Roman Reigns And The 5 Most Likely Winners Of The Men’s Rumble

WWE has its thinnest roster of the last decade, and that makes at least one thing very clear: There aren’t many obvious choices to win the 2022 men’s Royal Rumble.

After WWE released more than 80 wrestlers in a series of cost-cutting moves last year, both Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown now feature less than a handful of superstars who have been believably positioned to headline WrestleMania 38 in a world title match.

That has left WWE with perhaps just a few realistic candidates to win the 30-man Royal Rumble, something that is also true on the women’s side, where a potential Ronda Rousey return would make her a virtual shoo-in to win the bout. In fact, WWE is struggling to even fill the women’s Rumble and has had to reach out to numerous past talents just to get 30 participants.

The reality of WWE’s paper thin roster is almost entirely a result of two things: WWE completely gutting that roster and then failing to create new top names among the stars still on the red and blue brands. Thus, the drama that typically comes with an unpredictable Royal Rumble isn’t there this year, and even finding five names who could win the men’s Rumble is a bit of a stretch.

Damian Priest

You can count on one hand the amount of WWE stars who have been booked consistently well over the past year or so, and Damian Priest is clearly one of them.

The current United States Champion, Priest has rarely lost since moving to the main roster, was featured in a huge celebrity match alongside rapper Bad Bunny at WrestleMania 37 last year and has, for the most part, been protected by a creative team that often has a difficult time doing that, especially with babyfaces. Though, at nearly 40 years old, Priest doesn’t fit the definition of a new talent, he has settled in nicely as a rising and popular star who would be a fresh face in the main event scene.

And there has to be a reason WWE has been protecting him so much, right? The logical assumption is that WWE has big things in store for Priest, who checks a lot of boxes as a tall and super athletic performer who has a ton of appeal among WWE’s Hispanic audience, a targeted growth area for the company.

With Bad Bunny reportedly set to return at Royal Rumble, Priest could very well benefit from the world famous rapper’s appearance—with an assist leading to a Royal Rumble victory.

Big E

Big E, despite performing well as WWE Champion, had a mediocre run with Raw’s top title, one that may leave him as the odd man out among the red brand’s biggest matches at WrestleMania. Then again, it may not.

The New Day member’s chances of winning the Rumble actually seem to be pretty good, given that he was established as the early betting favorite and has consistently hovered at or near the top of the odds over the past several weeks. One would assume that’s because of the potential story arc of Big E chasing—rather than holding—the title he lost prematurely and doing so against a heel he has a lot of history with, such as Seth Rollins or Kevin Owens.

Big E appears to have transitioned back over to SmackDown, so if any babyface on the show wins the Royal Rumble, it will likely be him, especially given reports that he was once scheduled to main event one night of WrestleMania.

Austin Theory

According to WrestlingNews.co, WWE boss Vince McMahon has thrown in on the towel on Finn Balor’s push but apparently believes that Raw newcomer Austin Theory “will become a main eventer within the next year.”

Whether that actually happens is an entirely different story, but given that WWE is clearly making an effort to focus on young stars (Theory is just 24) and that McMahon has returned to TV specifically to help establish Theory as a potential top star, crazier things have certainly happened. This is especially true at a time when many of Raw’s top stars have already feuded with each other recently and there isn’t a standout choice to challenge for the show’s world title—whichever one that may be—come WrestleMania time.

If Royal Rumble ends with a babyface holding the red brand’s biggest prize, it would make sense for an upstart heel from Raw—which is exactly what Theory is—to win the men’s Royal Rumble at a time when the pickings are slim on both main roster shows. This would go a long way toward McMahon’s obvious goal of establishing Theory as a main eventer as quickly as possible.

Whoever Loses The Universal Title Match

It’ll be Raw vs. SmackDown at Royal Rumble when Seth Rollins challenges Roman Reigns for the Universal title match in a major bout that will have a domino effect that lasts through and even beyond WrestleMania 38.

Reports indicate that either Reigns or Brock Lesnar will lose their respective title at Royal Rumble, so in the former scenario, that would mean that Rollins becomes Universal Champion and likely takes that title to Raw. Of course, having Rollins, who is already an established star, end Reigns’ historic 500-plus-day title reign seems like a waste of a potential star-making moment, and that booking move would make even less sense if it leads to what would probably happen next: Reigns winning the Royal Rumble.

Because Reigns vs. Lesnar, though it’s still the plan for WrestleMania 38, isn’t expected to be a title match, that means that Reigns—should he lose to Rollins—would be the frontrunner to win the Royal Rumble in order to get to “The Beast.” Similarly, a loss by Rollins almost assuredly would place him as a favorite to win the Rumble, given that he’s arguably the top full-timer on Raw right now.

Whoever Loses The WWE Title Match

The same logic behind Rollins vs. Reigns can be applied to Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley.

If Reigns and/or Paul Heyman costs Lesnar his WWE title match against Lashley, then it’s difficult to envision any outcome other than Lesnar winning the Rumble later that night, mainly because SmackDown’s other top candidate, Drew McIntyre, is probably going to miss the PPV due to injury.

So, even if Lesnar retains (whether cheaply or cleanly), Lashley has been booked so strongly on Raw that he would still be a strong candidate to win the Royal Rumble and potentially face Rollins for the Universal title should Rollins beat Reigns.

In essence, the WWE and Universal title match outcomes are tied at the hip, so whatever happens in one match is likely going to directly affect the outcome of the other. And because WWE has positioned so few stars as bona fide main eventers on both main roster brands, either Lashley or Lesnar could quickly recover from a title match loss to win the 30-man battle royal just a couple hours later.

In fact, Lesnar has been established as the betting favorite to win the Royal Rumble, which should certainly tell fans something.