5 Potential Women’s Royal Rumble Winners (Who Aren’t Ronda Rousey)

The inaugural women’s Royal Rumble match is upon us, featuring pretty much the entire current women’s division, minus Paige who has unfortunately been pulled from the match due to injury. Whether you’re a fan of how Stephanie McMahon forced herself into a historic announcement or not is irrelevant, as this is a huge deal for WWE and I’m excited to see who is going to be chosen as its first ever female winner.

Considering the landscape of the women’s division, it’s quite easy to boil down the choices to only five, which is a shame when you look at the amount of untapped potential that’s lingering around still. Nevertheless, here are those five women (who aren’t Ronda Rousey).

 

1. Asuka

Still the undefeated “Empress of Tomorrow”, Asuka debuted as part of the Raw roster last October to continue an incredible year. Since then, she has been treated like something special, being kept away from the women’s title picture for now in the hopes of making a big money match come WrestleMania season. The intentions speak for themselves really, now that the Rumble match is on the horizon. It would make perfect sense for the woman that has steamrolled through the competition for well over two years to enter the match and dominate.

Asuka has already teased programmes with Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax, so there is the slight chance for her to be eliminated via run-in from Bliss. This would help protect her title reign coming up to WrestleMania, as well as being confirmation of the feud to come.

If we’re looking for a name to go down in the history books as a ‘first ever winner’, then I couldn’t think of anyone more worthy of that than Asuka. The sheer talent that the woman has to put on show is phenomenal, so there should be no hesitation on WWE’s part to give her this coveted accomplishment.

 

2. Becky Lynch

Lynch has partially fallen into the shadows since losing her SmackDown Women’s Championship to Alexa Bliss at TLC 2016. Nonetheless, she has remained a prominent part of the roster, often being featured as the plucky babyface against whoever happens to be the despised heel at the time. She continues to sell merchandise and garner huge reactions at live events. It’s doubtful that WWE have given up on Becky in the same manner they have with Bayley, so perhaps it’s about time they start giving her her dues.

The “Irish Lass Kicker” has already made history by becoming the first ever SmackDown Live Women’s Champion, although that somewhat pales in comparison to Charlotte’s amount of achievements as a trail-blazer for the division. Becky desperately needs something to her name that can put her up there as one of the pioneers of the Women’s Revolution. Bringing her back into the title picture and returning her to relevance with a huge victory at the women’s Rumble is just the ticket.

Lynch has proven that she is capable in the ring and one of the top performers of both Raw and SmackDown’s locker rooms, so it wouldn’t be totally surprising if she did outlast the other 29 competitors.

3. Nikki Cross

NXT is obviously going to have a presence in this year’s Royal Rumble. Counting the viable options for the women’s Rumble match, the main roster only makes up about 20 of those slots, meaning that in order to make up the full bill, they’d need another 10 female performers. That’s not exactly a stretch for WWE, considering their reach. Not only do we have NXT to raid, but there’s also a variety of alumni that could probably put in a few minutes, and also the selection of indie hopefuls leftover from the Mae Young Classic. But when trying to consider who could be a potential winner, only one woman comes to mind, Sanity’s Nikki Cross.

Sanity are on the verge of their big call-up, something which will probably happen after their TakeOver rematch against The Undisputed Era, so likely around WrestleMania time. Having Cross enter the Rumble and act as a precursor to the rest of the faction’s debut could be a huge get for Sanity. It would introduce non-NXT audiences to how craaaazy these guys are, setting the tone for when they eventually make an impact as part of the tag team division.

Nikki has proven that she’s capable of putting on show stealers, some even being considered as Match of the Year potential. To me, that’s more than enough to say that you deserve a call-up. I see Nikki Cross being durable in a Royal Rumble match and a believable victor, depending on who she comes face-to-face with at the end.

 

4. Nia Jax

“WHO COULD POSSIBLY ELIMINATE A GIANT, MAGGLE?”

So my hopes in Nia winning aren’t exactly high, despite her being the heavyweight of the division. I think Jax’s chances at looking strong in the Rumble match are there, meaning she’ll have the monster heel run of dominance for the majority of the first act. Nevertheless, when you look at the landscape of the current roster, it’s hard to really imagine anyone else fitting into the role of a more believable winner. Nia Jax could indeed outlast the rest of the roster, depending on who she eliminates in the process. Should she manage to hoist Asuka, Becky Lynch and co. over the top rope, then her momentum could lead to a win.

Nia is currently involved in an awkward love angle with Enzo Amore, so perhaps the intentions of the writers are to slowly transition her into the 205 Live roster. In which case, this wouldn’t be the worst way of making history for both the women’s and cruiserweight divisions in one fell swoop. Hell, if Nia did win the Rumble, she could use her contracted title shot to go for Enzo’s Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania, that would be a weird yet kind of sweet pay-off to their story.

Jax is one of those strange entities that is always on the verge of looking like a believable monster heel. They build her to the point of nailing the character, but then have it pulled from underneath her by someone like Bayley or Asuka. That’s all fine and dandy for them, but it never leaves Nia looking any stronger. This rinse and repeat structure is starting to wear down my hopes for her, and unless she has a really impressive run in this Rumble and goes on to win the whole thing, it’s gonna be hard work for WWE to pull this all back for her.

 

5. Nikki Bella

For me, this is the female equivalent of Roman Reigns entering at number 30, not that I’d hate it, but the chances of Nikki Bella returning and finding victory are exceptionally high. The Bella Twins are scheduled to return as part of Raw’s 25th Anniversary (still trying to work out what makes “Brie Mode” worthy of that honour but sure), so I expect we’ll see at least one of them announce their participation as part of the first ever women’s Rumble. Because, as we all know, they started the Women’s Revolution and all that jazz.

The last time we saw Nikki Bella was at WrestleMania 33, as part of the inevitable Cena proposal spot. Since then, Bella has gone dark on WWE, not having any involvement in any title scene or big time feud. What better time for the longest-reigning Divas Champion to make a comeback and enter herself into the main event picture? WWE are obviously big on the Bella’s stock, so Nikki is probably considered one of their top female attractions for WrestleMania. A marquee match between her and Charlotte is something they wouldn’t turn their nose up to.

I don’t want to sound too pessimistic about this potential win, I would probably get a kick out of seeing Nikki return, seeing as it’s been quite a while. And the last we saw of her outside of the Miz/Maryse feud, she was improving as an all-round performer. Despite that, I’m not sold on Nikki or Brie as leaders of the women’s division, neither should be given the honour over the likes of who I’ve mentioned so far. Should they be given a cameo in the match? Sure, why not? But my worries of them not just stopping there are growing stronger.

Maybe it will just be the debuting Ronda Rousey all along. What makes Rumble season so fun is having all of this diversity of choice. So, who makes your winner’s pick for the first ever women’s Royal Rumble? Could it even be someone I’ve not included on this list? Leave them in that old comments section down there.