WrestleMania 41 season begins with the Royal Rumble, and the WWE is riding a creative high headed into the event. The two keys to their recent string of creative success have been effective long-term storytelling, and an embarrassment of riches of talent at the top of the card.
Fans were miffed that Cody Rhodes failed to capture the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 39. But that just gave us a year of anticipation headed into WrestleMania 40. That WrestleMania 39 loss made his WrestleMania 40 win that much more satisfying. Now ten months into his championship run, he has maintained his momentum as a babyface champion and is still a big draw for WWE.
WrestleMania is a two-night event now, and even that does not seem like enough time to feature all the main event-level talent on the roster. It seems likely that Rhodes is a lock for one of the main events, it is hard to predict who else could join him. It could be anybody in this list: John Cena, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Damien Priest, Gunther, Drew McIntyre, The Rock, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, Logan Paul, Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley.
Some of those names obviously have longer odds than others of qualifying for one of the two main events. The Rock is probably the first domino to fall. If he is available to compete (it would require a break in his schedule to train for a match), he would likely get one of the spots. But after his appearance on the first Raw on Netflix, he seemingly buried any feud he had with Rhodes or Reigns, so there is no obvious path for him to return.
Looking past The Rock, John Cena and Roman Reigns look like the top candidates to be in a main event. John Cena announced that this is his last WrestleMania, so this is his last chance to main event a WrestleMania. Roman Reigns would qualify based only on his stature. Assuming those two qualify, the next likely candidate to join them would be CM Punk. Punk was probably slated for a top spot at WrestleMania 40 had he not been forced to miss the event due to injury, so he could get his shot this time. But so many others on that list are hot right now and none of them would be a huge surprise to be featured in one of the main events.
The undercard features a compelling championship match between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, and two filler matches. My expert predictions are as follows.
#DIY (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns in a two out of three falls match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Everybody in this match is terrible, and there is no good reason it should be a two out of three falls. There is no good storyline coming into this match, and there will be no good outcome coming out of it. With any luck, none of these guys are on the WWE roster by the end of 2025.
Prediction: Winners, and still champions, #DIY
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Kevin Owens in a Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Championship with the “Undisputed” and “Winged Eagle” championship belts will be suspended above the ring.
That is certainly a mouthful. I mean, what could be better than a regular ladder match, but one with two belts suspended above the ring. Who even thinks of this stuff?
If you look across the whole roster, there is nobody better at playing the good guy than Cody Rodes, and there is nobody better at playing the bad guy than Kevin Owens. This business about Owens stealing Cody’s belt and pretending it is his own is priceless.
That is what makes this match so intriguing. Owens did all the work to really make the crowd hate him, and Cody sold it perfectly. These two are going to tell a great story in the ring at the Rumble.
Prediction: Winner and still champion, Cody Rhodes
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
As of the Smackdown before the match, only 14 women were announced for this match. That speaks volumes about the state of the women’s roster. There are a handful of credible wrestlers, and the rest are there to make them look good. Pick between Nia Jax, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Liv Morgan to win. The rest, as a certain disgraced promoter used to say, have no chance in hell.
Prediction: Winner, Charlotte Flair
Men’s Royal Rumble Match
The Rumble is a perpetual creative trap for the WWE. If we know that the winner is going to get a title shot at WrestleMania, it eliminates the plausibility of winning for most of the field. But this year the field is stacked with main-event level talent. Many of them have spent the past few weeks giving killer promos telling us exactly why they are going to win the Rumble.
As of the Smackdown before the Rumble, 18 men have been announced for the match. That tells me that the likely winner is one of those 18, and the others will be a handful of competitors from the main roster, a few NXT callups, and one or two returning legends, none of whom have a shot.
I would expect that there will be a lot of positioning for WrestleMania to take shape for those who do not win, too. All the top guys are going to be booked for WrestleMania, so they will come out of the Rumble with a direction to head in. I would pay attention to who eliminates who and how they do it.
The field can be separated into probability buckets.
No Chance in Hell
- LA Knight
- Rey Mysterio
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Penta
- Chad Gable
- Bronn Breaker
- Carmelo Hayes
- Santos Escobar
- Jacob Fatu
Outside chance, wouldn’t be shocked with a win
- Jey Uso
- Drew McIntyre
- Sami Zayn
- Logan Paul
- Damian Priest
Likely winners
- John Cena
- CM Punk
- Roman Reigns
- Seth “Freakin” Rollins
I’ll go out on a limb and make a prediction. John Cena wins the match by eliminating CM Punk. Cena goes on to face Rhodes at WrestleMania. Punk then can complain that Cena always screws him and gets the top spot. But he goes on to win the Elimination Chamber. Then he faces Roman Reigns for the title at WrestleMania after Roman defeats Gunther somewhere along the way. Man, I feel like I should be booking this stuff!
The North Jersey Nonconformist 