For the first time in almost 30 years, the Royal Rumble will take place on a Saturday night this weekend. That means the next couple of days will be full of wrestling and football takes on your feeds as the National Football League's AFC and NFC Championships will be decided on Sunday, respectively.
This year, the Royal Rumble emanates from The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. In 2017, 2019, and 2020, the show moved to stadiums rather than regular arenas, and it's only made this event feel more special as we head into WrestleMania season. While most lifelong wrestling fans can agree the WWE product has been lacking some great superstars and storylines the last few years, the Royal Rumble always provides the company a chance to retool and revamp their approach to WrestleMania season. For that reason, the Royal Rumble event still entices casual and lapsed fans to tune in just to see what WWE has planned heading into the next few months.
We assembled Fox Sports Radio The Gambler's greatest wrestling minds in our Royal Rumble Roundtable to take a deep dive into not only the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches, but the rest of the card as well. We have three World Title matches in addition to two WWE Hall of Famers teaming up - husband and wife, no less - as Edge and Beth Phoenix take on The Miz and his wife, Maryse, in a mixed tag team encounter.
Johnny Knoxville will also make his, uh, WWE in-ring debut, as he enters the men's Royal Rumble match. That could be something to keep an eye on heading into WrestleMania.
In our roundtable, we discuss some of the best Royal Rumble moments and memories of our respective points of view, make some predictions of the undercard matches and then dive deep into the DraftKings Sportsbook pool for our Men's and Women's Royal Rumble winners and props.
Listen to the podcast to check out our logical and sound reasoning for the picks below:
• Edge/Beth Phoenix vs. Miz/Maryse
Jon Jansen - Edge/Beth Phoenix
Nick Piccone - Miz/Maryse
Vaughn Johnson - Edge/Beth Phoenix
Jason Fanelli - Edge/Beth Phoenix
...
• WWE Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Doudrop
Jon Jansen - Becky Lynch
Nick Piccone - Becky Lynch
Vaughn Johnson - Becky Lynch
Jason Fanelli - Becky Lynch
...
• WWE Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Seth "Freakin" Rollins
Jon Jansen - Roman Reigns
Nick Piccone - Seth Rollins
Vaughn Johnson - Roman Reigns
Jason Fanelli - Roman Reigns
...
• WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Bobby Lashley (w/ MVP)
Jon Jansen - Bobby Lashley
Nick Piccone - Brock Lesnar
Vaughn Johnson - Bobby Lashley
Jason Fanelli - Bobby Lashley
...
• 30-man Royal Rumble Match for a men's world championship match at WrestleMania 38
Jon Jansen - Big E
Nick Piccone - Big E
Vaughn Johnson - Kevin Owens
Jason Fanelli - AJ Styles
• Will any Superstar record 13+ eliminations?
Jon Jansen - No
Nick Piccone - No
Vaughn Johnson - No
Jason Fanelli - No
• Johnny Knoxville's entry number O/U 15.5
Jon Jansen - Under
Nick Piccone - Over
Vaughn Johnson - Under
Jason Fanelli - Under
• Length of Match: O/U 60 mins or longer/59:59 or shorter
Jon Jansen - Over
Nick Piccone - Over
Vaughn Johnson - Over
Jason Fanelli - Over
• Will the men's Rumble be won by a first-time winner?
Jon Jansen - Yes
Nick Piccone - Yes
Vaughn Johnson - Yes
Jason Fanelli - Yes
• Will the men's winner's entry number be odd or even?
Jon Jansen - Even
Nick Piccone - Even
Vaughn Johnson - Even
Jason Fanelli - Even
• Brand of men's winner: RAW/NXT/SmackDown/Other
Jon Jansen - Raw
Nick Piccone - Raw
Vaughn Johnson - Raw
Jason Fanelli - Raw
• When will the men's winner enter the match?
Jon Jansen - 21-25
Nick Piccone - 16-20
Vaughn Johnson - 26-30
Jason Fanelli - 21-25
...
• 30-woman Royal Rumble Match for a women's world championship match at WrestleMania 38
Jon Jansen - Bayley/Any other
Nick Piccone - Lita
Vaughn Johnson - Rhea Ripley
Jason Fanelli - Bayley/Any other
• Will any Superstar record 8+ eliminations?
Jon Jansen - No
Nick Piccone - No
Vaughn Johnson - No
Jason Fanelli - No
• Will Bianca Belair's entry number be O/U 15.5?
Jon Jansen - Under
Nick Piccone - Under
Vaughn Johnson - Under
Jason Fanelli - Over
• Length of women's Rumble O/U 60 mins or longer/59:59 or shorter
Jon Jansen - Under
Nick Piccone - Under
Vaughn Johnson - Under
Jason Fanelli - Under
• Will the women's Rumble be won by a first-time winner?
Jon Jansen - Yes
Nick Piccone - Yes
Vaughn Johnson - Yes
Jason Fanelli - Yes
• Will the women's winner's entry number be odd or even?
Jon Jansen - Odd
Nick Piccone - Even
Vaughn Johnson - Even
Jason Fanelli - Even
• Brand of women's winner: RAW/NXT/SmackDown/Other
Jon Jansen - Raw
Nick Piccone - Other
Vaughn Johnson - Raw
Jason Fanelli - SmackDown
• When will the women's winner enter the match?
Jon Jansen - 26-30
Nick Piccone - 21-25
Vaughn Johnson - 15-20
Jason Fanelli - 26-30