Every year, while we’re all speculating on who will win the Royal Rumble matches, I always like to take some time to focus on some of the other “wins” people can get without being the ultimate victor and earning the title shot at WrestleMania.
Those two are the records for who scores the most eliminations and who lasts the longest.
In part 1 of this two-part series of predictions, we’ll be taking a look at who I think could dominate and toss out the most opponents, whether or not they leave with the actual victory.
While we don’t know the full field of competitors for either the men or women’s matches, I’ve narrowed down my picks to the top three superstars I think have the best chance of standing out as the most dominant wrestlers in the crowd.
In no particular order, let’s start digging…
WOMEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Charlotte Flair
WWE is very clearly putting a major spotlight on Charlotte Flair for this Royal Rumble, as expected. That’s going to be the case every year she’s involved and the only way that wouldn’t happen is if she is champion and not in the match. She’s The Queen. It’s a given she’ll dominate.
I can’t imagine this is going down in any way other than that she will be one of the top two most dominant women here, with an edge to being the #1 pick.
She has the record for most eliminations for the women’s match with her score last year of 5, tied with Michelle McCool’s from 2018. This year, she’ll beat it. I’m thinking 7 or 8, maybe.
Shayna Baszler
Unless something happens that convinces me different, I’m all-in on the idea that Baszler is winning this Royal Rumble. The only ways she doesn’t is if WWE wants to give the win to someone for Bayley, if Ronda Rousey comes back instead and they just want a rematch, and/or if the plan is for Baszler to win the Elimination Chamber.
But I expect her to win this and, as such, she’s going to need to toss some people out.
That shouldn’t be too difficult based on her track record of destroying most of her opponents and being nearly unstoppable in NXT. Toward the end of the match (I’m thinking 25 or so), she’ll make her appearance and from that point on, people will be in her path of destruction.
With some help from Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, she’s the only one I could see topping Flair’s score.
Sasha Banks
If anyone stands a chance at racking up some eliminations other than those two, it’s The Boss. This would be more of a longevity thing rather than a true tear through the competition.
I almost gave this third spot to Natalya for similar reasons, but since Banks has more of a mean streak to her character right now, that gave her an edge. Plus, there’s always the slight chance WWE has Banks win this and challenge Bayley at WrestleMania, although I’m 90% sure that isn’t going to happen.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
As mentioned above, Natalya was almost on this list. Ronda Rousey is in a similar boat to Shayna Baszler, but I just don’t expect the rowdy one to pop up.
Major, major shout out to Bianca Belair. If there is anyone in NXT who could toss out a bunch of people, I think she will be that star.
MEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Brock Lesnar
Since he’s entering first, I’m worried and anticipating that this year’s match is going to revolve predominantly around Brock Lesnar tossing out #2, #3, #4, #5 and so on for at least half the match, if not longer.
To be honest, with the way he’s been constantly booked as overpowered to the nth degree for years, it wouldn’t shock me if he took out 29 people that way and won the match with nobody lasting more than 80 seconds.
Of course, maybe I’m dead wrong. Maybe their plan is for the #2 entrant to be Cain Velasquez or someone who can take Lesnar out in a surprise and then carry on with a normal Royal Rumble match. In that case, it was a coin flip. He’s either ruling the land or getting humiliated and with Lesnar, I never trust the scenario where he loses.
Roman Reigns
You can never count out The Big Dog to take home the top prize in any kind of game, especially when he beat Kane’s record for the most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble.
That record lasted from 2001 until 2013. Technically, Braun Strowman beat that with the Greatest Royal Rumble by 1 more elimination, but since that isn’t a 30-man edition, I don’t count it quite the same.
Plus, Reigns has had the most eliminations multiple times since then. In total, he’s taken out more people in a particular match than anyone else in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018, ranging from 4-12 each time.
He’s also one of my picks to win, so that adds extra incentive to think he will throw a lot of people over the top rope.
Sheamus
Sheamus traditionally does rather well in Royal Rumbles. In fact, he’s a former winner from 2012 and in 2013, he tied with Ryback for the most eliminations.
He’s been gone long enough that WWE Creative surely missed him and will want to give him some spotlight, if at all possible. Since he has a storyline focus on taking out smaller people, he has to look somewhat dominating to not lose steam with that.
In order to keep that mystique going, perhaps he’ll toss out a handful of people like Shorty G, The Lucha House Party and more smaller wrestlers to illustrate his point before someone his own size like Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman or Kevin Owens takes him out.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
To give a shout out to some other people who could be in the hunt, I have to mention Drew McIntyre. They seem to want to push him as a powerhouse and a top guy again, so maybe he gets a featured role to show that off.
Another option could be Braun Strowman. After all, like I pointed out, he does technically have the record for most eliminations with 13 at Greatest Royal Rumble. He’s one of the biggest guys in the whole company and a winner of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, so it would always make sense if he wrecked the place.
Last is King Corbin. That may seem crazy, but if he can get Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode to help him, he’s still a rather big threat, even though he absolutely will not win this match.
Who do you think will end up eliminating the most wrestlers? What number do you think they’ll reach? Tell us your predictions in the comments below!
For more information on Royal Rumble statistics, check out my running page of records on Smark Out Moment here: http://www.smarkoutmoment.com/p/wwe-royal-rumble-statistics-records.html
