Early Predictions for 2022 WWE Royal Rumble Match Winners

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After WWE completed one of its cornerstone events at Survivor Series earlier in November, the WWE Universe shifted its attention to the next major pay-per-view on the schedule, January’s Royal Rumble, and which Superstars will walk out victorious.

The Royal Rumble is one of the most important events of the year for WWE because it has major WrestleMania implications. With the company featuring women’s and men’s Battle Royals with title shots on the line, the PPV is must-see TV.

Whoever wins the Royal Rumble matches will have the inside lane on the Road to WrestleMania 38. Here are the early predictions for which Superstars will walk out of the January PPV as Battle Royal winners.

Women’s Winner: Bianca Belair

After being the sole survivor at the 2021 edition of Survivor Series, Bianca Belair is the early favorite to walk out of the 2022 Royal Rumble as the No. 1 contender.

Belair was the winner of the 2021 Royal Rumble and went on to capture the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. However, she was unceremoniously destroyed by a returning Becky Lynch at SummerSlam and was on the back-burner up until her victory at Survivor Series.

Belair is too good to be sitting on the sidelines for long and should be booked strong through January before dominating the Battle Royal to earn a second straight main event spot at WrestleMania.

While WWE would miss the opportunity to build a new Superstar in the women’s division, no one deserves another Royal Rumble win more than Belair after she was jobbed out to Lynch and never had a proper conclusion to her rivalry with Sasha Banks.

With built-in storylines on both Raw and SmackDown, the best creative decision for WWE would be to have Belair win the Royal Rumble and stalk both champions in the months leading up to WrestleMania 38.

Men’s Winner: Drew McIntyre

There was no Superstar on WWE’s main roster who helped carry the company more during the pandemic than Drew McIntyre, but his booking since dropping the WWE Championship in February has been lackluster at best.

With a move to the blue brand and a future date with universal champion Roman Reigns, the best booking would be to have McIntyre once again emerge victorious in the 30-person Battle Royal.

Reigns has been in control of the blue brand for a long time and has dispatched every challenger put in front of him. After a successful run on Raw, McIntyre should be the one to fight the universal champion at WrestleMania 38.

Over the coming weeks, McIntyre should pick off some of the top undercard heels on SmackDown while subtly setting his sights on Reigns. Then at the Royal Rumble, McIntyre should stun the world and set his date with destiny.

After having his initial coronation take place in the empty WWE Performance Center, McIntyre deserves to hear his name chanted at WrestleMania after defeating the champion to complete his journey.

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