Royal Rumble 2020 Predictions

So it's finally here, the 2020 Royal Rumble, the 33rd edition of the Royal Rumble.  For the first time in a while, this might be the saddest build to a Royal Rumble.  It's very odd to me that they seemed to building this Rumble as being across all three brands like Survivor Series but the men's rumble match already has 27 announced competitors and none of them are NXT talent.  Even more weird the women's rumble match only has 9 announced competitors.  Let's not forget no WWE Title match, why's that because the for some stupid reason the WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar, is in the Royal Rumble match, why you ask?  Nobody knows, all we know is this is very, very stupid.  So with that said lets discuss the matches this might be a long one.  So strap in.

Singles Match

Chad Gable vs. Sheamus

First thing's first, I will never ever call him Shorty G, because I hate that and it's stupid, and I will never get on board with that name, ever.  So anyway right off the bat, this match, is stupid.  Sheamus was doing promos for a few weeks upon his return about Smackdown getting soft, and that it was time to make Smackdown "Tough" again.  That's overplayed in WWE, Drew had been saying that for months on RAW before this new deal he's doing.  So why just pass the gimmick on to Sheamus?  Laziness that's why.  Sheamus arrived on Smackdown, saving Gable then immediately attacking.  Then the short jokes commenced because for some reason that's still happening.  I can totally see Gable stealing this then Sheamus beating Gable really hard on Smackdown like 2 weeks in a row so that will be pointless and stupid.  I hate this, a lot.

WWE United States Championship

Singles Match

(C) Andrade vs. Humberto Carillo

Humberto Carillo should be in NXT.  There's multiple reasons why.  The first reason being he wasn't ready for the main roster at all and still isn't.  The second reason, he has zero charisma unlike his cousin who is the current Cruiserweight Champion and is so over it's ridiculous.  The third and the biggest reason, I don't think Carillo knows how to work big shows, his timing is off on segments, he can't cut promos at all, he needed a longer time in NXT to prepare for these exact scenarios.  With that said, Andrade is winning, Andrade "injured" Carillo a month ago then he started another feud with Rey Mysterio which he won handily.  Then he tried to do to Mysterio exactly what he did to Carillo, DDT him on the exposed floor.  That's when Carillo returned for some reason wearing a Mysterio mask, it's very unclear why that wrinkle was necessary, but regardless that's how this match was set up and I thought it was badly done, and shouldn't be happening.  Andrade should retain and hopefully move on from this. 

Smackdown Women's Championship

Singles Match

(C) Bayley vs. Lacey Evans

So this story has been pretty interesting to say the least.  I've liked the dynamic that Bayley and Sasha have had as a heel duo, Lacey as a face has been better then I expected, the usage of her daughter has actually worked well.  The one thing I've not really liked here is the way Lacey has been delivering her promos.  They have been hit or miss for me, they are either really good with a lot of emotion or they are over exaggerated and end up not making sense because she tried too hard to make it sound emotional.  I didn't think I'd care for her as a face either and I'm okay with it.  The thing I don't like that WWE continues do and wish they would stop doing it all together, is challengers beating champions to earn title shots.  The main reason is because of the constant 50/50 booking they are doing by doing this.  Lacey shouldn't have to beat Bayley to earn her title shot, that's what number 1 contender matches are for.  It makes the champion look bad when they are constantly losing then successfully defending the title, how about making everyone look strong going into a title match, have Lacey earn a title shot, and beat bottom of the card people, have Bayley beat Dana or even local jobbers to get her looking good going into the title match, it's very, very simple and it doesn't hurt anyone.  With all of that said, Bayley is winning here, this feud needs to end here, but it might be a pretty good match.

Falls Count Anywhere Match

Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin

I can't believe I have to say this again but here we go, I never want to see Roman Reigns versus Baron Corbin ever again, this match included.  If it feels like I've been saying that since November the reason is because I have, because that's how long this feud has been going.  None of it has been good at all, it hasn't helped anyone at all.  It's made Corbin more unbearable then ever, to the point where if he was never on TV I'd never want him to come back ever.  It put Roman in a garbage feud when he should have been doing something else way better.  The whole "Roman is the face of the company but he doesn't have friends" thing was so dumb, then the Usos came back way too late in this feud and should have just been there from the beginning despite personal issues of their own.  This feud needs to end forever, I never want these two to face each other ever again, and not even like in a year or two as a one off, literally never ever again for the rest of their careers.  Let's also not forget how this entire thing has done nothing but hurt Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, who are now just a lackey tag team that will probably never do anything of significance ever again on the main roster.  Roman wins, and oh yeah they are both in the rumble too so hopefully they don't also interact in that.  They better not face again at Elimination Chamber or even the next Saudi Show, it's time for Roman to move on and I could care less what Corbin does, because he isn't main event material at all.

WWE Universal Championship

Strap Match

(C) "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan

I love the Fiend character, but it just seems like they are running out of things to do with him.  I don't want that to happen, I'm sure this will be a great match, there hasn't been a lot of strap matches in the past couple years so I like the idea of The Fiend doing different gimmick matches as well.  After this feud which I think we all expect Bray to win, Bray needs to take February off or just do Firefly funhouse videos for the time being, don't defend the title at Elimination Chamber.  Bryan will unfortunately lose which is fine, he's back to being his face character full time which is fine, I'm very curious where he's gonna go from here.  As I said before Bray will win I think most people expect Bray to be champ until at least Wrestlemania.  Who he faces, is very unclear but it's very possible that ends up being Roman.

RAW Women's Championship

Singles Match

(C) Becky Lynch vs. Asuka

This is the best story going into this show, Becky is basically desperate to beat Asuka, the one hurdle she's never been able to get over.  To the point where they actually put in the storyline that Becky wanted a match to defend her title against Asuka before she would discuss contract negotiations, I love that little wrinkle of realism.  Becky is and has been the biggest star in the company the last 2 years at least.  She continues to carry the show on her back.  Asuka as well is better than ever.  I love this heel character, because for the longest time people were unsure she could be relied on to carry a story, and she's been amazing in this story with her facial expressions, her cocky "I'm better and I know it" demeanor, and her speaking her native language but in an aggressive tone is perfect.  Everything about this feud has been great.  Becky cutting a promo after being misted and the doctors trying to help her immediately with the water, treating her like the meal ticket was one of my favorite promos shes ever done.  This should be a great match as all their singles matches have been, with Becky finally getting that win, and moving on to whatever is next for her.

Women's Royal Rumble

So as of right now, there's only 9 announced competitors for this match, Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Natalya, Sarah Logan, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Dana Brooke, and Carmella, I don't expect anyone of them to win.  I think whoever wins this match is going to be someone WWE thinks we aren't going to expect.  I have two picks and one wildcard, the first is Shayna Baszler, I feel she's done everything she can in NXT, all she could do at this point is help to put over new talent because she no longer needs the title there, but put her on RAW or Smackdown and she can have a slough of new matches and new rivalries, and if she won I could see her easily feuding with Becky.  My other choice is Sasha Banks, her and Bayley are basically at this point the only legitimate heels on Smackdown, and she's really the only person they are protecting on Smackdown at the moment, you could make an argument for Carmella to face Bayley at mania because the story is there, Carmella and Bayley are real life best friends, Bayley's change in attitude and their friendship fizzling because of it could be a great story to tell, but if they aren't going to do that story, then Sasha wins the Rumble and they can actually go into mania still as friends, Bayley can say how Sasha is the only person on the Smackdown roster she respects and can actually have a competitive match with her.  They can even go into the story like they aren't really feuding that they are going into it as two friends going to have a good match together just as heels.  I think that would be very different.  As for my wildcard pick, I think it's obvious, Ronda Rousey.  Everyone is probably thinking the same thing, we haven't seen Ronda since last Wrestlemania, she said she wanted to take a year away to start a family, its obviously never a done deal with picks like this, because nobody knows her status or when she plans to come back, but if she does come back in the Rumble and wins, you know she's gonna want retribution against Becky and they can finally have the singles match they should have had last year without Charlotte being added just cause she's Charlotte.

Men's Royal Rumble

Okay so first thing's first, I hated it when it was announced, I still hate it and will continue to hate it, why is the WWE Champion in the Royal Rumble match and his title isn't on the line?  The idea of Brock being in there at all as I said in earlier articles, and not defending his title, is dumb, it will never not be dumb.  This should be the only reason you ever put a champion in a Royal Rumble match, and it would be even more dominant for him to actually defend the title and eliminate thirty people to do it despite how much I legitimately dislike Brock Lesnar ever being a champion since he's never there and hardly defends it anyway.  With that said I don't know what the plan is here, which is good, unlike the women's match that only has nine competitors announced, this match has 27 competitors announced which I hate.  There's three spots left, for legends, NXT stars, or returns, but if you look up the field of talent, there's three tag teams in this match for some reason, The New Day, Miz & Morrison, and Heavy Machinery, none of those teams should be in this match especially the New Day who are the Smackdown Tag Team champions, that's six spots that could have went to NXT people.  As far who wins, Lesnar absolutely cannot win this match, if he does it's a complete waste.  The obvious choices and my only choices are Roman Reigns or Drew McIntyre.  I hope it's Drew McIntyre because this would sky rocket him, and he needs it.  It's time for him to be a true main eventer.  Also if he eliminated Lesnar and beat him at mania it would make him look like a legitimate star.  It needs to happen.  As far as Roman goes, as I said earlier this feud with Corbin has not helped him at all.  We know how much a star he already is though, he doesn't need to win the rumble to re-establish that, and he can still earn a title shot by winning an Elimination Chamber match which could still make him look dominate.  Also I really hope Cain Velasquez isn't in this match, because not only would that be another wasted entry, if he eliminates Brock and they have that match again, they cannot have that rematch at mania.  That match is a waste and nobody wants to see it again, so if they do that at the rumble, they can have that match in Saudi Arabia again, because nobody will care to watch it anyway.

So that's gonna do it for me, hopefully the two rumble matches aren't a disappointment, hopefully this show as a whole isn't a disappointment but a lot of times when we expect it to be it isn't so lets hope for more of the same.  It irritates me a lot that there's no WWE Title match, or Intercontinental Title match, or Smackdown and RAW Tag Title matches, and there's a stupid Sheamus nothing match, and another Roman versus Corbin match, but hopefully the rumble matches themselves are good cause that's the only thing I truly ever look forward to.  Thanks for reading what I had to say about this show, and enjoy.  Also one last thing, stop expecting people to pick sides in wrestling, you can like both WWE and AEW.  So if you are choosing sides, and one side does something bad and you expect people to feel the same when the other does the same thing, let it go and just enjoy wrestling, you can like and criticize both equally.  That's what I do, hoping it all gets better in the long run.