Winner: Since everybody picked Jericho or Orton already, I'm gonna go with Wade Barrett (who won't win anyway) Diesel Award: Funkasaurus Flair Award: Miz Bushwhacker Luke Award: Hunico Surprise Entrants: Brock Lesnar, Rey Mysterio, Cactus Jack
If they wouldn't have Rock vs. Cena for WM already, I'd totally see Brock Lesnar win the Rumble
Boy, there's not really a lot of variation here, is there.
Jericho. I'm more sure that Orton will be the SD challenger than that Jericho will be the RAW challenger at Mania, but Jericho needs to be reestablished and Orton doesn't. And I think the whole Jericho gimmick has been great, but I'm a huge Jericho mark, so I would.
Bryan. I have been going back and forth between thinking Henry wins the belt back here and he does so in the Elimination Chamber. But I guess the injury makes it easy to go with the latter. I doubt they'll make Bryan look strong in the win, but I think he'll escape with the title.
Punk. This is just a trial for Dolph. He probably will get a run with the title later this year, but not until after Mania.
Cena. I'm going with the full-on Star Wars thing here, where Cena wins by flirting with the dark side, and they can establish it where Kane's goal was to make that happen, not to win.
Surprised there isn't one palate-cleanser match announced.
I always try to play the bookie for the royal rumble as such here is my book that I've allowed my friends and such to bet on so I guess it also counts as my prediction:
"The Viper" Randy Orton 2/1 "Y2J" Chris Jericho 11/4 "The Celtic Warrior" Sheamus 5/1 Wade Barrett 11/2 "Dashing" Cody Rhodes 12/1 "The Hardcore Legend" Mick Foley 16/1 "The Cerebral Assassin" HHH 16/1 "WWE's Most Must-See Superstar" The Miz 18/1 R-Truth 18/1 "The Leader of the Cenation" John Cena 18/1 "The Big Red Machine" Kane 18/1 "The Show-Off" Dolph Ziggler 18/1 "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry 18/1 "The Voice of The Voiceless" CM Punk 20/1 "The American Dragon" Daniel Bryan 25/1 "The World's Largest Athlete" The Big Show 25/1 "The All-American American" Jack Swagger 33/1
So I guess by that logic I make Orton the winner. Although most of my action has been for Orton and Jericho, so I'd prefer Sheamus or Barrett to win!
30-Man Royal Rumble Match: Jericho - The Royal Rumble match is more awesome with swerves, but his one liner on the previous Raw does set it up nicely. Hopefully Brodus has the most eliminations (probably in the middle somewhere).
Daniel Bryan vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show, Triple-Threat Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Bryan - mostly because of Mark Henry not being 100% yet.
CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler, WWE Championship Match, John Laurinaitis as Special Guest Referee: Punk - but Ziggler puts on a very, very nice match, further elevating himself.
John Cena vs. Kane: Kane - Hoping Cena becomes more hate-filled and has a tormented time trying to reconcile what he [Cena] did and what he needs to do to get what he wants. Can't a girl dream?
(Yay for the CKEditor -- makes bolding and linking so much easier.)
Royal Rumble Match: Going with Randy Orton. Only other option I could see would be Jericho throwing out Orton on his way to winning it, in another attempt to get people to boo him.
Smackdown Title: Daniel Bryan, since I imagine Orton is begging Vince every day for his Wrestlemania match to be against him instead of Henry/Big Show.
RAW Title: Punk, because Ziggles has gotten about 47 seconds of attention in this feud.
John Cena vs Kane: Kane by DQ. Maybe a double-count out or something, just to find a new way for this storyline to piss off anyone watching it.
Rumble - Jericho. He's done just about everything else in the business. Why not add a rumble victory
Daniel Bryan - Show and Henry can't resist one upping each other's brute strength. Bryan slips out like a little weasel.
Punk - He's billed in a match in San Diego on the 13th as Champion with Dolph challenging for the title. Card subject to change, of course.
Kane - Cena needs to lose, not because I hate him. He needs to lose simply to add some depth to the storyline and to begin dropping the Super Cena character.
30-Man Royal Rumble Match: Like many people I am picking Jericho to win. Miz will be the iron man, Shamus will have the most eliminations.
Daniel Bryan vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show, Triple-Threat Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Is this still a triple threat? Either way Bryan will sneak out with the belt.
CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler, WWE Championship Match, John Laurinaitis as Special Guest Referee: Punk wins cleanly. They rehash the Austin/Dude Love ending with Punk counting with Johnny's hand after he's been knocked out.
John Cena vs. Kane: Kane wins by DQ because Cena will embrace the hate and start attacking him with weapons.
No contest between Cena and Kane. It gets out of hand as Cena goes crazy and destroys Kane to try and give the illusion that he might turn heel (though we know that won't happen anytime soon).
Bryan squirms his way out. I like all three, but I'm not really feeling this match as a much watch.
Punk wins easily. Ziggler's been treated almost as an afterthought, I can't seriously see him taking the belt here.
In my heart, I see Santino winning as a continuation from last year's near victory. I could see the WWE writers pulling the trigger on this crazy joke occurring. But my brain tells my heart "Shut up, you dumbass" and says he'll last the shortest of the entrants. Henry or Brodus Clay gets the Diesel push, Santino gets the shortest stay followed by Heath Slater, and Miz gets the longest one. 'Surprise' entrants: Goldust eliminating his brother Cody, Rey Mysterio or Sin Cara returning from injury, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan for nostalgia. Final four: Miz, Jericho, Orton, and Barrett with Jericho winning the rumble.
Rumble match: Jericho. I really like the idea someone here posted of the last two people double-eliminating themselves right before #30 -- Jericho -- comes out, but I doubt that's going to happen. Especially with the short lineup, they need the Rumble to last a bit longer than exactly an hour. Punk-Ziggler: Punk, when Johnny L cheats for Punk to try to keep his job, which also allows the feud to continue. Bryan-Henry-Show: Daniel Bryan. I can see a returning AJ somehow figuring into this as well. Cena-Kane: Kane by DQ.
Added match: The Colons keep the tag-team title. If they add a women's match, Natalya loses.
Possible sightings of Goldberg and Lesnar, anyone?