In the comments section of the most recent post, Jordan asked me who my number one pick is to win the men's Royal Rumble. I thought I would expand on it a little bit here and even lock in, if you will, who I believe will win the women's match.
From last summer right up to a few weeks ago, Kevin Owens was my number one pick to win the battle royal in order to set up Lesnar versus Owens for either of the major titles at Mania.
I thought it was looking good with Lesnar and Owens both finding their ways to the same brand during - and in the case of Lesnar, after - the draft.
Owens being the top babyface on Raw, following Seth Rollins' switch to heel, was also - in my opinion - a sign.
As of today, Owens is so far away from the top of my list of potential winners. Especially now as his feud against Seth Rollins is still in-progress and his Rumble priority seems to be to play spoiler by ruining Rollins' night.
Roman Reigns was my number two to win throughout. He sneaked into the top place after I began to grow cold on the chance of an Owens win.
What has helped Reigns in recent weeks is he has promised to win the Rumble and go on to main event WrestleMania. A top babyface making vows like this should never be overlooked, in my opinion, as they're the people you have to trust. With that said, he made TWO vows so - if he does end up main eventing Mania (which I am sure he will), he wouldn't have broken the promise completely.
Baron Corbin - on last night's Smackdown - said he was going to ensure Reigns would not make it to the battle royal but he would following their falls count anywhere match. Just like with my 'Trust The Top Babyface' rule, you should also disbelieve the heel they're up against.
Going by the Corbin quote, you could read into it that Corbin might not even be a participant in the battle royal following his bout with Reigns. If so, that could open up for Corbin to cost Reigns the win in the latter part of the match.
It's something to look out for, but I'm going to stick with Reigns.
Another person I think should not be overlooked, but I have not bet on him to win, is Drew McIntyre. He is in the early stages of what looks like a babyface push and has mentioned wanting a shot at the WWE Championship.
McIntyre could be the person who eliminates Brock Lesnar to set up the title match that way. Even though I haven't wagered on him to win the Rumble, McIntyre is one of a few names I have on my list of potential Lesnar eliminators.
As for the women's Royal Rumble - I've had two names on the list for months.
Shayna Baszler and Sasha Banks.
If I had to go with one, I'm going to have to be boring and side with the betting favourite.
Baszler is the wrestler I believe has the strongest chance of the two as it would set her up as a contender to Becky Lynch's WWE Raw Women's Championship.
This scenario would benefit NXT during Mania season as it would allow Baszler and Lynch to pop up on NXT and Raw in the build. This would help with NXT's attempt to put a dent in AEW Dynamite's viewership numbers on Wednesdays.
So, to close, it might seem boring to those checking in for the first time this weekend, but I'm siding with the two odds-on favourites to win the battle royals.
I have wagers on both. My first wager on Baszler was in February of last year and the punt on Roman Reigns was shortly after he had returned from battling leukemia and was added to the running.
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