It’s that time of the year again. Time for the Road to WrestleMania, which starts right here with the Royal Rumble! Each unique 30-Man and Woman over-the-top battle royal determines who will go to Mania to fight their respective brand’s champion in the Main Event of the biggest show of the year.
This year, we have two pre-show matches as well as five matches on the main card and then it’s the men’s and women’s rumbles. We’ve gathered the Apostles to break the entire card down and give each of their takes on whats going to happen in the Rumbles, themselves. So sit back, relax and enjoy our 2019 RR preview!
Rusev (c) v. Shinsuke Nakamura
@GeneSelassie
Rusev’s face turn is a prime example of “be careful what you wish for”. His promos have been so poorly written, like 2015 promos by Roman Reigns bad. But with the crowd still hot for the character, I don’t see Nakamura going over in this match. They’ve had decent matches, but they both need to move on to opponents with whom they have better chemistry with.
PREDICTION: Rusev
Buddy Murphy (c) v. Kalisto v. Akira Tozawa v. Hideo Itami
@mochaloca85
My beloved tiny wrestle boys are yet again killing themselves only to wind up on the preshow. This Fatal Four-Way will be the sleeper match of the night, as per usual. Murphy has been showing why he deserves to be the Prince Memorial Champion while his former partner Wesley Blake is still languishing in a bad Sons of Anarchy gimmick down in NXT. The Fed has been trying to build up Itami, who sorely needs it after his injury-riddled time in WWE. Tozawa and Kalisto are just kinda there after winning their qualifying matches against Drew Gulak and Lio Rush.
PREDICTION: Although I’d love to see the man who made Daniel Bryan deaf in one ear finally get some respect on his name, Buddy Murphy will remain your Boyhood Dream champion.
The Bar (c) v. The Miz & Shane McMahon
@mochaloca85
If there was any match that deserved to be on the kickoff, it’s this one. Why is this even a thing? Oh, yeah. Because the Glory Hog has to have all the glory. Again. As if being declared “The Best in the World” (after “winning” a tournament that only had Americans in it) wasn’t bad enough. The Miz-kage doesn’t deserve this. Sheamus and Cesaro sure as hell deserve better than this shit. Remember when battles for the SD tag titles were some of the hottest things in wrestling? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
PREDICTION: Does anyone actually care? The Bar should retain because they’re actually a team and because I refuse to validate Shane McMahon as a wrestler, especially when there’s no tall thing for him to fall from. You went over a helicopter, sir. We don’t need to see you in the ring ever again.
Ronda Rousey (c) v. Sasha Banks
@Asseenontonyv
For the little amount of build this match has been given Sasha has done a great job by going back to her old arrogant NXT attitude that made us actually care about her to begin with. Ronda, on the other hand, has been growing stale as of late since her lack of charisma hasn’t stopped the powers that be giving her at least 10-minutes a week to bore us all.
I’m not expecting anything spectacular between these two but it will do its job of setting up the Horsewoman Vs. Horsewoman angle we’ve been hearing about for practically 2 years now.
PREDICTION: Ronda Rousey
Asuka (c) v. Becky Lynch
@F7ovrdrv
The match no one has been waiting for. That no one has been asking for: Asuka Gonzalez vs Mr. Becky Lynch… But we should understand why it’s happening. As good as Charlotte vs Becky matches are, you can only have them trade the belt back and forth for so long. Furthermore –this coming from a Becky fan–it was nice seeing the Empress of Today (it’s been a few years, it’s today) getting the gold.
Even if it was thanks to goddamn Nightman McRoomba ruining an great, historic (can’t forget to mention that) TLC match. God, do I hate Rondy Roody Tooty Roosy. But I digress.
PREDICTION: Lately WWE isn’t keen on short title reigns, so my man isn’t getting his belt back. The match will be great, with Asuka having the obvious edge on strikes, and Lynch using more suplexes and holds. I’ll be shocked if Flair doesn’t play a role in this. Goddammit. If Boomba really is leaving soon, they’d be smart to set up Becky vs Rondy for mania with her dethroning the shitty eye makeup’d one and going to Raw (since again, I’m fairly certain Señor Lynch isn’t getting his gold back).
“The New” Daniel Bryan (c) v. “The Real” AJ Styles
IG @Grumpykore
Smackdown is at high point right now after the Vince Takeover. This is a rivalry that is personal and the WWE universe is wondering whats next. The Heel of D-Bry and AJ Face offs has been awesome TV. Needless to say, it will be a classic match. 5*… OMG moments and some WTF? too along the way…
PREDICTION: I’m pretty sure AJ and Vince have something brewing behind the scenes and I feel a Phoenix screw job is in place. (Can we see a AJ vs Punk WM moment? We shall see.)
Brock Lesnar (c) v. Finn Balor
@OGMrGrimm
This is a match that I’ve wanted to see ever since Finn Balor returned from his shoulder injury way back in February 2017. Lately we have seen quite a considerable push for the original Bullet Club leader and 1st ever WWE Universal Champion. The writing staff in WWE has gone into overdrive trying to convince us that Balor can be a real threat to the very lean and mean looking Lesnar. With a pinfall victory over John Cena, an impressive showing in fending off both Strowman and Lesnar, a new “Voice of the Voiceless” like approach to his mic work, even going as far as having Vince McMahon, the boss himself. tell a “David Reincarnated” story. WWE has an opportunity to make a top tier baby face character for years to come in a very similar way to back in 2004 at No Way Out when Eddie Guerrero beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Interestingly enough now just like at that time there are very similar rumors of Brock Lesnar leaving the WWE.
The only thing that I feel could be counting against Balor winning this match is that it seems that he was put into this position last minute as a replacement for a not yet 100% Strowman. I think that this match will be very entertaining as it seems that Brock always has better outings with smaller more athletic opponents such as CM Punk, AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan.
PREDICTION: I’d love it if they gave Balor a shot at being the top guy. But in my opinion I think they may keep the Big Red Strap on Lesnar until Wrestlemania. Which is fine with me as long as they stop calling Finn the “Extraordinary Man Who Does Extraordinary Things”
@ShawnPuffy
The Women’s Royal Rumble… I just hope the seven open spots aren’t filled with washed up Diva’s that can’t perform anymore. Yeah, I’m looking directly at you, Lita. Stay on the preshow panel. … What? You know it’s the truth. Maybe we get a surprise NXT or performance center entrant?
PREDICTION: I’m not overly excited about anyone and there isn’t an “obvious” favorite. So I’m going to have to go with the Queen herself, Charlotte Flair punching her ticket to Mania with a Rumble victory.
@TravMoody
You’re close, but not that close. While the whole Becky to lose to Asuka to win Rumble thing would be predictable-as-planned, there’s no arguing it would be one hell of a way to close out the show. And most of Becky’s tweets lately have been talking about knocking the teeth out of every other woman on the roster– not so much the current SmackDown Women’s Champ. Hmph.
PREDICTION: So long as we get a Toni Storm or an Io Sharai in there to do heavy damage as a surprise, I’ll be thrilled to see the match. Ember Moon should definitely do her thing, and any other woman the McMahon’s feel strong about (hey, if it’s Mandy, it’s Mandy; don’t just let her look weak) should go out there and take names. But the end, only a man — THE MAN — will stand tall.
@OGMrGrimm
Drew McIntyre would be solid choice to win this year’s Rumble and go on to headline WrestleMania. if they don’t want to go with the obvious choice. It would lead to a fresh matchup for Mania with Brock. But I’m pretty sure the winner of the Royal Rumble has been the obvious choice all along.
PREDICTION: I’ve felt for months that Seth Rollins is a lock to win the Rumble. Then he goes on to beat Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania for the Universal Championship.
IG @Grumpykore
This year could be a fantasy warfare for guessing entrants into the contest. Vinny Mac has plenty of talent to pick from to showcase the event Sunday Night…He just has to pick the right card from the deck. This starts out by giving the people what they want to see. Some Superstars are on the shelf with injury but some are just not being used at all. Wasted talent. Times are changing and things are happening really quick in the wrasslin’ world. WHO… WHO’S in and WHO’S out?
I think we should have a Bingo Hall reveal like days of old…1hr before the show. That gets you hyped!
PREDICTION: Lets GO….Spolier Alert…My gut feeling is a certain star is coming back for #1…That name is… wait for it…wait… First off can you imagine the pop this will get if The Greatest In the World CM PUNK‘s new music hits? OMGGGGGGG that would be 🔥. Why not…Well, I’ll tell you. It’s perfect timing right now for a shot in the veins of the WWE universe. But maybe that’s me just dreaming! That includes AJ Lee too…WWE’s new hottest couple. Mic Drop! Peace Out!