Latest WWE Royal Rumble 2024 Match Card Picks Before Go-Home Raw
The Road to WrestleMania kicks off Saturday at Tropicana Field in Tampa, Florida with the Royal Rumble, the annual premium live event in which 30 men and 30 women compete for the opportunity to challenge for the top prizes on wrestling's grandest stage.
This year, unpredictability reigns supreme, thanks to a bevy of potential winners introduced through some stellar booking on the part of Triple H and WWE Creative.
Who will leave the Sunshine State set to headline WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia on April 6-7 as winners of the Rumble matches and possessors of guaranteed title opportunities?
Will Roman Reigns ensure he reaches The Showcase of the Immortals as the face of the event for another year or could LA Knight, AJ Styles or Randy Orton take the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship away from the most dominant competitor of this era?
Find out with these previews and predictions for the Royal Rumble card.
United States Championship: Kevin Owens vs. Logan Paul
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When Kevin Owens dropped Logan Paul with a Stunner at WrestleMania 37 in Tampa, few would have guessed the social media star would be the United States champion entering the Royal Rumble three years later.
Even fewer would have believed that what appeared to be a one-off celebrity spot would serve as the foundation for a title defense against KO, yet here we are.
Paul has exceeded all expectations, becoming one of the biggest surprises in recent WWE history as a celebrity guest star who has evolved into an above-average performer and a guy who does not look out of place holding the second-most prestigious title on SmackDown.
Owens is one of the best in WWE. He's a wrestler who can take a beating, dish it out and be believable in any role.
This contest is likely to be very good, with trending spots that dominate the social media conversation, before Paul finds some way to cheat his way to a cheap victory.
The Maverick will retain his title, and while it remains to be seen whether that leads to a return bout or propels him into his WrestleMania program, do not be surprised if he is one of the most buzzed-about stars coming out of Saturday's show.
Prediction: Paul retains U.S. title by nefarious means
Fatal 4-Way Match for Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
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Could the Royal Rumble be home to Roman Reigns' final defense as undisputed WWE universal champion?
With so much talk of unfinished stories and the potential for a showdown between The Tribal Chief and The Rock at WrestleMania, there is understandable speculation that Triple H and WWE Creative could book him to drop the title without actually taking the fall, thus giving everyone in the complex world title picture the appropriate direction.
However, that finish would amount to one of the biggest creative cop-outs in WWE history.
Reigns has held the title since August 30, 2020. He has eclipsed historic title runs along the way, accomplishing feats no one thought possible in the modern era of pro wrestling, where the only thing shorter than title reigns are the attention spans of the fans.
Losing the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in a Four-Way match, without being pinned just so the company can book itself out of a corner because of the perceived interest The Rock has in battling his cousin, would be as unsatisfactory a conclusion to a run as imaginable.
Sure, Randy Orton winning the title and engaging former Legacy protege Cody Rhodes in a program would make sense; LA Knight capturing the belt would pop the crowd and make for an unforgettable moment; and AJ Styles paying off his recent return with a run would be fun.
But all of those outcomes pale in comparison to a Superstar pinning the seemingly unconquerable Reigns in the center of the ring at 'Mania and taking the titles from him.
For that reason, The Head of the Table retains here, setting himself up for the marquee match of WrestleMania 40, no matter who it's against.
Prediction: Reigns retains
Women's Royal Rumble Match
3 of 4Entering the women's Royal Rumble match, there appear to be two logical winners to cash their tickets to WrestleMania 40.
First is Bayley, whose disintegrating relationship with her Damage CTRL teammates should result in a babyface turn and a match against Iyo Sky for the WWE Women's Championship on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
The other is Becky Lynch, who had an electrifying face-to-face with women's world champion Rhea Ripley on last week's Raw in which she admitted The Eradicator might be better than her and the only way to prove otherwise is to win the women's Rumble and challenger her at WrestleMania.
There are other options, though.
Bianca Belair has unfinished business with Sky and could win her second Rumble to set up that title bout. A fresh face, such as Ivy Nile, could make a statement with a victory while a returning favorite, like Trish Stratus or Lita, could go on one more magical title run.
Still, it feels like this is Bayley or Lynch's match to win.
Given that Lynch already has a Rumble win to her name and can easily get to that showdown with Ripley a different way, this should be Bayley's biggest individual victory in three years, leading to both a showdown with Sky and her first singles WrestleMania match.
Prediction: Bayley wins the women's Rumble
Men's Royal Rumble Match
4 of 4Triple H and WWE Creative have done an extraordinary job of presenting several different stories that can play out within the confines of the men's Royal Rumble match.
There is Cody Rhodes' pursuit of his next opportunity to finish his story, the bitter Drew McIntyre's quest to win the world title in front of fans, Jey Uso's shot to challenge Roman Reigns and prove himself the real Tribal Chief, and CM Punk's attempt to accomplish two things that have eluded him in his career: Win the Rumble and main-event WrestleMania.
The intensification of side feuds among those names has been another bright spot of Triple H's creative efforts.
Unlike years before, there is a general sense that there are legitimately two or three Superstars who could win the Battle Royal and challenge either Reigns or Seth Rollins for their heavyweight titles.
When looking at the potential matchups for the biggest show of the year, though, it comes down to two names: Rhodes and Punk.
Punk returned to massive fanfare at November's Survivor Series and immediately set the stage for a World Heavyweight Championship match with Rollins. He is a needle-mover, a legitimate attraction in an industry where the brand is bigger than the individual star, and he's a guy who has two boxes left to check on his resume.
Rhodes has been the most popular figure on the men's roster all year. Not even a questionable loss to Reigns in the main event of last year's 'Mania could derail a performer whose connection with the audience is undeniable.
Either man could win Saturday's high-stakes 30-man battle and be accepted by the WWE Universe.
There is something to be said about patience and grace, though, and both Rhodes and his fans have exhibited those traits.
Even when it looked like WWE had lost the narrative surrounding the second-generation star, the fans stayed loyal and still responded as loudly for The American Nightmare as any other competitor on the card.
Some step through the curtain, rattle off some catchphrases and call themselves the people's champion. Rhodes has been the people's champion for the past year.
He makes history with his win Saturday night.
Prediction: Rhodes wins the men's Rumble, becoming the first Superstar since "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 1998-99 to achieve back-to-back victories in the match
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