WWE Royal Rumble 2019: Preview and predictions

WWE Universal Championship Match

Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Finn Balor

So Braun Strowman is out of the WWE Universal Championship Match at the Royal Rumble and Finn Balor is in. This was quite the development recently on Monday Night RAW as the first-ever Universal champ will finally get a shot to reclaim the title he held for one day nearly two and a half years ago. He had Braun Strowman on the ropes this past Monday night in an extremely entertaining match before Brock Lesnar got involved for the DQ finish. I’m not quite sure why that didn’t happen while they were tussling on the outside and the ref was looking directly at them but that’s not the point here. It took two behemoths to take Balor out, which plays right into the underdog story WWE loves so very much.

Prediction: First of all, I don’t think we get The Demon King here. Sure, that’s always fun for a minute but at the end of the day, it isn’t necessary. Balor is one of the most talented performers on any roster in the world and word is that Lesnar has specifically asked to work with him. This has the chance to be a fantastic bout and Brock may end up setting some distance records with the German suplexes here. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me to see a huge swerve here with Balor getting the win but my gut is telling me that Vince won’t pull that trigger just yet.

WWE Championship Match

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles

So technically, this wouldn’t be AJ Styles getting a rematch after losing the WWE Championship since he already had that match and lost at TLC last month. This is actually Styles winning a fun Fatal 5-Way on SmackDown Live just after the New Year to earn this spot in the WWE Championship Match. These two have already had numerous classic battles since Bryan’s return and this will be no different. Expect another good one here.

Prediction: I think AJ Styles will once again become WWE Champion at some point but I just don’t think that it will be on this night. There are heavy rumors that he’s looking for a lighter schedule and word is that he’ll have Randy Orton at WrestleMania 35, which could be a very fun program if done correctly and Randy actually gets into it. The aggressive behavior he’s shown lately will probably cost him here and the “new” Daniel Bryan character will benefit from it. A win for Bryan here sets up a high-profile match at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship. John Cena could be thrown in there, as could still The Miz to continue that whole thing. But I like Samoa Joe in that matchup to create something new and something the WWE Universe would really get behind. Or maybe even perhaps a RAW superstar that’s looking to make the switch.