The 2026 Royal Rumble is about to be a historic one, because the premium live event will emanate from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the primary time ever, and the Rumble matches themselves are at all times must-see, each necessary first steps on the road to WrestleMania. The celebrities who win their respective matches will get a shot at a top title of their selecting at “The Showcase of the Immortals” in Las Vegas in April. While a few years’ Rumble matches have been easy to predict, the 2026 matches appear to be anyone’s game.
On the boys’s side, the sport has modified quickly, after Cody Rhodes lost the Undisputed WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre in a Three Stages of Hell match on “WWE SmackDown” on January 9. “The American Nightmare” is now set to enter his third Rumble match in recent memory. Others within the match include Jey Uso, who won last 12 months to go on to win the World Heavyweight Championship from GUNTHER, who has also declared for the match, in addition to Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, and Penta.
The ladies’s match also doesn’t yet have a transparent favorite. Those that have declared for the match up to now include Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Liv Morgan, Roxanne Perez, Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka, Bayley, and Lyra Valkyria. There are many stars, each on the essential roster and still in “WWE NXT” who could enter the ladies’s match and make it much more exciting.
We’re unsure exactly what number of surprises will are available this 12 months’s Rumble as a consequence of its location, but we are able to predict just who we predict will win. Oftentimes, who we imagine should win and who will go on to challenge their respective champions are two different stars, which is actually the case this 12 months.
Should Win: Bron Breakker
Many fans expected The Vision’s Bron Breakker to dethrone CM Punk during their World Heavyweight Championship match on the January 5 edition of “WWE Raw,” but that wasn’t the case. The very best solution to elevate the young star now’s to offer him the Royal Rumble victory, to have him go on to defeat Punk at WrestleMania, and he could then feud with Seth Rollins for the title each time “The Architect” is able to return from injury. If Breakker is the last man standing within the Royal Rumble, the booking options for his future are vast. WWE desperately needs to place a top title on a younger, established talent, and this positively is Breakker’s time to shine.
It doesn’t look like The Vision goes to interrupt up anytime soon, though the Rumble match can be a superb, shocking place for that to occur. Breakker will greater than likely be backed up by Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, and Austin Theory, increasing his likelihood of victory.
What makes the boys’s match rather more difficult to predict this 12 months, is the Elimination Chamber. It’s as easy to examine Breakker winning the Chamber match in Punk’s hometown of Chicago, to go on to challenge for his title at ‘Mania, because it is to see Breakker winning the Rumble.
One other one that we predict should win the Rumble, who got here in an especially close second is Sami Zayn, though his path is much more unpredictable. Zayn is about to challenge McIntyre for the title on the event, and if the match goes on prior to the Rumble and Zayn loses, we predict he has a superb shot at winning this 12 months. Giving Zayn a second shot at gold, earned through a Rumble victory in Saudi Arabia, can be good storytelling.
Will Win: Cody Rhodes
Rhodes losing his title to McIntyre seemingly shifted a variety of reported plans for WrestleMania, at the very least, what fans thought they knew, as word was getting around that it will be Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns III. That singles match now seems unsure, with Rhodes losing and McIntyre not granting him a rematch. If the “American Nightmare” desires to get one other crack on the title, he will need to win the Rumble, and we’re pondering that is likely.
Rhodes is so obviously WWE’s “guy,” that him making history and winning the Rumble match three years in a row just is sensible when it comes to WWE booking. There is just one other man who has won three Rumbles, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in 1997, 1998, and 2001, and no star has ever won three in a row. We expect it’s highly likely that Rhodes is the primary man to achieve this. While there could also be some grumbling in a portion of the Web Wrestling Community, it doesn’t look like there can be an excessive amount of outrage, not like WWE officials would care, nevertheless.
If Rhodes doesn’t win the Rumble, the following likely person is Reigns. If that is the case, Rhodes could win the Chamber match, as he has yet to do this in his WWE profession. Or, WWE one way or the other gets to Rhodes vs. Reigns vs. the Undisputed WWE Champion, likely still McIntyre, at WrestleMania 42. There isn’t any way that each Reigns and Rhodes aren’t involved within the essential event picture at ‘Mania, it’s just not 100% clear on how we get there. It will be a alternative to have the Rumble and Chamber winners go after the identical championship, and it’s technically not the way in which it’s suppose to work, but within the case of Rhodes and Reigns, we are able to see it happening.
Should Win: Jordynne Grace
With the ladies’s Royal Rumble winner so up in-the-air, it will be nice to see a recent “NXT” call-up get the victory to go on to something big in a short time into their essential roster profession. The right alternative for that star can be the previous TNA Knockouts Champion, Jordynne Grace. “The Juggernaut” has participated in Rumble matches already, including when she still held TNA gold. The 2026 match will probably be Grace’s third, only her second under official WWE contract, and he or she really should win this 12 months to get an enormous WrestleMania moment to determine her as an enormous deal on the essential roster.
It looked like Grace was headed for a match against Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship at Saturday Night’s Major Event, but that did not transform the case. Nonetheless, it must be “The Juggernaut” who dethrones Cargill for the title. It was Grace to call her out in the primary place for having zero defenses, as of this writing, since Cargill won the gold originally of November. It is also Grace who, at this moment, is Cargill’s only credible challenger. These are all good reasons to have her win the Rumble match and elevate her to stardom with a WrestleMania moment.
Grace is yet one more powerhouse star, like Breakker, who we predict could go on to win the Elimination Chamber match if she doesn’t win the Rumble. Together with her impressive strength, Grace is a unbelievable candidate to win either match.
Will Win: Liv Morgan
Liv Morgan made her return from injury at Survivor Series: WarGames back in November, and since then, she hasn’t exactly been back within the essential event scene and Judgment Day’s position on “WWE Raw” has been floundering a bit, as a consequence of injuries. She’s been involved within the tag team championship scene alongside Roxanne Perez, and each women declared for the Rumble match. Tag team aspirations or not, we imagine that is finally the 12 months that she wins the Royal Rumble.
Many fans consider Morgan “at all times the bridesmaid” in terms of the Royal Rumble, meaning, she’s at all times done incredibly well within the match, but she has yet to emerge victorious. Morgan and Natalya are the one two women in WWE to compete in all eight women’s Rumble matches. Last 12 months, Morgan began the match at #2 and lasted a full hour and 7 minutes before being eliminated, though she only scored two eliminations herself. She returned from injury within the 2024 Rumble match, entering last as a surprise to fans. Due partly to the lucky draw of where she entered the match, Morgan was in the ultimate two, only to be eliminated by Bayley. In 2023, Morgan once more began off the match, this time, alongside Rhea Ripley, and lasted the complete match at just over an hour, only to be thrown out by Ripley.
That is Morgan’s 12 months, as she must be elevated back to the essential event scene, as she’s too big of a star to not be there. There isn’t any higher solution to do this than with a Royal Rumble victory, especially along with her track record. WWE can also be always high on Morgan, as she’s perpetually over with fans, whether she’s a heel or babyface, so we imagine that is her time.