Royal Rumble 2012: Chris Jericho and Veteran Stars to Keep an Eye on

The Royal Rumble is an event where new stars are often born,as was the case with Alberto Del Rio last year.

But there is no question that the foundation of the Rumble is built upon the performances of established stars such as Chris Jericho.

With the field so wide open for the Rumble match this year, there is no telling who might come out on top. That immediately makes veterans who have yet to win a Rumble like Jericho and Kane odds-on favorites. It wouldn't be shocking to see a repeat winner like Randy Orton either.

Here are three veterans who you should keep an eye on, not only in the Rumble match itself, but over the course of the entire card.

Randy Orton

With Randy Orton advertised to return to SmackDown on Friday, all signs point to him competing in the Rumble match, especially since it will be in his hometown of St. Louis, Mo. Orton has been sidelined for the past couple weeks with a back injury, but it looks as if the rumors regarding the severity of the injury were a bit overzealous.

Because of that, Orton has to be on the shortlist of realistic candidates to win on Sunday.

It's possible that his feud with Wade Barrett could boil over and cause him to lose focus in the match, but Orton is going to make an impact one way or another. It would be surprising if he didn't at least eliminate several competitors and last until the final four or so.

I think Orton is too obvious of a pick to win, but it wouldn't be shocking in the least.

Kane

There is no question that Kane is in position to have an incredible night at the Royal Rumble.

For one, he is scheduled for a singles match against John Cena. Kane has gotten the better of Cena at basically every turn in their feud thus far, but that won't mean much if he loses on Sunday. A win would be massive for Kane's persona, although I'm expecting something to the effect of a no contest in order to protect the credibility of both wrestlers.

After that, Kane will almost certainly appear in the Rumble match. Thanks to his new persona, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Kane challenge his own record of 11 eliminations in a single Rumble, which he set in 2001. Kane is also just two eliminations behind Shawn Michaels' career record, so Kane could rewrite the record books on Sunday.

I don't think he'll win, but Kane will most definitely make his presence felt.

Chris Jericho

After weeks of buildup, Chris Jericho finally uttered his first words on RAW as he said it would be "the end of the world as we know it" at the Royal Rumble. That could mean a multitude of things, but you would have to think that he was announcing his candidacy for the Rumble match.

Seeing as Jericho is winless in six tries, his chances of winning the Rumble would seem to be the best out of anyone at this point.

The overwhelming sentiment since his return has been that Jericho would feud with CM Punk over the WWE Championship. The easiest way to make that happen would obviously be to have Y2J win the Rumble. Since everyone is expecting his entry into the Rumble, I think Jericho will enter late to much fanfare and proceed to clean house.

Like Orton, so many are picking Jericho to win the Rumble that I question whether it will actually happen, but he will undoubtedly be a huge factor.