Top 5 choices to win men’s and women’s royal rumble matches

On February 1, 2025By Littum

Veteran NFL writer and Pat McAfee show contributor Mark Kaboly chooses his top 5 choices to win men’s and women’s royal rumble matches set to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Saturday (6 pm/15.00))

Men’s royal rumble pick

Roman Reigns: This will only be the second time in the last eight years that Roman Reigns has participated in the Royal Rumble match. When you either have the Universal Championship or WWE Championship for more than 2,000 days, Rumble is not really an option. But with the table’s head almost a year removed from holding the gold and a few weeks removed from recovering Ula Fala from Solo Sikoa, OTC has focused again to take back the undisputed WWE championship. Reigns has the talent and experience, after participating in six former rumors and winning one. He has made too many enemies during his race as tribal manager, though not to have a goal on his back. Reigns’ participation brings the rumble to the next level and you can’t count him out, but a third straight wrestlemania head event against Cody Rhodes is not as appealing as it once was … at least to me.

John Cena: John Cena began on his farewell tour and produced a promo on the Raw Netflix debut and a press conference after the show. It has been radio movement from the 16-time world champion ever since, and the fact that he has had a 15-month battle and has been in a rumble for a dozen years, should make him a long shot. But come now he is “the greatest of the time.” Cena is known for facing impossible odds, but as he said, the last time we saw him, “Nothing is impossible.” Remove the nostalgia involved in Cena and there is nothing you can understand with him at this point. I can see something happen at Rumble, which is transferred to the WWE elimination chamber and then Wrestlemania more than Cena won the Royal Rumble match and gets a title opportunity now. But again it’s Cena. It’s a farewell trip. A good view in rumble where he is one of the final competitors eliminated can do as good as a win,

Drew McIntyre: Drew McIntyre gives all the sense of being the last man standing by rumble. Ever since the Scottish psychopath returned last month, he has been on a mission to eliminate everything and everything that is associated with the bloodline and has done a pretty good job of achieving his goal. Although he has lost two of his previous three matches to Jey Uso and Seth “Freakin” Rollins, he still came out of each match as the dominant participant. For McIntyr to win rumble, as he did five years ago, I think someone will have to take out cm punk before that. It was McIntyre who tore punk triceps during last year’s rumble. Don’t think the other town saint has forgotten it. Although Punk fought for McIntyre on SummerSlam, WWE BASH IN BERLIN AND WWE BAD BLOOD, the fact that McIntyre destroyed Punk’s Wrestlemania plans last year eventually turned out to be McIntyres who regret this Saturday.

Cm punk: After In-Ring-Promo with Cody Rhodes at the end of RAW on Monday, how can you choose against cm punk on rumble? He did what he does best: Stir the pot and put everyone on notice, especially the undisputed WWE champion. Everything is in trend for him to meet the American nightmare for the title of the showcase for the immortal, including being red -hot since he returned to the company with some good matches and some beautiful violent crowds sang his name even when he is not in the ring. Punk has never won a rumble and never the heading wrestlemania, and if it’s not now, when? Although there is a good chance that Punk is the last one left in the ring inside Lucas Oil Stadium, he is not the one I go with. It’s just a feeling.

Seth “Freakin” Rollins: Seth Rollins is the forgotten man. Literally. There has not been a more consistent artist in WWE than the visionary, and yet we have not seen him the main event at Wrestlemania – at least in single competition. It was torn away from him last year when Punk was injured in Rumble, and the other two times he was part of a roofing match and a triple threat match. Rollins doesn’t necessarily have to win Rumble for Main-Event Wrestlemania. But a Rollins vs. Gunther -head event on the show of shows sounds enticing, and it was suggested when the two superstars traded words on RAW recently. With so many top-end talents in this year’s rumble, it’s hard to knock your fist on the table for one over the other. I still think that Sami Zayn somehow screws roll out of victory.

Women’s Royal Rumble -Choices

Bayley: Bayley won the Royal Rumble match a year ago in a feel-good moment and cannot be counted in a match of that size. What is currently going against her is that she has recently spread thinly between Raw, Smackdown and NXT. I don’t think it helps her cause her to suggest going for Giula’s NXT women’s championship. Would it be interesting for Bayley to oppose Rhea Ripley or Tiffany Stratton on Wrestlemania? Probably not. Bayley is not the favorite, but she can’t be felt a long shot either.

Nia Jax: Nia Jax did not waste time after losing his WWE Women’s Championship to Tiffany Stratton to focus her attention on women’s world champion Rhea Ripley. Whether it would work for Jax to jump right back in competing for a championship so quickly can prove to be an injury, but Jax’s power, size and nastiness give her a fighter’s chance.

Bianca Belair. Is she ready for a race on the Women’s Championship is the biggest thing when it comes to Bianca Belair. She has been part of a tag with Jade Cargill and now Naomi for so long that winning rumble and being a threat to either woman’s title can be a bit too early. Now that doesn’t mean she can’t win it. Having her going out on her own is perhaps the best thing. Belair has been extremely impressive recently, especially with its unsuspecting strength. Not only did she win Rumble back in 2021, but she did it from No. 3 site and spent almost an hour in the ring.

IYO SKY: There may not be a superstar who deserves to win rumble more than Iyo Sky. She has quietly put together a hell of a race in the past year with some very good matches that have also got her over with the fans. She has defeated Bianca Belair, won the Women’s World Title No. 1 Contender’s Battle Royal and was a star in Survivor Series: Wargames. Sky has never won Royal Rumble, and the fact that Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Belair and Bayley have won four out of the seven, is strangely a good sign for the one top participant who has not yet won it. The argument can really be made that it is her time.

Charlotte Flair: It is almost too easy to predict that Charlotte Flair returns after more than a year off due to injury and immediately wins the Royal Rumble match for Main-Event Wrestlemania against Tiffany Stratton. Flair is the queen and you can warm up to her jump right back in the championship. What better way to do it than to become the first woman who won rumble twice and does it in her first match back in 13 months? Go with chalk in the women’s rumble.

In a perfect world: Natalya. How big would it be for Natalya to have a chance for her first single title of more than seven years? She has been with WWE for 18 years, has almost 1,600 total matches on her company CV and has had a single title for a total of 156 days over two title bills. She may not even be in rumble, but if she is, it would be such a good moment.