The 2019 Royal Rumble is this Sunday. There will be a lot of intriguing match-ups happening in Arizona this weekend, but the two we at Pop Break care about the most are the matches in the name of the event — the Royal Rumble matches. For decades this has been one of the most fun, frustrating, surprising, and heartbreaking events in the WWE calendar year.
The wrestling staff of Pop Break has their picks in, and here they are in order of appearance. 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…
Rob Crowther IV – Staff Writer, Host of the Bob Culture Podcast
Women’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Man’ Becky Lynch
Who in professional wrestling is hotter right now than Ms. Straight Fire herself, Becky Lynch? Being fully aware that Becky is challenging Asuka for the SD Women’s Title at the PPV, I expect some shenanigans by the likes of a Ronda Rousey or Charlotte Flair. Becky jumps let’s say.. an Iconic or a Riott Squad member and takes their spot in the Rumble for the win. This puts The Man on a similar Stone Cold-esque path to Mania to challenge Rousey. It writes itself, and Becky has been biding her time for this match.
Men’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Architect’ Seth Rollins
Who DESERVES to win the Royal Rumble right now more than Seth Rollins? The architect has single handedly carried RAW on his back during some abysmal storylines. Rollins; resume already includes nearly every milestone shy of a Rumble win and a Universal Title run. After consistently putting on top notch matches week after week, this superstar deserves the spotlight (and the win) at Mania.
Murjani “M.J.” Rawls – Wrestling Editor, Staff Photographer
Men’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Architect’ Seth Rollins
Seth is the quintessential babyface of RAW not named Finn Balor. It’s been set up this way for months with how he’s defended the Intercontinental title. Him dropping the title to Lashley and the spirited promo on RAW makes him a shoe in to be the foil to Brock at WrestleMania.
It makes sense from a story line perspective. At WM 31, Seth cashed in MITB on Brock. As the “take the high road” babyface he is now, Paul Heyman can challenge him. “Hey, you never best Brock straight up.” That gives Brock an extra edge as well. A vendetta.
Presumably, Finn will not beat Brock at RR. If Seth beats Brock and then Brock goes away, the rivalry between Seth and Finn can heat up again.
Women’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Man’ Becky Lynch
This is what I call a “gimme booking.” A Ronda/Becky mega fight has been teased for months and is your expected headliner for Wrestlemania. The best closing shot you could have from Royal Rumble going into the Road to Wrestlemania is Becky standing tall and Ronda coming to meet her with the Raw title. Becky’s path is not back to Asuka or even Charlotte. You could have Charlotte/Asuka II for the Smackdown brand. Their first match at last year’s Wrestlemania was one of the best matches of 2018. It’s through Ronda.
Matthew Widdis – Contributor, Smackdown Live! Reviewer
Men’s Royal Rumble winner: ‘The Monster Among Men’ Braun Strowman
I was dead set on Seth Rollins a few weeks ago. Samoa Joe was a contender. But conventional wisdom wins out. They’re saving Braun from another Lesnar loss and going into big Wrestlemania with a media-friendly monster among men versus a real life supervillain who adds 500K-1M buys to any PPV he’s on in two different sports.
Women’s Royal Rumble winner: ‘The Queen’ Charlotte Flair
I see Becky Lynch going over Asuka and Ronda Rousey retaining against Sasha Banks. Charlotte has recent history with both and a match between probably the biggest name in women’s wrestling history (Ronda) and who I feel is the hands down company ace (Charlotte) could generate genuine buzz as a potential history-making main event at Wrestlemania.
DJ Chapman – Staff Writer
Men’s Rumble Winner – John Cena
The men’s division feels like it’s in a transition state right now with Roman Reigns unfortunate absence. This feels like the perfect time for John Cena to inject the division with some life by having him win the Royal Rumble, and compete for the WWE Championship and become a 17 Time World Champion!
Women’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Queen’ Charlotte Flair
Charlotte Flair. This feels like the only way to get to a Charlotte vs. Ronda Rousey match at Wrestlemania which is what would make the most sense. She’s been on SmackDown for long enough and this feels like the perfect way for her to transition to RAW and fight for the Women’s Title.
Michael Dworkis – Senior Editor
Men’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Scottish Pyschopath’ Drew McIntyre
Only 20 out of 30 participants have been announced, my pick comes down to one of the unannounced entrants vs. Drew McIntyre. So, let’s pick someone in the Rumble, Mr. McIntyre. Remember, the winner gets to pick either the WWE Championship or the Universal Title. Drew could be a viable contender for either. I have a hard time seeing McIntrye challenge Brock, but then again, WWE claims to be doing things differently, and this might be one of them. Either this or Braun Strowman beats up R-Truth, stealing the #30 spot, and then wins.
Women’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Queen of Spades’ Shayna Baszler
A lot of good contenders, and a lot of head-scratchers. I have a hard time picking through the list of 23 announced participants, but if WWE wants a real “money match” for WrestleMania, then you have an unannounced entrant from NXT, one Shayna Baszler, who wins, and challenges Ronda Rousey. Yes, it goes against the grain of the second incarnation of the MMA Horsewomen, but man, would you get an amped up audience for that match.
Michael Vacchiano – Contributor
Men’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Architect’ Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins—2018 was the year of The Architect as he constantly proved himself as the E’s MVP, at least from an in-ring standpoint. Rollins truly deserves to come out on top and will take his show-stealing abilities to the Showcase of the Immortals. Lesnar has had excellent matches with high-flying technicians like Styles and D-Bry, and Rollins should match up well with The Beast to give us an awesome Universal Championship bout.
Men’s Rumble Winner – ‘The Man’ Becky Lynch
The Man has been just that for the past several months, and is one of the hottest stars in the company right now, male or female. After falling to Asuka in a close, hard-fought match, I see Lynch entering and winning the rumble and giving us fans the showdown with Rousey at Mania that was taken away from us. I can see Charlotte woooo-rming her way in to make it a triple threat, but Becky ultimately prevails at the Granddaddy of Them All.
Bill Bodkin – Editor-in-Chief
Men’s Rumble Winner – John Cena
Could Braun take it? Sure, but they’ve been really pushing this “the eventual, ultimate challenger gets screwed at every corner” narrative with Braun. It’s the same story they used with Roman Reigns for years. Could it be Seth Rollins? Sure, but I don’t think it’ll happen, call it a gut feeling. I think “the hottest free agent” John Cena wins this one. After the unfortunate pause on his feud with Lars Sullivan, Cena needs something for Wrestlemania. So why not have him go to battle with his almost future brother-in-law, and newly minted uber heel, Daniel Bryan? The promos between these two would be great, and the match itself is fairly fresh.
Women’s Rumble Winner – It’s a Tie!
it makes sense for Charlotte to win. It makes sense for Becky to win. So why not pull a Lex Luger/Bret Hart and have them tie? These two — fueled by their desire to be both the best woman’s wrestler in the world AND destroy Ronda Rousey — could easily eliminate each other. Or maybe “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” comes in and tosses both of them out. This way we get the mega-triple threat at Wrestlemania, and what will be what draws the house.
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