WWE Royal Rumble: Attempting To Fill the 40-Man Royal Rumble Match

NOTE: I'll start with a warning of potential spoilers from this Friday's Smackdown episode, just so that I don't get hateful comments about not knowing certain things. For the most part, this is my opinion.

The talk of the wrestling world this week has been around WWE and their decision to expand the annual Royal Rumble match to 40 participants. With ten additional spots, a bunch of veteran superstars no longer with the company and an expanding injury list, it will be interesting to see how the list will shape up.

At this point in time, 21 of the 40 spots have been announced as filled. It is expected that the other 19 will not be entirely filled by this week's Smackdown, which was taped last night.

All but three of the 21 announced spots are from RAW. The only official Smackdown participants as of Wednesday is Alberto Del Rio, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio. Meanwhile, the following RAW superstars are already in the Rumble:

CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Darren Young, David Hart Smith, David Otunga, Husky Harris, John Cena, John Morrison, Mark Henry, Michael McGillicutty, Primo, R-Truth, Sheamus, Ted DiBiase, Tyson Kidd, William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu and Zack Ryder.

With 12 days left before the match, I have looked at the remaining superstars to try and fill in the blanks, starting with obvious Smackdown superstars. With that said, I included Big Show, Drew McIntyre, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, Justin Gabriel, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Tyler Reks and Wade Barrett. Slater and Gabriel are still technically listed as RAW superstars but are now featured on Smackdown. Those ten names take the amount to 31, with 18 from RAW and 13 to Smackdown.

With the last nine spots, the following are the remaining names from each brand (those involved in world title matches were not included for obvious reasons):

RAW: Evan Bourne, Goldust, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Santino Marella, Skip Sheffield, The Great Khali, Triple H, Vladamir Kozlov

Smackdown: Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Christian, Curt Hawkins, Finlay, Joey Mercury, JTG, Michael Tarver (listed as a RAW superstar but apparently reappears on TV this Friday on Smackdown), Trent Baretta, The Undertaker

(Before you ask, I didn't include Beth Phoenix on purpose. I know that she was in last year's Rumble but I can't imagine that it being a mainstay spot for her. It shocked everyone last year when she appeared, so anticipating it this year will likely be a foolish assumption.)

With injuries to Bourne and Goldust keeping them out likely past the Rumble and Lawler likely commentating solely at the pay-per-view, those three are out of contention. I also take The Usos and Santino/Kozlov out of it under the belief that they will be busy with a tag team title match at the event. This leaves Skip Sheffield, The Great Khali and Triple H.

Also, let's not forget about Mason Ryan, who debuted as a new member of the new Nexus on Monday. However, the question that needs to be brought up is: does his interference ban him from the Rumble match? He wasn't a member of Nexus at the time. However, his entry would make me believe that there will be one more member of The Core (Wade Barrett's new group, if you didn't read Smackdown's spoilers) because a major moment in the match will likely be Nexus vs The Core.

Any of these four men are possible from RAW. Meanwhile, on Smackdown, let's eliminate Finlay because of not needing him, Mercury for not using him and The Undertaker for injury. Hawkins, JTG and Baretta are all likely out as well, although if Darren Young makes it in, it is hard to argue not putting them in. My belief is down to Chavo, Masters, Tarver and Christian from Smackdown.

In the end, I still would not be surprised to see a random entry, such as a legend, a returning Chris Jericho or a member of this year's Hall of Fame (Goldberg?).

My nine remaining spots, I believe, will be Triple H (returning to screw Sheamus), The Great Khali (he's big and will make someone look strong from eliminating him), Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver (both former Nexus members in a similar spot of Darren Young and Daniel Bryan), Chavo Guerrero (why not?), Chris Masters (knock yourself out, Chris), Christian (marks around the world rejoice), Trent Baretta (likely there strictly for Drew McIntyre's sake), and Curt Hawkins (his work on Superstars lately should be rewarded).

Of course, these will all likely not be correct as WWE's Creative team decided to expand to 40 wrestlers for a purpose. I'm certain that their intention was not to just pay more mid-carders who will last three minutes in the ring. For the first time in a long time, nobody is truly certain what is going to happen. As a long-time wrestling fan, this couldn't make me any happier. As for what makes you all happy, feel free to express your positive or negative feedback, as well as your picks for the 19 unannounced spots in the Rumble.

Also, since I keep seeing others do this, follow me on my Twitter name at: http://twitter.com/#!/ShakesWithAitks