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With less than a day away before the Men's Royal Rumble, we now have 25 of the 30 participants revealed. Below, we make our Royal Rumble Predictions, making our Royal Rumble Rankings for each of the 25 declared Men's Royal Rumble participants from the least likely to win, to the most likely to earn a shot at Wrestlemania's Main Event.
Royal Rumble Predictions: All 2022 Men's Royal Rumble Participants, Ranked
Fodders
Fodders are Royal Rumble participants that are there just to make an appearance, having almost zero chances of winning. Sure, they could make an elimination or two or be involved in a comedic spot. But these WWE superstars have little to no chance of outlasting the real winners of the Rumble. These fodders include:
Johnny Knoxville – Of course, he's just there to promote Jackass. No way would they make him the winner of this contest. He'll most likely eliminate Sami Zayn, or play a hand in his elimination. Speaking of Sami…
Sami Zayn – There was a time when Sami Zayn winning the Rumble would have been a great result, but WWE hasn't shown much interest in pushing Sami. He's stuck in the role of getting Johnny over or getting heat in eliminating him. But winning the Rumble? Unlikely.
Dominik Mysterio – His father's got a lot of limelight recently for featuring as the cover athlete for WWE 2K22. However, WWE has only been having him play around with his father in backstage segments recently. Dominik just doesn't have the momentum to actually win the Rumble, but it'll be fun to see what he has in store for his second Rumble appearance.
Sheamus – When writing our Royal Rumble Predictions, we take our favoritism away. While Sheamus is a fantastic wrestler, still one of the best workers in the industry and safest wrestlers out there, he simply doesn't have the star power anymore to win an event as big as the Rumble.
Happy Corbin – Happy Corbin has been Corbin's best gimmick in a long while. He's a refreshing new character that gets a lot of heat easily. However, he's not in the position of being a top heel, and he's got little to no chances of winning the Rumble.
Madcap Moss – In his first Royal Rumble appearance, Madcap Moss will be used for some comedic spots, most likely going against Kofi Kingston and Big E in some spots.
Dolph Ziggler – Dolph is as reliable as ever, and we're sure to see him work a lot of nice spots in this weekend's Royal Rumble. However, we don't see him making a big splash in this year's Rumble, especially since his tag team with Robert Roode still has some steam, and when was the last time we've seen a tag team member win the Rumble?
Robert Roode – And the same can be said to Ziggler's partner Robert Roode. Do you still remember when Roode was a hot commodity in NXT? Well, he's far from his former glorious persona, but Robert Roode is still a great worker, not just a Royal Rumble winner.
Shinsuke Nakamura – The current Intercontinental Champion has been on the winning end of recent competitions, but he was never portrayed as a top star by Creative. His wins have been because of his sidekick, Rick Boogs, and not exactly because of his own star power. We might see the same happening on the Rumble, with Rick Boogs teaming up with Shinsuke to make a couple of eliminations. But the partnership has to end sometime to really push Boogs as a singles star, and we could probably see Shinsuke grab some heat by throwing Boogs over the top rope. However, winning the Rumble? WWE probably isn't too keen to make a 2018 replay, considering how cold Shinsuke has been in recent years.
Ricochet – It's sad to put Ricochet this low in our Royal Rumble Predictions, but talented as he is, Ricochet doesn't really have the backing of WWE Creative. He'll probably be doing a couple of high flying moves here and there before getting eliminated.
Kofi Kingston – Remember Kofimania? Well, Kofi's singles run has long been done, and he's back to being a tag team specialist. Look forward to Kofi's acrobatics that he'll use to avoid being eliminated, but don't look forward to him winning the whole thing.
Big E – This could be a controversial take, but we aren't as optimistic as other people anymore on Big E's chances to win the Rumble. With King Woods still shelved due to injury, the New Day tag team banner has to be carried by Big E and Kofi Kingston. And you know what happens to tag teams in WWE, right? They don't win Rumbles.
Angelo Dawkins – Angelo Dawkins tends to be overshadowed by his partner Montez Ford. With that in mind, Angelo Dawkins isn't exactly a favorite to win the Rumble.
Montez Ford – Montez Ford could have been a possible winner for the Rumble, but he wasn't given anything to work on the weeks leading up to the Rumble. Instead, he and his tag team partner has been clashing with another Face Team, which doesn't do either team any favors.
Chad Gable – The Alpha Academy Star is having a great time in the Tag Team Division right now, and we're sure that he'll perform well in this Rumble. However, we also don't bet on him winning the Rumble.
Monsters
Monsters are wrestlers who will be coming in on the Rumble and eliminating a whole lot of competitors, only to be eliminated either by another Monster or by groups working together to get them over the top rope. However, even though they're Monsters, we don't see them usually winning the Rumble. Some Monsters have won the Rumble in the past, though, so don't totally count them out.
Omos – Omos has been built to be the new Kane or the new Big Show, so he'll fit in well when it comes to the Rumble in throwing in the smaller guys over the top rope. It will definitely take a lot of teamwork between WWE's stars to get rid of Vince McMahon's new giant, but not before Omos throws down a couple over the ropes himself.
Rick Boogs – Rick Boogs has been a monster in tag team battles, and the Royal Rumble will be his opportunity to show just how strong he is compared to the rest of the roster. He'd definitely benefit from a monster run in the Rumble, but we don't think he'd be winning the Rumble as Shinsuke's sidekick.
Otis – Otis has been booked as a monster in previous Rumbles, and now he's even a bigger monster as a heel. However, he's not as big as the other two monsters in this tier in terms of storyline push, so we'll just expect a short rampage from Otis during this match.
Maybes
These superstars aren't likely to win the Rumble, but some factors on how the other matches turn out could pave the way for these Maybes to win. Some others in this tier may also win based on recent events, record-setting, or the like.
Damien Priest – Damien trades wins and losses in recent weeks, but he's never portrayed as weak. He's still slightly protected and is a strong face that fans really get behind. However, being the current US Champion might mean that he's going to be asked to hold that title and not challenge for any other world championship for the time being.
AJ Styles – AJ always performs well in Rumbles, but he has never won one. With him breaking up with Omos, AJ needs something to revitalize his Singles career. With his win over Austin Theory, he has a slight momentum heading into the Rumble.
Rey Mysterio – Rey Mysterio's been teasing his son Dominik about throwing him over the top rope in the Rumble, but we think the opposite will happen. If it doesn't, then Rey's probably going to score himself a couple of eliminations himself. He's been a reliable performer at Rumbles and fans get behind him regardless of the situation. Given that he's this year's WWE 2K cover athlete, then he could probably cap it off with a Rumble win.
Randy Orton – Randy's currently at two wins at the Rumble in his illustrious career, and winning another one will make him tied to the most Rumble wins in history with Stone Cold Steve Austin. If WWE will give him that record, then we think this would be his final chance to do so.
Likelies
These participants are who we think have the highest chances of winning the Rumble. Save for some of the Bonus Participants that we will be discussing later, if all of the other five slots are filled with surprise comedy wrestlers, then we think these three have the biggest shots in winning.
Riddle – Riddle is still very well-liked by the fans. Him and Randy losing the Tag Team belts could mean that WWE has plans to use Riddle for Singles action soon. If he's not supposed to be feuding with Randy on Mania, then he could be gunning for a World Title soon.
Kevin Owens – Kevin Owens has been a reliable worker, and he's always been near the Title Picture. His feud with Seth Rollins has been interrupted, and if Seth could win the title tonight, then that could mean Owens gunning for his Title at Mania.
Austin Theory – Austin Theory's been given a big push ever since he was called up to Raw, and we won't be surprised if Vince actually favors him to win at the Rumble. The good news is, he's also a very popular Super Star, so him winning the Rumble will probably not cause any riots.
Bonus Participants
There are still five slots open for the Rumble, and here are who we think will show up, and what our Royal Rumble Prediction is for them.
Brock Lesnar – The Rumble is at Minneapolis, and if he were to lose his belt to Lashley, then there's no way they'll send the hometown crowd home without a Lesnar win. Should Lesnar drop his belt to Lashley, he might join the Men's Royal Rumble and win the whole thing entirely.
Seth Rollins – Even if Seth is the Face in his rivalry against Roman Reigns, he's still heelish enough to appear in the Number 30 spot to disappoint the fans from any better surprises. We don't think that he'll win the Rumble if ever he does appear, but he'll definitely use the opportunity to regain heat coming off his fight with Reigns.
Roman Reigns – Should Reigns lose to Seth Rollins, WWE could still give Reigns a Mania Main Event by booking him to win the Rumble. It would be interesting to see where this would lead, as Reigns has become synonymous already with the Universal Championship that it'd be hard to watch him without a belt over his shoulder.
Bronn Breaker – Bronn's off hot in NXT 2.0, and as the current champ, he's likely to show up on the Rumble to introduce him to a larger audience, hopefully drawing the crowd to NXT 2.0 if he makes a good showing in the match.
