This Royal Rumble feels different.
WWE is humming along after being sold to Endeavor, as it just announced a $5 billion “Monday Night Raw” deal with Netflix and features a roster chock-full of bona fide stars and WrestleMania main eventers.
It’s what will make the 2024 Royal Rumble (8 p.m., Peacock) so fascinating at Tropicana Field on Saturday night.
There are several viable directions WWE can go with both winners, some more complicated than others, with plenty of big surprises possible.
Does CM Punk secure his first WrestleMania main event? Does Cody Rhodes lock up a second chance to finish his story and become the first back-to-back winner since “Stone Cold” Steve Austin? Does The Rock return to take those dreams away from both of them?
On the women’s side, does Bayley add the Royal Rumble win and WrestleMania main event to her résumé? Does Becky Lynch become the first woman to win two Royal Rumbles or does a surprise entrant such as Jade Cargill, Naomi, or Sasha Banks (Mercedes Mone’) grab a stunning victory?
Those questions and more will be answered Saturday and The Post’s Joseph Staszewski does his best to predict what will happen in Tampa.
This will be Paul’s first defense of the United States title he won off Rey Mysterio at Crown Jewel back in November, so it would be crazy to think WWE isn’t riding out his run until at least WrestleMania.
Paul has told Owens he won’t be able to utilize the cast on his hand, which has allowed his challenger to knock out his opponent with one punch as he won a No. 1 contender tournament. Owens did the same to Paul – whose character has made use of the fact that a metal screw in his hand adds to this KO abilities – during their scrap a few weeks ago. Paul landed the big blow last week on SmackDown, but Owens established he can get up from it.
What likely happens here is Austin Theory and Grayson Waller end up costing Owens the match. He has been comically punching out the duo for weeks and those two have begun to pal around with Paul a bit. Paul, Waller and Theory will form a great obnoxious stable moving forward against Owens, L.A. Knight and Carmelo Hayes.
As tempting as it may be for Randy Orton to hit an RKO and beat Roman Reigns, the Tribal Chief will be heading to WrestleMania as champion with his historic 1,200-plus day reign intact. WWE is raising the danger on Reigns in his first defense in a fatal four-way, which allows The Bloodline to interfere without recourse.
Knight or Styles will likely take the pin as WWE will want to leave the possibility of Reigns vs. Orton for another day. The victory will allow Reigns to again boast that he’s beaten everyone, to trigger The Rock at The Rumble or on Friday’s SmackDown.
Betting Favorites: Bayley 4/6, Becky Lynch 5/2, Jade Cargill 4/1, Sasha Banks 11/2 Bianca Belair 9/1 (Paddy Power)
This is a two-person race between Bayley and Becky Lynch. Maybe a wild card like a Jade Cargill or a returning Naomi (Trinity) or Liv Morgan is added to the mix and could be a surprise winner. Nia Jax will certainly play a role in a major way after she beat up both Bayley and Lynch on Monday.
But Lynch, who has won before, and Bayley, who has never won, are the only two with solid stories heading to the match. Both essentially have their eye on challenging WWE women’s world champion Rhea Ripley.
For Bayley, it’s a chance to prove herself to Damage CTRL and add more gold to the faction amid her tense relationship within the group and shaky standing as leader. She is the only active member of Damage CTRL without a title after Asuka and Kairi Sane won the women’s tag team championship on Friday. Lynch wants to prove her own self-doubt wrong and get back to the mountaintop as world champion.
Ultimately, Bayley’s babyface story needs more time to cook as faction-mate Iyo Sky, the WWE women’s champion, has no other clear WrestleMania challenger. So WWE gives Lynch her big moment against the division’s new star as Bayley waits until Elimination Chamber to claim hers.
Betting Favorites: CM Punk 4/7, Gunther 7/4, Cody Rhodes 3/1, The Rock 15/2, Drew McIntyre 9/1, Sami Zayn 9/1 (Paddy Power)
WWE has set up a bunch of stories within the men’s Royal Rumble, the majority of them coming on Raw. CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and Gunther all have clear motives heading into the match.
Brock Lesnar could be the one big name to potentially return. If he does, he should toss Gunther out to establish him as someone the International champion will see as an obstacle he needs to prove himself against at WrestleMania. I’d expect to see Bron Breakker from NXT, too.
Perhaps we even get one more appearance from the Hulkster himself, after Hulk Hogan teased getting back into the ring on Raw this week as WWE celebrates 40 years of Hulkamania.
As far as the rest of the pieces, WWE needs to strike while the iron is hot and make headlines right away that CM Punk will be in a main event or WrestleMania. Rhodes will need to go the extra step of having to survive the Elimination Chamber. I could see a scenario where Punk and McIntyre land at the same time and have a match at Elimination Chamber to decide who goes to WrestleMania.
There is an off chance The Rock — who was named to the TKO board of directors this week — enters the Rumble and wins, blocking Rhodes’ path to Roman Reigns or lands at the same time as him to set up a triple-threat with the Tribal Chief.
The final five — barring Rock getting involved— should be Gunther, Lesnar, Rhodes, McIntyre and Punk. Punk will make good on his promise of eliminating McIntyre last to set up a match at Elimination Chamber after McIntyre eliminates Rhodes.