The first Premium Live Event is here, and it is my favorite one of the year. The Royal Rumble always garners a lot of attention and leads a path straight to WrestleMania. You hear a lot of rumors, a lot of them aren't true, but they’re always fun to hear. This year already seems to be more interesting than last year. Last year’s Rumble was underwhelming to say the least. It was too predictable, and things clearly didn’t go as well as they planned. A lot of it may have been due to backstage issues, but I’m not going to speculate. There are a lot of options for the big matches and that is a great thing. There is more hype than usual around this year’s show, so hopefully it can live up to it. Here are my predictions for the show.

- Women’s Singles Match: RAW Women’s Championship

Bianca Belair (C) vs. Alexa Bliss

The character resurgence for Alexa Bliss seems interesting enough and hopefully this time around her darker version will be a lot more successful, because the first time around was underwhelming. It had so much potential, but it never lived up to the hype. As for tonight, I don’t think Bliss has what it takes to take down Bianca. Bianca is too strong right now and I just don’t think she will drop the belt before WrestleMania. Bianca is a big favorite and I expect it to stay that way.

- Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match

Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight

Nobody knows what this match will look like. It will either be a big hit or a big miss and no in between. Bray Wyatt is obviously a huge favorite and has gotten the better of LA Knight at every turn or at least Uncle Howdy has. Speaking of Uncle Howdy, I don’t know if he will be revealed during the show or not, but that would definitely be cool to see. The intrigue is there for this match, but hopefully it isn't a total flop like most of these sponsor matches are.

- Men’s Singles Match: WWE Undisputed Universal Championship

Roman Reigns (C) vs. Kevin Owens

This match is very interesting and even though there is very little doubt in the result of the contest, it will still be a fun match to watch. Mostly because of the things surrounding the match rather than the match itself, particularly, Sami Zayn. I never thought I would see the day, but Sami Zayn is potentially the guy that will benefit the most from the Road to WrestleMania this year. I’m not saying he’ll be the guy to take Roman down, but I think he is certainly in consideration. Roman Reigns should win, but it won’t be easy, and it is a good possibility that we see a Sami Zayn turn or at the least an inclination of a possible turn.

- Women’s Royal Rumble Match

WINNER: Rhea Ripley

FINAL FOUR: Rhea Ripley, Bayley, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez

Dark Horse Pick: Ronda Rousey

At the moment, it doesn’t seem like there are a lot of options for the Women’s match. Rhea Ripley seems to me as the only viable option, unless they decide to go with a more proven vet like Becky Lynch or Bayley. If Rhea wins, we will likely see her against Bianca Belair and I think that will potentially be a show-stealing type of match at WrestleMania. Two of the best young women in the ring at the biggest stage of them all. Ripley currently has the highest odds to win and Becky Lynch is 2nd. I don’t think Lynch will win this year. It doesn’t seem like it is her year. If she does though, she will definitely have that big payoff match with Charlotte Flair. Raquel Rodriguez has the 3rd highest odds. At this point, it would surprise me a little bit if she wins. She’s capable of carrying an intriguing feud until WrestleMania, but I don’t think it is quite her time yet. I think they will definitely take their time to build her up.

As for my dark horse pick, Rousey currently has 33/1 odds. Why? There are rumors that she may have left the company for a little bit, but I don’t buy into that. I would have a difficult time believing that she is going to work all year and take WrestleMania off. I don’t buy that. There are currently 15 women with better or equal odds. That is mind-boggling. Another potential dark horse could be Asuka. I think we will see the debut of her Kana heel character, so I don’t think it is too outlandish that she may win. I think Rhea is your winner, but don’t be shocked if Ronda Rousey goes back-to-back. As for surprise entrants, I don’t think there will be many, but the biggest surprise would be Sasha Banks. I don’t anticipate that happening, but anything is possible.

- Men’s Royal Rumble Match

WINNER: Seth Rollins

FINAL FOUR: Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, Solo Sikoa

Dark Horse Pick: Drew McIntyre

There are a lot more potential winners in the men’s match as opposed to the women’s match. Cody Rhodes is the odds-on favorite at the moment and a lot of fans seem to think Cody will win. I don’t think he will. While, I wouldn't be totally shocked to see him win, I don’t think it will happen, not now. For starters, the only feud he had since returning was against Seth Rollins, he didn’t have a program with any other star to earn that right for the title chase. They also announced that he will compete in the match. That seems like a glaring red flag to me. I don’t think they would announce that he was competing if he were going to win. Granted, they did the same with Edge and he, in fact, won the Rumble two years ago The story is similar, but with Cody Rhodes things are different. Edge was already a HOFer and 11-time World Champ. Rhodes hasn’t won a big title yet. Again, I wouldn't be shocked if he wins, but I simply don’t think it will happen.

I think Seth Rollins is the guy and I feel like nobody is talking about him. He currently has the 4th highest odds and I think he is flying under the radar for a reason. They don’t want to give it away. Rollins and Reigns already have a big match sitting on the burner ready to go. All they need is a reason to reignite the feud. Rollins winning the Rumble would do just that. I also don’t think it is out of the realm of possibility for Sami Zayn to win and that feels very weird saying. He has that big underdog feel right now and I don’t know if there is any stopping the momentum that he has. As for my darkhorse pick, I really don’t have one, but Drew McIntyre seems like a good option. Almost like Rollins, he has a reason to still have a bone to pick with Roman Reigns. Roman didn’t win cleanly at Clash at the Castle and I could see them going that route with two big heavyweights at WrestleMania, but I think Rollins is the better option right now. I think I went with McIntyre as my dark horse last year, but that just proves that he is always on the outskirts and ready for a big title match.

As for surprises, Stone Cold Steve Austin is rumored to be in the match potentially. Honestly, if he shows up, I don’t see a way he can't win. I don’t think it will happen though. I don’t know how Randy Orton is recovering, but I could see him entering the Rumble if he’s ready to compete. The Rock always seems to be rumored, but again, I don’t anticipate it happening. John Cena is a good possibility as an entrant I would say. It was announced this week the he will be on the all 3 covers of the new WWE 2K23 video game. I don’t expect him to win, but I think he definitely could be involved. I think Rollins will be your winner and give me those 12/1 odds all day long.

Yacs

Royal Rumble (2023) Predictions