It’s time again for my favorite WWE PPV, as the 2019 rendition of Royal Rumble is only a couple days away. This year’s card has shaped up to potentially be one of the better shows in the history of the event. As is with every year, I wanted to throw in my predictions for who I think will win in this year’s event, so here they are.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship (Preshow Match)
Buddy Murphy (C) vs. Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami
Who will win? Buddy Murphy
Who should win? Buddy Murphy
Let’s face it, though I love the rest of the participants in this match, Murphy seems to be on a roll, with great match after great match, and honestly, I see no reason to take the belt off of him right now.
WWE United States Championship (Preshow)
Rusev (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Who will win? Rusev
Who should win? Shinsuke Nakamura
Look, I love both of these wrestlers, but let’s face it, this feud shouldn’t have been a heel/face feud. Honestly, it should have been just two amazing wrestlers fighting over the belt. The build to this title match has been nonsensical at best and laughable at worst. “Grr! You hurt my wife, who is also a professional wrestler, and has taken worse bumps in the past!!” “Nope, the footage clearly shows that it was your fault!!” What?! Are you serious?! That being said, I think that Vince and creative completely dropped the ball when it came to Shinsuke’s run as US champ, and honestly haven’t tried to do any better of a job with Rusev’s run. Honestly, Shinsuke should have had the belt for longer, unless they are about to have him sniff the WWE or Universal belt. He’s too damn good of a wrestler to have him languish like he has on the main roster. He showed it in NXT. He’s shown it on the main roster. What the hell?! I also want to restate that I hate when the WWE has championship matches on the pre-show. As a fan, it honestly devalues the belt, and make them feel like an afterthought.
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Bar (c) vs The Miz and Shane McMahon
Who will win? The Miz and Shane McMahon
Who should win? The Bar
I know that there are some who have loves the build-up to this match, but to be honest, to me the build-up to this particular match feels thrown together. Don’t get me wrong. I like slow builds, and the build between The Miz and Shane has been at times entertaining to watch. Also, if this build is a way to turn The Miz to a babyface, I think the turn has been good so far. I just think that heel Authority figures are tired and played out so I would hope that they don’t turn Shane heel, as he is one of the Authority figures behind the scenes. That being said, I just feel that this couple all of a sudden getting a shot at Tag Team titles when they haven’t risen the ranks at all, simply because The Miz talked crap to The Bar is actually childish, and a bit of bad storytelling. “OH! You talked bad about me, so I’m giving you a title shot!” As one of The Miz’s catchphrases goes, “REALLY?!!”
WWE RAW Women’s Championship
Ronda Rousey (c) vs Sasha Banks
Who will win? Ronda Rousey
Who should win? Sasha Banks
Since Rousey joined the WWE at last year’s Rumble, she has been putting on stellar performance after stellar performance, regardless of who she has wrestled. I have major respect for her abilities and talent, and she has shown that she can go with the likes of the Four Horsewomen of the WWE. The thing is I have the same problem with her reign as I have with the title shot that Miz and Shane were given. She hasn’t really worked her way up the ranks to earn the spot. I mean look at Ember Moon. Ember is phenomenal, but like everyone else in wrestling, she’s had to slowly work her way up to championship contention. Why didn’t Rousey have to do the same? Now, if it is like what’s being reported, that she is going to take a year off after WrestleMania this year, then I guess I can understand. However, if that’s not the case, then I call garbage.
When it comes to Sasha, she has consistently put on great performance after great performance since her days in NXT. She, along with the rest of the Four Horsewomen are the standard bearers and descendants of the Trish’s, Lita’s, AJ Lee’s and Young’s of wrestling’s past. She has more than earned her spot in this title match time and again. Also, I would argue that though she is a four-time RAW Women’s Champion, she was never given the chance to run with the belt for any length of time. Though 2017 was a major year for her, her extremely short title reigns left a bad taste in a lot of fan’s mouths; and 2018 she was almost nonexistent in the title picture, with only a start and stop, ‘will they-won’t they’ feud with Bayley that went nowhere.
WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship
Asuka (c) vs. Becky Lynch
Who will win? Asuka
Who should win? Asuka
I’ve loved Becky Lynch ever since I first saw her wrestle in NXT. She and Sasha have always been my favorite Horsewomen, no offense to Bayley and Charlotte. I actually shed tears when she first won the newly created Smackdown Live Women’s title. I was so happy and felt that it was about time back then. Then I saw as creative decided to continually crap on her reign, that would eventually end in her losing the title to Alexa Bliss, someone that I thought wasn’t ready to hold a major title, and honestly, when it comes to in-ring talent, I’ve been proven right time and again. I saw her languish in mid-card hell, as little more than an afterthought, and was pissed right along with her. So when she finally snapped and started showing folks the ‘gives no fucks’ badass she is, I was riding right along with her to regaining the belt.
That being said, there was also something going on with Asuka, my favorite wrestler outside the Four Horsewomen that has really been pissing me off. Asuka goes from being undefeated for over a year, to losing to Charlotte at WrestleMania in a top-notch match for the ages. What happens after her first loss? What does creative do with this amazing talent? They have her loose to Carmella, assisted by a returning James Ellsworth in the most stupid way. They have her loose match after match after match, all because they don’t know what to do with her, because she doesn’t speak English as a first language. WHAT THE HELL?! So the folks at NXT had no issues booking her well, but for some reasons the creative of the main roster has issues? So, they finally get her back on track towards the end of last year, and during an AMAZING TLC match, Asuka finally does it. She wins the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Though I loved everyone in that ring, when Asuka won, I yelled, screamed and even cried tears of joy.
As much as I love Becky, why would you do to Asuka what you’ve done to Sasha? Why wouldn’t you give her a title run that lasts at least until WrestleMania? It makes no sense to have Asuka just be a transitional champion. Honestly, Becky needs to be going after the RAW Women’s Championship for a while, before moving back to Smackdown around their premiere on Fox in October.
WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles
Who will win? Daniel Bryan
Who should win? Daniel Bryan
I think the work that Bryan has been doing to make himself a believable heel has been amazing. His turn to win the belt and his subsequent promos and matches have all served to further push his diehard babyface fans away. AJ Styles is AJ Styles. He’s always going to put 110% into his matches. It’s why he is one of the top three greatest wrestlers working today. The thing is I really think that this feud has outlasted its usefulness. What I mean is at first I was very interested in this feud, but three PPVs later with little or no development in the story, this feud has lost almost all of its steam. Now don’t get me wrong. I know the match will be an amazing contender for match of the night, but this feud has become a bit of a farce.
WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Finn Balor
Who will win? Brock Lesnar
Who should win? Finn Balor
I have been a fan of Finn Balor since the NXT days. The guy is a top-notch wrestler who was the very first Universal Champion. Since coming back from injury, he’s put on stellar performances, even though he may not have been wrestling someone of his caliber. He has slowly worked up the ranks and has been a fan favorite throughout all of the feuds that he was put in, some of which were garbage. He’s earned his spot, and honestly, I think he would make a better champion than Lesnar.
When it comes to Lesnar, back in the day, he was amazing because it felt like he cared about giving the fans his best performance. Since coming back, regardless of whether it was for money only, his matches on the whole feel like he a just a wrestling automaton with no care of telling stories in the ring at all really. From his recent matches (the ones against Styles and Bryan notwithstanding), it feels as if he is just going through the motions of putting on a wooden match in the ring. That is when he shows up to wrestle, which is few and far between. I don’t want a champion that doesn’t care about putting on the best match they can. I want a versatile champion who can adapt to any style, and I’m sorry to say, but Lesnar doesn’t fit that bill anymore.
Men’s Royal Rumble
Who will win? Seth Rollins
Who should win? Drew McIntyre
Women’s Royal Rumble
Who will win? Charlotte
Who should win? Ember Moon
What do you think? Who do you want to win at this year’s Rumble?
