WWE Royal Rumble 2015: Predicting Stars Likely to Get Most Eliminations

There's always one standout star who takes the Royal Rumble by storm and claims the most scalps on the night. It's not quite the same as being the last man standing—but it's better than nothing.

With less than two weeks to go until Royal Rumble 2015, it's nearly time for this year's Battle Royal to unfold. Here's who to watch out for as the eliminations begin to add up.

Roman Reigns

Credit: WWE.com

Last year, Roman Reigns eliminated 12 men to break Kane's record for the most in a single Rumble match. Many would tip Reigns to win this year's Rumble—but might he also break his own record?

One of the biggest complaints against the meteoric rise of Reigns is that he hasn't really earned the ascent. The Shield were the most dominant stable we've seen in years, but has Roman really done all that much as a singles competitor?

With no real feuds to speak of other than a brief stretch with Randy Orton and his current issue with Big Show, there's not all that much to talk about in terms of Reigns' singles career—and very few individual matches that are notable.

To win, he'll need to look like a competitor worthy above every other man in the match, and it'll be difficult to do that without something else to his name. Perhaps eliminating the most entrants would do just that?

If Reigns is set to win, he'll have his work cut out for him in convincing a rabid Philadelphia crowd that he's a legitimate Royal Rumble winner. Chalking up a laundry list of eliminations might help—but he'd likely still get booed even if he were to eliminate all 29 men by himself.

Rusev

Credit: WWE.com

In a climate in which promising NXT performers like Adam Rose and Bo Dallas turn to rarely seen comedy acts, the continued success of Rusev is something of a surprise.

The Bulgarian Brute made his main roster debut at last year's Royal Rumble and looked like a monster despite failing to eliminate anyone himself. He'll no doubt look to change that this time around—and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him run amok in the Rumble.

Rusev has been on a tear ever since he graduated from NXT, dismissing competition like Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and Big Show and claiming Sheamus' U.S. Championship as his own. Expect to see him use his brute strength to eliminate several other competitors over the course of the Battle Royal.

At present, Rusev is the top big man villain in WWE—with Big Show and Mark Henry aging, it would make sense for The Super Athlete to be the traditional monster of the Rumble: the man who can't be eliminated thanks to his size but has no trouble extinguishing the hopes of smaller competition.

That said, we haven't seen Sheamus in quite some time—ending Rusev's night as payback for his lost title would be a particularly memorable return for the Celtic Warrior.

Daniel Bryan

Much like last year, the much-loved Daniel Bryan seems like the fan favourite to win the Rumble match—but, also like last year, it seems like he's not the man the company want to see in the main event of WrestleMania.

The crowd made their thoughts known when the man who drew No. 30 last year was revealed as Rey Mysterio rather than Bryan, and while we know that Bryan will at least be entering this time around, it seems that Roman Reigns is still the likeliest candidate to win the thing.

WWE know that the fans don't like to see Bryan lose, so it would follow that considerations have been made to ensure we don't see a repeat of 2014. Racking up the most eliminations would at least give him a prominent role in the match.

It's unlikely that this would calm the fire of a raucous crowd, but it's certainly an avenue of damage control that WWE could explore. The people want to see Bryan win, and they'll likely turn on whoever beats him to the punch if he doesn't.

We've seen Daniel Bryan play the underdog time and time again—wouldn't it be nice to see him dominant for once? An effective performance at the Royal Rumble could herald a welcome return for Bryan's dormant mean streak.

Who do you think is set for the most eliminations at Royal Rumble 2015? Heath Slater? The Bunny? Michael Cole? Let us know in the comments section below.