It's Time To Rumble Royally

Once again, it's time for my second favorite day of the year as a wrestling fan - Royal Rumble Day! I've often said it before - a few times on this very blog - but even if I stopped watching wrestling all together at some point in my life, I think I would always come back for the Rumble and Wrestlemania.

So, keeping with tradition, here are my predictions for the card as well as the Rumble match itself. This info is all off of WWE.com so don't blame me if they pull a swerve and change matches or what have you.

Women's Title Match: Beth Phoenix (c) vs Melina
With the two most talented women on the roster squaring off at the Rumble, I'm guessing this year's Playboy model (Kelly Kelly?) will end up getting the shot at Wrestlemania but I'm going to hold out a glimmer of hope that they'll convince Trish to come back for a Wrestlemania program. This should be a fun match but I'm guessing the booking will end up being something about Beth's stalker fan interfering to spin off into a feud of her own with Melina. I don't really see the need for a title change here but Beth is quickly running out of challengers.
WHO SHOULD WIN: Beth Phoenix
WHO WILL WIN: Beth Phoenix

ECW Title Match: Jack Swagger (c) vs Matt Hardy
While I was entertained by their title match on ECW a couple of weeks ago, I thought they were capable of something better. Unfortunately, being on the Rumble show usually means the undercard (perhaps minus the main title matches) comes up way short on time so I'm not sure they'll have enough time to get this above their TV match. Jack Swagger is obviously the "next big thing" so I expect he'll run right over everyone until it's time to move to Raw or Smackdown.
WHO SHOULD WIN: Jack Swagger
WHO WILL WIN: Jack Swagger

WWE Title Match: Jeff Hardy (c) vs Edge
No one wants to see Jeff Hardy lose but it seems unlikely to me that they'll let him run with this ball all the way through Wrestlemania. All signs point to Triple H being in the Smackdown Mania Main Event... and I'm guessing they like the idea of HHH vs Edge at Mania more than HHH vs Jeff. I'm not sure which of those that I like better actually. I guess the real question is... does Christian return tonight to cost Jeff the title? I'm betting he does.
WHO SHOULD WIN: Jeff Hardy
WHO WILL WIN: Edge

World Title Match: John Cena (c) vs JBL
What looked like a throwaway title match at the beginning of January has turned into a red hot angle with HBK involved. The entire point of this match will be - what will HBK do? At a key point of the match, will he turn on JBL and help Cena retain or will he attack Cena and let JBL win the title? But the real question is - will Vince ride the hottest angle he has into a title match at Mania? Can he stomach the idea of JBL vs HBK for the World Title on the biggest stage of the year? That match will go down at Mania - we just don't know if it'll be for the gold. I don't know what you do with Cena if he loses though.
WHO SHOULD WIN: JBL
WHO WILL WIN: John Cena

And then there's the Rumble. As of "press time", there are only 23 names announced for the Rumble. Of the seven remaining, well, there definitely could be something major. HBK joining the Rumble? Jeff losing the title and getting in the Rumble? Edge losing his shot and Vickie putting him in? Of course, there's bound to be a couple other midcard guys getting slots - maybe Goldust to eliminate Cody for his Raw comments? The return of Umaga almost seems certain. Umaga returning and tossing Taker and then beating him down could lead directly to Umaga/Taker at Mania. Maybe Snuka and Manu?

But I'm going to play with the cards I've been given and take my prediction from there...

NO CHANCE IN HELL
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Great Khali
The big friendly giant is a fun gimmick for Khali, I suppose. But the big killer giant is a much more likely path to the Wrestlemania Main Event. Not that it's likely he'll ever get there with his talent level but... yeah.

Chavo Guerrero
Chavo will continue to play the role of Vickie and Edge's flunky. I'm guessing he'll get tossed by Triple H to continue that story.

Carlito
I have no idea why he's in this match.

R-Truth
With all the buzz being that he's in the WWE doghouse, I'm guessing he's just there so he can rap to the ring for a unique entrance.


ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE
***
This section is dedicated to those people who might stand a chance someday if the stars were all aligned.

Mark Henry
Mark's window is probably closing. While he's actually the best he's been in years, he's already had his shot at both the big golds and taken on most of the top talent. It seems unlikely at this point that he'll ever end up in the Mania title match... but there's a slim chance.

Finlay
Huh. I actually can't envision any scenario where he'd get the title match.

The Brian Kendrick
While they seemed ready to push Kendrick earlier in the year, he's now settled into a tag role with his bodyguard and I can only imagine they're counting the days until the bodyguard can pull a Diesel and break away. Kendrick has amazing upside but they've got to show the faith in booking him to see him show it.

Kane
Kane's probably never going to end up in that match but he always seems to be on the edge of the title scene. You never know. One of these days he just might get the lifetime achievement award of a Mania title match.

The Miz
He's greatly improving every week but even I have a hard time imagining him in a singles title match at Mania.

John Morrison
He'll be there. I'm sure of it. But not yet.

Cody Rhodes
Cody's got potential as well. Hopefully he learns well from Randy Orton in his time in Legacy. I think a feud with Dustin could be a lot of greatness as well. If we could only find Dustin a tag partner to feud with Rhodes/Dibiase. Speaking of which...

Ted DiBiase
I'm not quite sold on Ted Jr. yet.

Santino Marella
Seems pretty unlikely.

Kofi Kingston
One of my favorite new WWE stars but I don't think he's getting the title match quite yet.

Vladimir Kozlov
The big Russian is a lot of fun to watch in squashes but I'm not sure I buy him in matches where he actually has to work yet. I don't think Vince would trust him in that major of a role yet.

Shelton Benjamin
He seems to be getting a little more faith from the booking team right now but he's not in that spot.


WE'RE LIVIN' ON THE EDGE
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The few names who COULD make it but seem to just not quite fit this year.

Rey Mysterio
Super popular as always, fun worker. He could make it. But will he? I just don't see a clearcut angle for him that would make sense unless he was going back to Smackdown. If he was going back to Smackdown, Rey challenging either Jeff or Edge would get my money. Rey challenging JBL? No thanks. Rey challenging Cena? That's an interesting one but it'd stray very far from Cena's strengths as a face.

C.M. Punk
While I'd personally love to see Punk vs Edge or Punk vs Cena for the gold on the big stage, I think we're more likely to see Punk in Money In The Bank again or perhaps a big IC Title defense for the first time in ages. Punk's time will come, I think, but it's just not going to happen this year.


COULD BE, MIGHT BE... NAH
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Three names that would make a lot of sense but... there's something just not quite right.

Chris Jericho
If we look at the four possibles, Jericho vs Cena? Been there, done that. Jericho vs JBL? Not gonna happen again. Jericho vs Edge? That'd be fun but I don't think Heel vs Heel is going to be at Mania. Jericho vs Jeff Hardy? I could see that but are they ready to move Jericho to Smackdown? I don't think so.

Big Show
While the seeds have been planted for a big Edge/Big Show showdown for the title, I'm not sure they're ready to pull the trigger on it. And I don't see any of the other three making sense at the moment.

Undertaker
While I'm expecting Umaga to get the Taker match for Mania, a Taker/Cena match at Mania would be amazing. The Streak vs The Title. For Wrestlemania 25, this could be an absolutely epic showdown. I'd really like to see it happen but it puts them in quite the booking quandry.


THE USUAL SUSPECTS
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Triple H and Randy Orton
So, Triple H was supposed to start Number One but the Rumble was "re-booked" and that angle was smashed. I would expect that if HHH was to win this thing, he'd want to go bell-to-bell to do it so he could add that to his resume. Since he's no longer #1 in the draw, I'm guessing he won't win this. But I now fully expect Mr. Orton to be put in at #1 by the McMahons due to his actions on Raw. And I expect he'll battle all the way through 29 other men to win the Rumble. Orton vs Cena? Eh. I guess that'll do.

In the end...

WHO SHOULD WIN: Undertaker
WHO WILL WIN: Randy Orton