Ranking CM Punk and The Top Contenders to Win 2024 WWE Royal Rumble Matches

CM Punk stunned the wrestling world with his return to WWE at Survivor Series on Saturday and immediately catapulted himself to the forefront of the discussion involving the company's plans for WrestleMania 40.

The most compelling and polarizing star in the industry is just one competitor who could win the 2024 men's Royal Rumble.

Who joins him in that match and who should be considered the favorite to win it?

And what about the women's Rumble, which has a handful of potential winners?

Find out with this way-too-early preview of the January 27 premium live event.

Men's Royal Rumble Match Runners-Up

These names should not be considered favorites to win the men's Royal Rumble, but they are potential runners-up.

1. Cody Rhodes
2. LA Knight
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Randy Orton
5. Jey Uso
6. Gunther
7. AJ Styles
8. Drew McIntyre
9. Kevin Owens
10. Sami Zayn

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Cody Rhodes became the first Superstar to announce his entry into the men's match on Raw Monday night, kicking off a return to the WrestleMania main event and what feels like an inevitable rematch with Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

That is exactly the match it should be. Rhodes needs to finish his story.

However, winning the Rumble for the second year in a row may be a little too predictable a way to get there.

The American Nightmare is as over a babyface as there is in WWE. The fans haven't turned on him, as they have done previously with the likes of John Cena, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.

Coming close and getting screwed out of a Rumble win, putting him on a path to get his rematch another way, only enhances the overwhelming support accompanying him on his path to Philadelphia.

LA Knight is destined for greatness in WWE, but there are only so many spots in main events and so many world titles to win. This isn't a company that creates titles purely to justify another tournament or gimmick match.

The Megastar will have opportunities and should play a big role at WrestleMania as he rides his wave of momentum into 2024. Keep an eye on United States champion Logan Paul in relation to Knight at the Rumble.

Brock Lesnar is always a likely surprise to pop up at these shows en route to WrestleMania while the rest of the list would be logical options based on ongoing storylines but are long shots, to say the least.

Men's Royal Rumble Winner: CM Punk

Assuming CM Punk enters the men's Rumble and is not challenging for another world title at the end of January, he is the guy to win and cash his ticket to WrestleMania 40.

The Chicago native has accomplished just about everything there is to do in wrestling's most prominent promotion but has never won the Rumble match.

Add to that the teased tension between him and world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins, and you have enough storyline logic to justify booking the outcome.

If that isn't enough, the fact that Punk is again the most buzzed-about star in the industry, and you have plenty of reason to book him to win at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg Florida.

Might that upset fans of Rhodes? Sure, but The American Nightmare winning would leave Punk fans feeling the same way. At this point, they both feel like the most obvious choices to compete in the world title matches at WrestleMania.

How they get there, and the stories both they and WWE Creative tell, will determine how successful they are.

Punk winning the men's Rumble and setting up a showdown with Rollins, while Rhodes travels the longer road back to Reigns, makes the most sense.

Women's Royal Rumble Match Runners-Up

The runners-up for the women's Royal Rumble should be*:

1. Becky Lynch
2. Charlotte Flair
   
3. Bayley
4. Asuka
5. Kairi Sane
6. Nia Jax
7. Shotzi
8. Raquel Rodriguez
9. Zoey Stark
10. Natalya

*Barring a surprise entrant such as Sasha Banks

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The recent reunion of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, as well as Bayley's likely split from Damage CTRL, seems to suggest WWE is eyeing a battle between the Four Horsewomen of NXT and the team of Asuka, Kairi Sane, Iyo Sky and presumably Dakota Kai.

That is, of course, if the company can convince Sasha Banks to return.

If that is the endgame, the likelihood that a match of that magnitude is scheduled for a secondary PPV when WrestleMania 40 is right there is unlikely. That would suggest none of those involved would win the Rumble.

The others here, no matter how talented or underutilized, are unlikely candidates to receive that sort of push in time for the biggest show of the year.

Women's Royal Rumble Winner: Bianca Belair

On the heels of victories at WrestleMania 39, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley vowed that they would eventually wage war.

That time is WrestleMania 40, where The EST of WWE will challenge The Eradicator of The Judgment Day in a battle of homegrown talents.

Belair and Ripley represent the next era of stars in the women's division following the ascension of Lynch, Flair, Banks and Bayley, and they have not let down those who believed in them.

A battle between them for supremacy in the WWE women's division is the appropriate way to pay off their rise to the top of the industry and prove they can thrive in a big-match situation with one of the aforementioned women standing across the ring from them.

The star power elsewhere on the card is likely too great for Belair-Ripley to headline one of the two nights of WrestleMania, but it's a main event-worthy showdown that will add to their already-impressive legacies.