Early Bookmakers’ View on 2020 Royal Rumble

With the WWE having announced that the 2020 Royal Rumble will take place on January 26 at Minute Raid Park in Houston, anticipation is high among fans as to who will come out on top. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch were victorious earlier this year, reaching Wrestlemania 35 in the process. Whilst plenty can still happen between now and January, many are already speculating as to which superstars will win in both the men’s and women’s rumbles.

Raw’s Seth Rollins eliminated Braun Strowman in order to win the 30-man Royal Rumble back in January this year, before defeating Brock Lesner to win the WWE Universal Championship for the very first time. Meanwhile, Becky Lynch eliminated Charlotte Flair to win the women’s rumble, before defeating both Flair and Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania to claim both the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship. This summary of 2019 in terms of the Royal Rumble is simplistic, with there being a whole host of other talking points to speak of.

The 2019 Royal Rumble in Phoenix may have had low attendance, however the return of WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano’s appearance and an attempted entrance from R-Truth certainly provided great entertainment. Meanwhile, the second ever Women’s Royal Rumble also produced plenty of memorable moments, with Nikki Cross knocking down Billie Kay, before the first NXT UK Women’s Champions, Rhea Ripley, made an impact with her power moves.

Drew McIntyre is the current favourite to win the 2020 Men’s Royal Rumble with the majority of betting sites from across the sea, with the Brit having been eliminated at no.22 back in January by Dolph Ziggler, before losing out to Roman Reigns in a singles match at Wrestlemania. McIntyre was labelled by Vince McMahon as “The Chosen One” and with the help of Brock Lesner could well go to the next level of the WWE. A feud with the 2003 Royal Rumble winner could well last all the way up until the 2020 event, before nicely establishing Lesner’s retirement at Wrestlemania 36.

Reigns himself is the second favourite with bookmaker SkyBet to win the 2020 Rumble, with the new SmackDown superstar being available to back at odds of 10/1. Having been backed by many to eventually fill the void left by John Cena, Reigns is likely to become one of the WWE’s most mainstream superstars, making a second Rumble success a viable outcome in 2020. Elsewhere, the likes of Finn Balor, Kofi Kingston and even John Cena are believed to be in the running, with the Rumble being known for its unpredictability. Many are backing Cena to carry the World title by the time 2020 rolls around, with a third success at the Royal Rumble potentially being another avenue for this eventuality. Other outside bets include Big E, Andrade and Daniel Bryan.

Meanwhile, with Triple H’s success at the 2016 Royal Rumble in Florida being the last time in which a former WWE superstar came out on top, it comes as little surprise that the likes of Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker and Chris Jericho are also in the running, along with MMA’s Connor McGregor.
In terms of the Women’s Royal Rumble next year, making predictions as to who will follow up Lynch’s success is perhaps a little more difficult.

However, with Sasha Banks expected to overtake Moolah as the record holder for the number of times in which the WWE Women’s Championship belt has been held, the 24-year-old favourite could well be an option for the Rumble in January next year. Meanwhile, Banks is likely to be joined by Bayley in the running for the Women’s Royal Rumble, with the first ever WWE Women’s triple crown winner, Raw, Smackdown, NXT and Tag champion, being one of the most popular female wrestlers at present. While odds on the Women’s Royal Rumble are likely to come out a little closer to the time of the event, WWE fans may not want to leave it too late, as they avoid missing out on the best prices.

Whatever happens at the 2020 Royal Rumble, fireworks can certainly be expected, with the WWE keen to get the event back to where it once was in terms of anticipation from fans. For the superstars, the pull of a spot at Wrestlemania 36 should be a big enough draw to give their all from now until then.