WWE Royal Rumble 2012: Predicting the Winners of Each Match at the Next PPV

After months of anticipation, we're now just a little more than 48 hours away from the 2012 Royal Rumble.

There have only been four announced matches so far, but something very important will be on the line in each one of them. 

The WWE and World Heavyweight Championships will be defended, John Cena will try to avoid embracing the hate and the winner of the Royal Rumble will earn himself a guaranteed World title shot at WrestleMania 28.

A lot is stake, and a lot of surprises are probably in store, but I'm going to see if I can figure this thing out.

Here are my predictions for every match at this year's Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

World Heavyweight Championship: The Big Show vs. Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry

For the first time ever at a Royal Rumble pay-per-view, the World Heavyweight Championship will be defended in a Triple Threat match inside a steel cage.

The buildup to this feud has been very interesting because it's featured The Big Show as the clear-cut baby face, Daniel Bryan making his gradual heel turn and Mark Henry almost serving as a tweener of sorts.

Though one would think the odds are against Bryan, his new heelish ways certainly change that.

I think Bryan will spend most of the match trying to avoid Big Show and Henry or trying to escape the cage for a cheap victory, but be largely unsuccessful in his attempts.

Show and Henry have a lot of history together, though, so look for Bryan to use that to his advantage as well and force the two behemoths to slug it out toward the end of the match.

With Show and Henry engaged in an intense battle, they can be distracted enough to allow Bryan to sneak out of the cage and get the victory without cheating.

It will do wonders for Bryan's gradual heel turn to have him win the match and retain the World Heavyweight title without really "earning" it, and it could lead to what I think will be a full-fledged baby face turn for Henry down the road as well.

While this match probably won't play out exactly the way I've predicted, I'd expect the outcome to be the same no matter what: Bryan retaining.

Result: Bryan wins and retains the World Heavyweight Championship

John Cena vs. Kane

It looks like Kane may slowly but surely be getting John Cena to "embrace the hate."

For the first time in several years, Cena has actually shown some character development, and it can all be traced back to The Big Red Monster.

Kane attacked Cena's friend, Zack Ryder, on Raw a few weeks ago, allowing Jack Swagger to beat Ryder for the United States Championship last week and then forcing Cena to snap and lay a massive beatdown on Swagger.

Then on this week's Raw, Kane beat the holy hell out of Ryder after Ryder told Cena not to interfere (so Ryder could get his US title rematch), causing Eve to blame Cena for the injuries that Ryder suffered.

All this has resulted in Cena showing some awesome intensity and anger, leading many to believe that he has indeed "embraced the hate."

While I don't think he's done that just yet, I think it's pretty clear that he's having trouble keeping his emotions in check and dealing with Kane's attempts to manipulate him.

Ultimately, I think that's what will cost him in the end.

It would make little to no sense to have Kane get under Cena's skin so much, only to have Cena wind up "rising above hate" so early in this feud.

I seriously doubt that Kane would ever go over clean in this match, but we might want to keep our eye out on Eve, who could look to cost Cena his match after telling him that it was his fault that Ryder got injured.

Whatever the exact situation may be, I think it'll be Cena's inability to overcome this emotional roller coaster that will prevent him from beating Kane.

Result: Kane wins (likely cheap)

WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler

There are a number of factors that could have a drastic effect on the outcome of the WWE Championship match.

While John Laurinaitis has vowed that he would screw CM Punk out of the title, David Otunga revealed at the end of this week's Raw that Laurinaitis has a formal job evaluation on next week's episode, which means that he may be forced to call the match down the middle.

Also, we have to consider that the WWE is really pushing that "every superstar," even if they're holding a World title, is eligible to compete in the Royal Rumble match. That, of course, opens a wide range of possibilities for the outcome of the WWE title match as well.

We also have to take Vickie Guerrero into consideration because she could definitely distract John Laurinaitis during the match, allowing Dolph Ziggler to swoop in and steal the victory.

To be honest, there are so many things that can happen in this match that I'm really not sure who will get the victory.

But the odds aren't in favor of Punk, and it's clear that his feud with Laurinaitis is far from over.

Punk essentially has to overcome three foes (Laurinaitis, Guerrero and Ziggler) on Sunday, and while most fans seem to think he will, I just don't see that being the case.

Look for Ziggler to get yet another cheap victory after some "inadvertent" help from Laurinaitis, and then for Punk to compete in the Royal Rumble match with a major angle between he, Laurinaitis and Ziggler taking place during that bout as well.

It may not be what some of us want to see happen, but it's a great way to get some serious heat on Laurinaitis and keep his feud with Punk going for the foreseeable future.

Result: Ziggler wins after interference from Vickie to become WWE Champion

30-Man Royal Rumble Match

How do you pick a match that features 30 competitors and is typically full of surprises?

You generally base your predictions on rumored future storylines and the current booking, meaning that the two runaway favorites to win the 2012 Royal Rumble match are Chris Jericho and Randy Orton.

While I agree that having either Jericho or Orton win it probably makes the most sense, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via WrestleNewz.com) reports that a surprise is in store for us on Sunday:

"

There is said to be a major twist planned for the 30-man Royal Rumble match this year, based on the announced idea that every Superstar is eligible to be in the Rumble. This angle was also done to set up at least one planned storyline.

"

No one seems to know what that twist will be or what superstars it will affect, but I still think this might indicate that the WWE will try to throw us off by having neither Jericho nor Orton win it.

In fact, I really don't think either one of them will.

While my "Final Four" is CM Punk, Orton, Sheamus and Jericho, I look for John Laurinaitis and Dolph Ziggler to get involved in the elimination of Punk and for the Celtic Warrior to emerge victorious.

With Triple H vs. Punk and The Undertaker vs. Jericho now rumored as possible WrestleMania matches, I think we could see a situation where Dolph Ziggler wins the WWE title and Sheamus goes after Ziggler instead of Daniel Bryan.

After all, with a number of huge non-World title matches looking likely for WrestleMania, this might be the year to have a surprise Royal Rumble winner.

Call it a hunch, but I think Sheamus will be that guy.

Result: Sheamus wins by last eliminating Orton

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