WWE News: Major Update on Royal Rumble Plans, Including Who Is Favored to Win It

The 2012 Royal Rumble is almost upon us. 

In just five days, 30 superstars will compete in one match, and the last man standing will earn a World title match at WrestleMania 28. 

We’ve all damn near made our heads explode when trying to figure out which legends could make a surprise appearance during the match and which superstar will win it.

Well, we’ve got you covered on both fronts, courtesy of SEScoops.com:

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According to a source in WWE, employees at WWE headquarters were recently polled an asked what former WWE superstars they think would make a big impact at the Rumble like Kevin Nash (as Diesel) did last year. 

Surprisingly, most of the names brought up were legends, including Hall of Famers Ricky Steamboat and Dusty Rhodes. Hacksaw “Jim” Duggan is also a possible legend that could enter the Rumble. Duggan has a biography coming out in the coming months and WWE plans to reintroduce him on television in the coming weeks to promote the upcoming release. 

As far as who could win the Rumble, three names we’ve heard from reliable sources are Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler. 

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I’m fine with a legend or two appearing during the Royal Rumble match, especially if it’s Rhodes (to add to the Dustin/Cody feud) or Steamboat (because he’s still awesome). 

I just don’t want to see legend overload because it will take some valuable spots away from full-time wrestlers currently on the main roster, and none of these legends really have a chance of winning the match anyway.

While I think we’ll be surprised by the legends who do appear, I don’t think anyone is shocked by the three names who seem to be favorites to win the Rumble: Orton, Jericho and Ziggler. 

It would obviously make sense for Orton to make his in-ring return and win the match in his hometown of St. Louis, and a Jericho win could setup the dream match against CM Punk at WrestleMania. 

Although Ziggler’s someone I’ve never really thought of as a possible winner, he would make a ton of sense, too. 

Let’s say, for example, that John Laurinaitis is unable to screw Punk out of the WWE championship during his match with Ziggler, and therefore, Punk retains. In that case, I could certainly see Laurinaitis putting Ziggler in the Rumble as entrant No. 30 and then helping him win it. 

It would prolong both the Ziggler/Punk feuds and Laurinaitis/Punk feuds, and get some massive heat on both Ziggler and Laurinaitis. 

In fact, now that I think about it, that actually sounds like a great idea.

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