Staple, Call-Up or Return?

Women’s Royal Rumble
Winner “Main Events” WrestleMania 36

There are 30 spots in a Royal Rumble match and yet, mere hours away from the PPV we only have a handful of announced entrants - both a good thing and a bad thing.

It’s good because, it’s well, very exciting! We hardly know who is going to show up and since there are plenty of slots open there are plenty of opportunities for surprises. If we’re lucky we’ll see superstars from the past (I’ll always pray for an AJ Lee spot!), NXT entrants (Come on Mercedes!), and long awaited returns (Ruby Riott anyone?)!

It’s not so good because it also means that WWE has done basically nothing to prepare for or promote the Women’s Rumble. Charlotte was the first to announce back in December and it seemed like they were kicking off the inevitable deluge of Rumble announcements.

But instead we got a slow march to the PPV and a few last minute declarations. In addition to Charlotte, the announced competitors are:

• Natalya
• Alexa Bliss
• Nikki Cross
• Sarah Logan
• Carmella
• Dana Brooke

Of course, it wouldn’t be the Royal Rumble without a few wild winner predictions! The prevailing speculations are (1) Shayna Baszler gets the call up by winning the Rumble or (2) Ronda Rousey makes her return, wins the Rumble and targets Becky Lynch. I don’t know about you, but if we’re finally heading down the four horsewoman path I much prefer Shayna to Ronda.

Ronda had her moment in the spotlight. We’ve seen what she can do and while impressive in many ways, it was a bit of a one trick gimmick. Unless they are prepared to treat her like an actual member of the division and not some unstoppable Lady Brock then I don’t want her anywhere near the title scene.

Shayna on the other hand proved herself many times over in NXT. She was the only woman to win the NXT title two times! If she joins the main roster women’s division she brings that coveted “MMA badassery” while also bringing this little thing called talent. Can you imagine a Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler WrestleMania 36 match? Because I can and it’s amazing.

Of course there is always the possibility that WWE will play it safe and chose either Charlotte or Sasha to win, and while not terribly exciting in the moment, that could lead to some interesting Mania matches. Charlotte and Becky have insane in-ring chemistry and Bayley and Sasha have yet to reignite their famous NXT feud on the main roster. Both main event worthy matches.

30 competitors. One winner. Who do you think will win?

Tune in tonight for the Royal Rumble, starting at 7 PM ET on the WWE Network to see which super star is heading to the main event of WrestleMania! And keep it here to CagesideSeats.com for all of your Royal Rumble coverage.