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 lasts the longest and who scores the most eliminations.
In part 1 of this two-part series of predictions, we’ll be taking a look at who I think could have a great showing by being more defensive and sticking around to last the longest. It’s all about staying power in this one.
These are the Iron Man and Iron Woman of the match, and while it is an impressive feat, most of the time, the people who achieve this don’t actually come out on top, as they tend to start in the first five entrance spots, which makes it considerably harder to outlast the rest of the competition.
Factoring in everything from stamina to how the Iron Man/Woman is typically someone of importance, but not necessarily the biggest stars, I’ve got my list for this year of who I think could be given this honor.
In no particular order, here are those names…
WOMEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Charlotte Flair
At the moment, I don’t think Charlotte Flair is going to win. She won last year, after all. Granted, that didn’t stop WWE from having back-to-back winners before (Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin) but I don’t think that will necessarily be the case this year.
However, I could see them having her come out at #3—her dad’s spot—and make it all the way to the final four, at least. If she were to beat out 56:01, which is Natalya’s record for the longest time based on the 2019 Royal Rumble at entry #2, then Flair would be able to say she’s the Iron Woman record holder. That might be a consolation prize for not winning another time. Going from #3 to the final two would more than likely break 57 minutes. Once you get into #4 and onward, it becomes a lot harder to reach that mark.
Bayley
Bayley held the SmackDown Women’s Championship far, far longer than I ever thought she would. She had that belt from Money in the Bank 2019 up until Sasha Banks beat her a few months back, essentially (minus a 5-day window that barely counts). Clearly, she’s someone on the high end of this match and should be given a spotlight.
In the past, Bayley’s entered late. I think this year, she’ll enter early and could be a definite final four or around that time frame.
Bianca Belair
WWE knows Belair is an incredible athlete. She may even be the winner of this match, which would give her a massive boost toward possibly being the Iron Woman. I’m starting to think less and less that she’ll win, and if that’s the case, lasting the longest and coming up short would fit with what happened at Survivor Series where they gave her a spot of being the last eliminated on her team—a sort of half-win.
However, I’m not as confident with Belair getting this spot as the other two. In fact, I think Belair will be in the 10-15 range and that might be what disqualifies her from lasting longer than others who enter closer to #1 and #2.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
I really, desperately hope WWE doesn’t plan on having Lana enter at #1 and make it all the way to the end through some kind of fluke. It was bad enough they threw away the Survivor Series sole survivor accolade for that joke. Don’t do it again.
Natalya is always worth being in the discussion as someone they could unintentionally give this to. They could just end up booking her as one of the first people, keep her in there for a while and she lasts the longest without that being a real focal point they fixate on.
Maybe Nia Jax gets this. I doubt it, though. She doesn’t strike me as the type that would work the full 60 minutes. Instead, she’d better utilized as a post-20 entrant to be a big physical threat people have to overcome.
MEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan currently holds the record for the longest time in a single Royal Rumble, for one he didn’t win. He was the first entrant in the Greatest Royal Rumble and lasted 1 hour, 16 minutes and 5 seconds, beating out Rey Mysterio’s 62:12 time from 2006.
Clearly, Bryan can do it. Also, he doesn’t have to be #1 to win this accolade. All he has to do is be one of the first entries (typically #1-5) and he’s got it. In fact, some people have won this by default even after being #19, like Steve Austin in 2002 and John Cena in 2010. Just because you’re the Iron Man doesn’t mean you need to go 45 minutes if everyone else gets eliminated quicker than you at 20-something.
The longer Bryan is in the match and has to fight his way toward a win, the better it will be if and when he wins it.
Seth Rollins
This is a total shot in the dark, but it wouldn’t shock me at all if Rollins is back in the Royal Rumble and if he’s one of the first people to start the match and lasts closer to the final few people. Not necessarily final four, but he might even do that.
I don’t have a lot to go on here other than a hunch. There are plenty of other people who could fit the bill just the same, if not even better, who I’ll mention in the Honorable Mentions. This is just a weird crystal ball moment I’m having about Rollins making his mark in this event by doing this particular thing.
AJ Styles
Much hooplah has been made about AJ Styles beating people who want an entry into the Royal Rumble. It would make sense if he found himself taking the brunt of some unfortunately bad news with an early entrance spot.
If that’s the case, he’s too good not to last quite a while. A half hour at the very least. Assuming no one else like a Bryan or Keith Lee or anyone comes in earlier and outlasts him, he could be the default winner of this. Like mentioned elsewhere, giving someone the Iron Man spot is a way to give them a pat on the back without having them win this match. A heel like Styles could go on and on for a long time about how he lasted longer than everyone else and run with that as his talking point heading into WrestleMania.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
A few other people who crossed my mind were Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Jey Uso and Riddle. However, I just didn’t have enough of an argument to go with them.
BONUS: WHO WILL HAVE THE SHORTEST TIMES?
For the women, it’s probably someone like Tamina. She never does well in almost anything and since they perpetually book her as throwaway filler (which sometimes is sad), she’s the easiest option to bank on every time.
However, it should be Billie Kay. She’s the best person at the moment to pull off a comedic spot. Hands down.
With regards to the men, it’s a total crap shoot. It could be someone like Elias getting humiliated or someone like Titus O’Neil just having a filler spot. I don’t think we’ll see a lot of quick eliminations this year after the run Brock Lesnar had. This time around, I’m expecting people to last more than 60 seconds a piece outside of maybe one person just for the sake of them going “Hey, we don’t have any quick eliminations. Let’s give that ‘honor’ to Robert Roode” or something.
However, if I had to venture a guess, I’ll say the one who lasts the shortest time will be R-Truth because he quickly eliminates himself to get away from people trying to win the 24/7 Championship. At least that’s trying to work in a comedy spot instead of just burying a guy like Erik for no reason.
Those are my picks, but what do you think? 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
