The Road to WrestleMania begins on Saturday 28th January with the 36th edition of the Royal Rumble PPV. The event is scheduled to be held at Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas and will feature title defences along with the traditional Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble matches. Roman Reigns will defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens and Bianca Belair will put her Raw Women's Championship on the line against Alexa Bliss.
Kevin Owens faces Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
Reigning Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will defend his two titles against Kevin Owens, hoping to end a long-term rivalry. In their most recent matchup, Owens was victorious when he teamed up with John Cena, defeating Reigns and Sami Zayn in a SmackDown tag team match in the final show of 2022. Angered by the defeat, Roman Reigns accepted Kevin Owen’s challenge for the Undisputed Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble PPV. Tensions have risen within The Bloodline and there is a sense of Sami Zayn being an impostor, teaming with Kevin Owens only being a matter of time, therefore heading into the match, Kevin Owens is in a favourable position, but ending an 880-day reign will be a tough task for “the prize-fighter”.
Bianca Belair defends her Raw Women’s Championship vs Alexa Bliss
Alexa Bliss seeks to defeat reigning champion, Bianca Belair to become the new Raw Women’s Champion, ending an impressive 300 day reign. The former friends previously faced off in a Raw Women’s Championship match, where Belair defeated Bliss via disqualification. During their match, Alexa Bliss became distracted by several masked figures within the crowd, before becoming ‘possessed’ by Uncle Howdy, leading to her attacking the referee and being disqualified. Following the attack, Bliss turned her attention to Belair, delivering a devastating attack and performing a couple of DDTs to the champion atop the ring steps, busting the latter’s chin open and requiring stitching. Belair then challenged Bliss to a rematch at Royal Rumble, in fury of the attack in their previous title fight.
LA Knight vs Bray Wyatt in a Pitch-Black Match
LA Knight and Bray Wyatt will face off in a pitch-black match at the Royal Rumble PPV. It is unclear what the stipulation of this match is, but presumably the two superstars will face off with a spotlight in the ring, with Wyatt using despicable methods to freak-out LA Knight with the use of his puppets from the firefly funhouse. Uncle Howdy is also expected to make an interference, although it is unclear who he would support, as in the build-up to the fight he has chosen to help LA Knight, despite his allegiance to Wyatt. The match will mark Bray Wyatt’s first televised match since WrestleMania 37, where he lost to Randy Orton – almost two years ago.
Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble
30 men and 30 women will compete in their respective matches with the winners of the Royal Rumble matches earning their ticket to a main event slot at WrestleMania, challenging for a world title of their choice. WrestleMania 39 takes place April 1st and 2nd from Inglewood, California. Several participants have been revealed in both matches.
Men’s Royal Rumble Match 2023 Participants so far:
· Cody Rhodes
· Kofi Kingston
· Brock Lesnar
· Ricochet
· Bobby Lashley
· Seth “Freakin” Rollins
· Austin Theory
· Gunther
· Drew McIntyre
· Sheamus
· Omos
· Braun Strowman
· Baron Corbin
· Santos Escobar
· Rey Mysterio
· Karrion Kross
· Dominik Mysterio
· The Miz
· Xavier Woods
Women’s Royal Rumble Match 2023 Participants so far:
· Liv Morgan
· Candice LeRae
· Rhea Ripley
· Raquel Rodriguez
· Shayna Baszler
· Zelina Vega
· Emma
· Bayley
· Dakota Kai
· Iyo Sky
· Lacey Evans
· Mia Yim
Predictions
· Roman Reigns (c) defeats Kevin Owens
· Bianca Belair (c) defeats Alexa Bliss
· Bray Wyatt defeats LA Knight
· Sami Zayn wins the Men’s Royal Rumble
· Liv Morgan wins the Women’s Royal Rumble
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