rest of the field has virtually no shot of winning the Royal Rumble. Sorry to those Johnny Knoxville fans out there.

Yacs

Possible Scenarios for the 2022 Men's Royal Rumble Match