WWE Royal Rumble 2019: Preview and predictions

Here’s a preview and prediction for every match on the card at the 2019 edition of the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.

It’s that time of the year again, folks. The annual WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event has arrived and you all know what that means. Yep, it’s the beginning of WrestleMania season and Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona marks the start of the journey towards “The Grandest Stage of Them All” on April 7.

Along with the two Royal Rumble matches set for Sunday night, there are also seven titles on the line with the Intercontinental Championship and the RAW Tag Team titles the only ones not up for grabs, at least at the time of this writing anyway as WWE sometimes likes to sneak in an extra match on the kickoff show, especially a two-hour one like we’ll see on Sunday.

So let’s jump right in with some previews and predictions for every match on the card at the 2019 edition of WWE Royal Rumble.

United States Championship Match

Rusev (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Rusev became a three-time United States Champion by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura on the Christmas Day episode of SmackDown Live and although automatic rematches aren’t supposed to be a thing anymore, Nakamura will get one at the Royal Rumble. But I think they’re going with this being more of a personal thing since Lana was “injured” by Shinsuke in a recent segment. This had kickoff show written all over it and that’s exactly what happened.

Prediction: This program hasn’t done much for me and while I do think it could be a decent match, most aren’t likely to care about the outcome as most people just aren’t caring about the United States Championship these days. I have no idea when Rusev’s contract is up but perhaps keeping a title on him for a little while changes his mind about leaving for somewhere like All Elite Wrestling. So I’ll go with The Bulgarian Brute to retain.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Fatal 4-Way Match

Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Kalisto vs. Hideo Itami

I was really hoping that these four guys would get a chance to shine on the main show but with two Rumble matches and all the big titles up for grabs and the people involved in those matches, it didn’t seem likely and this is also set for the kickoff show. At least give them the spot right before the main show starts so more people in the live crowd in Phoenix can witness what should be a spectacular match.

Prediction: It’s surprising not to see a name or two in this match but I like the lineup here. The challengers are guys that haven’t been featured much recently in pay-per-view events so it’s nice they’ll get a chance here. But I still like Buddy Murphy to retain here.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

The Bar (c) vs. The Miz & Shane McMahon

I don’t quite know where to go with this thing with The Miz and Shane McMahon. I do know that The Bar is just an afterthought right now and seem to be just being thrown to the wolves here as this storyline unfolds. So Shane jumped in for The Miz at Crown Jewel and now they’re gonna share the “Best in the World” name as a tag team. But Shane is hesitant but The Miz assures him it’s gonna be okay and….okay, I’m done.

Prediction: They almost HAVE to put the titles on Miz and Shane to make any of this work, right? I mean, how do you set up this inevitable breakup that leads to a match at WrestleMania without putting the titles on them? So yeah, Shane and Miz here.