Brock Lesnar to Be No. 1 Entrant in 2020 WWE Royal Rumble Match

Brock Lesnar might be the WWE champion, but he'll be starting from the bottom when the 30-man Battle Royal begins at the 2020 Royal Rumble on Jan. 26.

Paul Heyman announced Monday on Raw that Lesnar will not only enter the Rumble match but also start as the No. 1 entrant.

Roman Reigns was the first wrestler officially confirmed for the men's Rumble, but his position in the match remains unknown.

Typically, the winner of the Royal Rumble gets a world title shot at WrestleMania, so the champions themselves rarely compete.

Reigns had to put the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line in the 2016 edition, but that was part of a storyline in which he was fighting back against Triple H and The Authority. Lesnar is facing no such obstacle in the proverbial road to WrestleMania 36.

Monday's announcement likely means two things: Lesnar isn't defending the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble, and The Beast Incarnate almost certainly isn't winning the Rumble match.

In order to outlast the other 29 stars taking part, Lesnar would need to go at least an hour in the ring or suffer an injury that forces him to go backstage before later returning toward the end. Neither scenario seems plausible.

Most likely, WWE will use the Battle Royal to set up Lesnar's WrestleMania feud. The person who eliminates him will presumably become the No. 1 contender.

Given both Lesnar's limited schedule and the absence of a clear foil for him at The Showcase of the Immortals, the Royal Rumble is the most logical place to identify his next challenger.