WWE Royal Rumble 2019 match card, rumors

The next pay-per-view (PPV) on the WWE schedule is the Royal Rumble event set to take place on Sun., Jan. 27, 2019, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, the company’s annual beginning of the year showcase featuring its most popular gimmick match. It will crown the next number one contender to either the Raw (Universal) or SmackDown Live (World) championship for the men, and either the Raw or SmackDown women’s title for the women.

We’re just one week away from showtime, and the card currently looks like this:

• Royal Rumble (Men)

R-Truth will enter at number 30 thanks to his Mixed Match Challenge win. Others to declare so far: John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Elias, Jinder Mahal, Jeff Hardy, Bobby Lashley, Andrade Almas, and Mustafa Ali.

• Royal Rumble (Women)

Carmella will enter at number 30 thanks to her Mixed Match Challenge win. Others to declare so far: Natalya, Bayley, Ember Moon, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan, Mickie James, Alicia Fox, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Zelina Vega.

• Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Balor (Universal championship)

Braun Strowman was originally getting the shot against Lesnar but he was removed after turning over Vince McMahon’s limo. That was the storyline, anyway. The real reasons vary depending on whose report you believe — it could be his injury (he’s still not cleared from elbow surgery) or it could be that this was always the plan and they wanted to sell tickets using the allure of Lesnar vs. Strowman before changing it to Balor. Either way, here we are. Balor won a Fatal 4-Way — with John Cena putting him over big after — to earn the match.

• Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles (WWE championship)

AJ Styles won a Fatal 5-Way to earn a rematch for the title here. They’ve been fighting over Bryan’s rise against consumerism.

• Ronda Rousey vs. Sasha Banks (Raw women’s championship)

Rousey said she wanted a match with Banks, so she got one. They did have Banks beat Nia Jax to become top contender first. They’ve since been arguing over The Four Horsewomen.

• Asuka vs. Becky Lynch (SmackDown women’s championship)

They did away with automatic rematches but Lynch still won a triple threat against both Charlotte and Carmella to earn her way back to another shot at the title she lost at TLC.

• The Bar vs. Shane McMahon & The Miz (SmackDown tag team championship)

Miz harassed McMahon into being tag partners and then they just sort of fell into a title shot. The strange pairing is actually working quite well!

• Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (US championship)

Rusev beat Nakamura for the title a month ago, and Shinsuke will have his rematch here.

• Buddy Murphy vs. Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami.

205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick put together qualifying matches to determine who would challenge Murphy for his Cruiserweight championship. Kalisto, Tozawa, and Itami all won said matches to set up this Fatal 4-Way.

That’s the card.

You in?