Royal Rumble 2019 is coming up this Sunday night and the go-home shows of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live have given us an indication of what talent is booked for the pay-per-view and who is not currently scheduled.
It’s important to keep in mind, though, that every card is always subject to change, and the Royal Rumble is even more up in the air than the rest. That is because WWE purposely doesn’t announce everybody in the titular matches. Even when they do, sometimes, they pull people to replace them with others and such, so there is plenty of possibility for people to find their way onto the card.
However, if we go with their current advertisements and take them as honest and not deceptive, we can see which men and women aren’t booked for the 2019 Royal Rumble at this moment.
In some cases, this may be justified, or even a purposeful plan to set up a surprise. In other cases, it may be ridiculous. That is up to you to decide as we take a look at which superstars aren’t being promoted for this show.
The Recent NXT Call-Ups
— EC3: I 100% think EC3 will be in the Royal Rumble and I’m guessing they just haven’t announced it yet because they want to get a pop.
— Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight): I don’t think we’ll be seeing them take up two of the Royal Rumble spots or challenge for the tag titles. Nope.
— Lars Sullivan: Having a panic attack and going away before you can even make your debut, even though you’ve had a long enough stint in NXT and over two months of promos to prepare for your debut isn’t good and I wouldn’t blame WWE for just calling it quits with Sullivan and not bothering with him. However, maybe this is all just b.s. and he’s going to be one of the more featured people in the Royal Rumble match.
From the Raw Men’s Singles Division
— Braun Strowman: Strowman is in an odd spot right now after having his championship match against Brock Lesnar taken away. He’s wrestled Finn Balor, which means he’s cleared to compete. However, WWE hasn’t announced him as a participant in the Royal Rumble. I do think he’ll be involved, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they wrote him out of the event entirely just to avoid doing something with him.
— Bray Wyatt: I’m definitely, definitely anticipating this is when we’ll see the return of Wyatt in some fashion, hopefully with some changes to his gimmick. By the sheer nature of a surprise, they can’t announce him yet. That’s how surprises work. Duh.
— Curt Hawkins: The top pick for who could match Santino Marella’s shortest time record would have to be Hawkins, to really cement himself as THE jobber, but I don’t think that’s happening this year. I think he’s just sitting this event out.
— Dolph Ziggler: It would be extremely surprising to me if Ziggler is not in the Royal Rumble. They probably haven’t announced it yet because he’s not important enough to the grand scheme of things for them to call that out yet.
— Goldust: Injury (knees). There is no set timetable for his return.
— Jason Jordan: Injury (neck). There is no set timetable for his return, if it ever happens.
— Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn: Owens is out with a knee injury, while Zayn is out with two torn rotator cuffs. They’ve already been advertised as making their returns, but it wasn’t said when that will happen, and rumors have suggested they jumped the gun just to get people talking. They could very well appear in the Royal Rumble, but don’t be shocked if they aren’t there and don’t return until closer to WrestleMania season, if not the night after the big show, particularly if they don’t have the time to set up a match for them for WrestleMania and don’t want to just throw them in the ATGMBR.
— Mojo Rawley: I can see him taking up a spot if they have room, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s too low on the totem pole to get that and it goes to someone else.
— No Way Jose: He had his conga line chance. It’s not happening again.
— Roman Reigns: The Big Dog will remain out of action for quite some time as he is suffering from leukemia. There is no timetable for his return.
— Zack Ryder: If WWE is looking for people to fill up this match, Ryder’s a solid option they’ll put in there, for sure, but he’s not a big star, so they likely will keep that open for the time being.
From the Raw Women’s Division
— None: Now that Alexa Bliss has been cleared to compete and announced for the Royal Rumble, every woman on the Raw roster has been accounted for. Awesome!
From the Raw Tag Team Division
— The Ascension: Yeah, these guys aren’t featured on television on remotely any bit of a normal schedule. They’re not appearing here unless WWE is scrapped for options.
— The Authors of Pain: After their worthless title reign, Akam and Rezar have just disappeared. My guess is WWE has no idea what to do with them and they won’t make any appearances here, either. On top of this, Akam is supposedly dealing with a leg injury, so that makes even more sense to just cut Rezar from the list, too, and have neither of them do anything for a while. Maybe then, they can come back in a few months with some tweaks and a renewed push.
— The B-Team: Both could pop up and be tossed out quickly if they need enhancement talent, yet both could just as easily be skipped over in favor of other people who will make a bigger splash.
— Breezango: Fandango remains out due to a shoulder injury; Tyler Breeze is stuck in jobber limbo.
— Chad Gable and Bobby Roode: They’re only the tag team champions. They don’t matter, right? It’s not like Gable could have been a solid midcarder if they pushed him and Roode could be a main event star or anything…….
— Heath Slater and Rhyno: Slater will be in the Royal Rumble and will be eliminated relatively fast if they have the room for him. If not, it’s okay. I don’t think anyone will really be up in arms about it. Rhyno I think we can definitely rule out entirely.
— The Lucha House Party: Since they’re roles are being on 205 Live and being a secondary part of the tag team division that gets pushed aside all the time, I’d anticipate none of them would be involved and if any did, it would be Kalisto.
— The Revival: With all the rumors that they’re leaving WWE or at least trying to, why would WWE want to waste a spot in the Royal Rumble card on them?
From the SmackDown Men’s Singles Division
— Aiden English: If WWE wants to make an ass out of someone, English could be in line for that humiliation spot. Otherwise, nope. The fact that he’s being tested out for a commentary position proves even more how he’s not wrestling here, as they’re looking for other means to utilize him.
— Big Show: Unless he’s healthy enough to return and they want his appearance to count as a legend surprise, I don’t think we’ll see Big Show here.
— Shelton Benjamin: I keep saying Shelton Benjamin is criminally underutilized, but since WWE isn’t listening, nothing has changed. He’s sat out of most of 2018. I would be shocked if he took up a Royal Rumble spot.
— Sin Cara: A knee injury has put Sin Cara on the shelf. Supposedly, he’s on his way to being cleared, but he’s not a prominently featured member of the roster, so he’ll be passed over for this.
— Tye Dillinger: A hand injury has kept The Perfect 10 out of action. I don’t think we’ll see him enter at that 10th spot, or at all, this year.
From the SmackDown Women’s Division
— Nobody: Surprisingly, they haven’t ignored anyone on the SmackDown female side of things, unless you count Maryse, but she’s not even a regular part of the product right now as a manager/valet, let alone a wrestler. Other than that, everyone else has been checked off.
From the SmackDown Tag Team Division
— The Bludgeon Brothers: Both Harper and Rowan are still on the injured list, even though rumors suggest they might be gearing up to return soon. Still, unless WWE has enough investment in them to wish to have them return as surprises, don’t expect them to pop up in the Royal Rumble.
— The Colons: As jobbers who rarely ever show up, even on the live event circuit, let alone television, Epico and Primo have no chance of being in the Royal Rumble match. There are too many alternatives to pick over them.
— The Good Brothers: It’s sad to consider Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson the type of people who will be skipped over during the Royal Rumble in favor of others, but I think that’s the reality of the situation. They haven’t been doing anything and there are still lots of other names here and in NXT that can take those remaining spots.
— SAnitY: Boy, when SAnitY came up to the main roster, they were supposed to be a big deal. Instead, they’ve done zilch and now, with three of their members in the running for the Royal Rumble, there’s a chance none of them compete in the match. If one of them does, it’ll probably be Killian Dain or Eric Young, not Alexander Wolfe.
— The Usos: Jimmy and Jey Uso could very well be used in the Royal Rumble, as they have been plenty of times in the past. However, I don’t think it’s a certainty. They would be taking up two spots that could go to two singles stars, and we all know Vince prioritizes the singles division over the tag teams.
From the 205 Live Cruiserweight Division
— Ariya Daivari: Lately, Daivari has taken to being Hideo Itami’s bud, so he might be ringside for the Fatal 4-Way. Other than that, don’t anticipate him being involved.
— The Brian Kendrick: There’s a chance Kendrick is ringside to balance out Daivari and to help cheer on Akira Tozawa. Other than that, I’m not thinking we’ll see him, even in the Royal Rumble.
— Cedric Alexander: Alexander had his chance to be on the card when he faced Itami, but he lost. Due to that, it makes perfect sense he’s out of the mix.
— Drew Gulak: Gulak came up short in his bid to join the Fatal 4-Way for the title. That excuses his absence.
— Gentleman Jack Gallagher: Might want to rethink that heel turn that has netted you a grand total of zilch in many, many months, eh Gallagher? At least you were in the 2017 Royal Rumble. That’s not happening this year.
— Lio Rush: I was really surprised that Rush didn’t get the other heel spot in the Fatal 4-Way, which went to Itami, instead. I thought it would go the other way around with Murphy and Rush as the two heels. Anyway, I was wrong, and that’s why Rush isn’t here, but we could see him come out to cheer Lashley when he enters the Royal Rumble, though. Or, Rush could even be in the match himself for a quick comedy elimination or something.
— Mike Kanellis: The Kanellis couple recently showed up on 205 Live to inform Drake Maverick that they hadn’t done anything in I believe five weeks. If you have to point that out, it means your big move from Raw to a smaller pond still hasn’t made you a bigger fish.
— Noam Dar / Tony Nese: These two have a feud going on that is limited to 205 Live. Small fish at the moment. I like them both, but there’s nothing to see here.
— TJP: To be honest, I think there’s a chance we see TJP move away from 205 Live and go to Raw or SmackDown, with an appearance in the Royal Rumble possibly being the first start to that. It wouldn’t shock me to my core to see him show up, but I’m speaking out of pure speculation, rather than any evidence to back that up. I guess we’ll see.
Do you think these men and women or any others not on this list should have been booked on the card in some fashion? How would you have utilized them if given the opportunity? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
