2023 WWE Royal Rumble Full Preview

Match – Men’s 30 man Royal Rumble

Prediction – Cody Rhodes

Reason – He is coming back from injury and working towards his dream of winning the one belt his father Dusty Rhodes never did.  The storyline plays out perfectly and would make all the sense in the world if it happens. Does the crowd buy in, or boo it because it is so predictable?

Match – Bray Wyatt vs LA Knight in a Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match

Prediction – Bray Wyatt

Reason listed below.

Bray Wyatt is yet to wrestle a single match since his return to the WWE in October of 2022.  The fans have been waiting patiently as he has been regulated to backstage and in ring promo’s.  Wyatt is easily one of the most popular men in Sports Entertainment right now and anything he touches seems to be red hot.

This is a heavy gamble having his first match back involving such a heavy and unproven gimmick as a “Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match”.  The thought being, that he and LA Knight will be fighting in the pitch dark as fans sit in confusion and mystery.  Clearly that will not be occurring, and the contest will be heavily gimmicked with neon lighting over the ring.

You have a guy like LA Knight who was over in NXT and would have been a great face on Smackdown after leaving the short lived Male Models, but instead, they took the easy way out and turned him heel.  I feel this was a major mistake as LA Knight has the in ring ability and charisma to be a great face.  This is a match he has no chance to win and will continue to lose momentum on the main roster.

Taking all of this into account, I believe the safe bet is Bray Wyatt to win this match, and then incur an in ring beatdown at the hands of Uncle Howdy afterwards which eventually leads to the reveal of Uncle Howdy, being his brother, Bo Dallas.

Time will tell if this prediction comes true, we will find out Saturday night at the Rumble.

Alexa Bliss challenges Bianca Belair for the RAW Women’s Championship

Prediction – Bliss wins the gold.

Reason

Alexa Bliss is at a crossroads in her career.  Will this latest dabble with darkness lead to gold?  Or will it be completely wasted like it was the last time around when she became obsessed with a stuffed animal and the angle went nowhere?  Last time, the victim of her vengeance was Charlotte Flair, this time around it is the RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair.  This may stun a lot of fans, but I do not feel Belair is over with the fans nearly the amount she was when she first started as champion nearly two years ago.  The belt is best on Lynch or Bailey quite frankly.  I’m shocked the WWE continues to have those two put Bianca over like they have.  Even with all that being said, the Champ can still very much go in the ring and have a great match with just about anyone.

This scrap is very intriguing to me and I feel as though despite Belair being a heavy favorite, Bliss takes the title away from her.  The WWE has a history of heel champions going into WrestleMania, and with Charlotte carrying the Smackdown championship as a babyface, this has to be the move heading into the show of shows.

Match – Roman Reigns defends both the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens.

Prediction – Roman Reigns

Reason –

As of the printing of this article, the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble card has 5 matches on it, and this is the only prediction that is a slam dunk sure thing.  The other 4, I have no idea who is winning, they are strong guesses, this one however, appears to be a lock for Roman Reigns and the Bloodline.

The simple fact that more attention is on the possible split of Sami Zayn from the group, then his actual opponent Kevin Owens tell’s you all you need to know.  The thought being that they kick Zayn out for “almost” costing Reigns the match at some point, the following week on Smackdown.

Then, Zayn challenges Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber in his hometown of Montreal in front of what should be an insanely heavy Pro Zayn crowd.  Reigns will win and set up Two Matches at WrestleMania, defending one belt a night.

Does all of this lead to Zayn and Owens teaming up to defeat the Uso’s for the Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania as well?  I’d place money on that bet too!

Womens Royal Rumble Match

Rhea Ripley – She is the odd’s on favorite, but the smart money has her losing this one, only to show up and compete later in the night in the Men’s rumble, much like Nia Jax did years ago.  Either way, I like Ripley to win it and challenge Flair for the Gold in a rematch of their “Silent Mania” match a few years back.  She lost the NXT title to Flair at WrestleMania 36 and won the RAW Womens Championship from Asuka at WrestleMania 37.  She can handle the spotlight folks!