WWE Royal Rumble 2018 – Predictions

So it’s that time of year again, the road to Wrestlemania really starts to ramp up – it always feels like the Rumble is the beginning of Wrestlemania for me… You can best predict more of the matches after the Rumble and start to get excited about the biggest PPV of the year which is not far away now at all! Not only that – we have a women’s Royal Rumble as well! Exciting times or what?! So let’s have a look at this year’s Royal Rumble line up and see what we have coming up shall we?

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

Well we know that there will be 30 of WWE’s finest involved in this match but at the time of writing this only 17 are confirmed so that leaves a lot of wriggle room for surprises. Its the 30th Anniversary as well so I am sure we can expect something spectacular to happen – but what is anyone’s guess at the moment… At this point in time it is really hard to write much about this match with only just over half of the contestants confirmed… How can you predict this one? I mean we all know how it goes a new superstar comes in every 2 minutes and the last man standing is the winner. There will be some surprises – there always is. Looking at the current list of confirmed superstars there are only a handful that I would pick out as a winner to be honest. John Cena could win just because he is John Cena and the WWE adore pushing him forward so I could totally see them pegging him for the win… I hope they don’t though as that is both boring and predictable. Finn Balor – now I love Finn, I think it’s the Irish thing… I can’t help it… but he is also an amazing wrestler and would be worthy of a win. It’s a shame that he shot to the top when he moved to the main shows and then spent so many time out on injury pretty much straight away. I reckon he would be a good winner and I look forward to seeing him be a very strong competitor. Probably the only other one I can see at the moment winning is Shinsuke Nakamura. I can’t help feeling they could be doing more with Nakamura and winning this could be that boost I am waiting for. I think of the current line up he would be my favourite to place my money on. Of course someone completely unexpected could come in and ruin this whole prediction – we will have to wait and see!

Prediction: Shinsuke Nakamura

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

So this is history being made right here this weekend! The first EVER women’s Royal Rumble match is happening! It’s a thing! So yeah same rules apply as the men’s match, 30 women… (are there even 30 female superstars?!) compete for a title match at Wrestlemania. To be honest at the moment I think this one for me is a bit of a no brainer. There are 18 contenders announced currently at the time of writing, one of whom is Asuka…. I mean come on…. The woman is a machine! She has the longest undefeated streak in WWE history, and she also holds the record for the shortest submission win in a women’s match, can any of the other contenders really match up to her? I will be really surprised if she doesn’t win this match, even though she can’t win by submission I think she will have some tricks ready to help her walk away victorious. Let’s hope they keep Stephanie McMahon out of the ring for this match….

Prediction: Asuka

WWE Universal Championship

Brock Lesnar (c) vs Braun Strowman vs Kane

I feel a bit like this match up is just filling a time slot in the filming schedule if I am honest… I mean can we really see the title changing hands here? I just don’t at all see any version of events that would lead to Strowman or Kane being the champion over Lesnar… As hard as I sit here and think about possible scenarios and play them out in my head, I just can’t see it happening, every time I come back to the Beast retaining his belt. Much as I like Kane and would like to see him win and do more in his career, this just isn’t it. I can’t say that I am that invested in this match to be honest… this may well be my tea break time!

Prediction: Brock Lesnar to win

Raw Tag Team Championship

Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) vs Cesaro & Sheamus

This match could go either way given that Rollins and Jordan are not exactly the biggest fans of each other. Forced to work together after poor ol’ Dean Ambrose was injured. Part of me wants to vote for Sheamus – because – well… you know…. its Sheamus… and he is Irish. But I am not sure Sheamus and Cesaro are being used to their full potential either at the moment… They could be so much more, I feel they are coasting a lot of the time and not as exciting as I want them to be. I love watching Seth Rollins in action, would I rather see him back with Ambrose? Of course I would! However at the moment I don’t see the title changing hands again so I think that Rollins and Jordan will retain here. I am not sure how I feel excitement wise about this match – I am not sure I am overly invested in it…time will tell!

Prediction: Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan to win

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship

The Usos (c) vs Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin

This match is a 2 out of 3 falls match, so the winning team has to beat the other team twice in order to secure their win and the title belts. There was controversy in The Usos winning the championship late last year and Gable & Benjamin have not let it go. So this weekend sees the two teams go head to head again to settle it in the ring. Both sides are good competitors although I have never really bought into The Usos much, good as they are. I really do hope that Gable & Benjamin win this weekend so that they have their chance to get some retribution for the wrong caused by the match being restarted and them losing to The Usos late last year. I feel it is their time to come back to the top now so I will be backing them all the way this Sunday! I am actually looking forward to this match more than the RAW one so let’s see if I right to be.

Prediction: Gable & Benjamin to win

Anyway, those are our predictions. What are yours? Please leave them in the comments.