WWE Royal Rumble 2012: Possible Participants and Winners

The 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble match is merely 10 days away.

Let's take a look at the landscape of possible participants and contenders to win one of the biggest matches of the year.

We'll break this down to groups of 10 and go strictly alphabetical to not show any favorites.

First group of 10 

Alberto Del Rio	The Big Show	Brodus Clay	Chris Jericho	Christian
Cody Rhodes	David Otunga	Dolph Ziggler	Drew McIntyre	Ezekiel Jackson

There are some questionable entries in this first group.

Del Rio, Big Show and Christian may not be medically cleared to compete in the match. Big Show supposedly hurt his back at the Smackdown taping and Del Rio and Christian have been out for some time due to injury.

Will they make it back in time for the Rumble? Hard to say—it's not a match that requires a lot of work, but it still can be dangerous to an injured person.

Of this group of 10, my frontrunner is Dolph Ziggler. He's been on a great run as of late and I see him going even further.

Second group of 10

Heath Slater	Hornswoggle	Jack Swagger	Jinder Mahal	John Cena
Justin Gabriel	Kane	Kofi Kingston	Mark Henry	Mason Ryan

This group has some big names, some BIG men, one little guy and, of course, cannon fodder.

Of this grouping, I'd say a top runner would be Kane, his Rumble record is massively impressive—yet he's never won. This could be the year they let him go all the way to the top.

Cena's not going to win because he already has a Wrestlemania opponent. Mark Henry is a big man who does well in this match also, but he doesn't need to win the Rumble to get to Mania.

Watch for Hornswoggle to eliminate Heath Slater; I'm calling that one right now.

Third group of 10

R-Truth	Randy Orton	Rey Mysterio	Santino Marella	Sheamus
Ted Dibiase	The Miz	Wade Barrett	Zack Ryder

Another group with possible entries, will Mysterio and Orton be back in time for the Rumble? I'm saying Randy is a definite yes. With Mysterio I'm not so sure.

Watch for Sheamus to go far in this match as well, as he's been on a great run of late.

Now if you can count you'll see there's only nine here. In looking at the full roster this was the list I came up with, but I'm missing a 30th entry. Now I can go and just fill it in with maybe a Golddust or an Evan Bourne—but maybe there's something special coming as well.

Who will the mysterious 30th entry be?

Brock Lesnar returning after his stint in the UFC?

The Undertaker? He needs to have an opponent for Wrestlemania to continue the streak. What better type of match to bring him back for—one that requires very little physical activity?

A losing champion? Will CM Punk or Daniel Bryan lose their titles and get entries into the Rumble to secure rematches at Mania?

Mick Foley? He's made it clear he wants to participate. John Laurenitis has said no, but that didn't stop Foley from jumping into last weeks Raw main event.

A Diva? Could Beth Phoenix join the rumble. Or what about the return of Kharma?

Kevin Nash? He's still on the roster; it is a possibility.

Finally, one last possible entrant:  Shaquille O'Neal is said to be on his way to the WWE. The WWE has said the match will contain only superstars, but they've been known to fib to keep a story secret. Will Shaq be a participant or maybe just be a visitor in the crowd ready to pull the ropes to help Big Show be eliminated?

Of all these participants and maybe-participants, I'm going on record right now and making a call on the winner of the 2012 Royal Rumble...Dolph Ziggler.

Ten more days and we'll see how close I got with my guesses

Check out my other articles here on Bleacher Report and even more things WWE (as well as other pop culture stuff) over at The BOOM Page.

Follow me on twitter @boompage and stay tuned as I try and put something up every day for the next 10 days leading up to my favorite event of the year, the Royal Rumble.