Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions: Who Will Be the Last Man Standing?

The Royal Rumble match features 30 competitors, and every WWE superstar is supposed to have a chance to win it. 

Ha! That’s funny. 

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that at least 20, if not more, Rumble competitors are just filler. They’re in the match maybe to have a cool spot or two, but mainly to make the guys who might actually win it look good. 

In 2012, I honestly think that—barring some major surprise—only four participants in the match will actually matter: Wade Barrett, Randy Orton, Sheamus and Chris Jericho. 

You and I both know that Jericho and Orton have already established themselves as the clear favorites to win the match—Jericho because it would set up a dream match with CM Punk and Orton because the Royal Rumble takes place in his hometown of St. Louis. But I’ve thought about the possibility of either Jericho or Orton winning all month long, and the more I’ve done that, the more I’ve realized that either of those guys winning is just too damn predictable. 

We already got a ridiculously predictable Royal Rumble from Alberto Del Rio in 2011, so the last thing I want to see is another one in 2012, even if it makes sense. 

Sure, it’s a perfect setup to have Orton win in his hometown and then go on to face Daniel Bryan, or to have Jericho win and then face Punk at WrestleMania. But there are other ways to make Punk/Jericho happen and for Orton to get involved in the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania, like by having both of them win at Elimination Chamber or something along those lines. 

Plus, we all seem to be 100 percent certain that Orton is going to face Bryan at WrestleMania. Why? Just because it’s a good story that makes some sense? 

While I’m buying Orton and Jericho as the Royal Rumble favorites, I’m not betting so much as $5 on either of them winning it. In fact, I’m laying my money—figuratively speaking, of course—on the Great White, Sheamus. 

I realize that there is no ideal feud lined up for Sheamus if he were to win the Royal Rumble, but he has been booked like a top-tier baby face over the last several months (Super Sheamus?) without really having a memorable rivalry since Christian went down with an injury. 

My thought is this: Why continue to push the guy and have him squash notable stars like The Miz and Jack Swagger if there weren’t plans in place to give him a massive push down the road? I honestly don’t know, which is why I think Sheamus could and will be the surprise victor on Sunday. 

After all, a potential Sheamus-Bryan feud is something interesting that not many of us have really considered. 

Those two faced each other for the United States Championship at last year’s WrestleMania, but were relegated to a dark match while Sheamus was the heel champion and Bryan was the baby face challenger. Now, the roles would be completely reversed, with Bryan as the heel champ and Sheamus as the face No. 1 contender. 

Although it might be a “rematch” of some sorts, so much has changed between now and then that I’m not sure very many fans would even care that we’re getting the same match two years in a row. 

Sheamus is as over now as he’s ever been, and he hasn’t been in the World Heavyweight Championship picture since the first half of 2011. He’s kind of been a sitting duck over the last six months or so, but at the 2012 Royal Rumble, this sitting duck takes flight with the biggest victory of his career.

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