WWE Greatest Royal Rumble 2018 Match Card and Predictions

On Friday, WWE touches down in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a truly landmark event, which will play host the the first and largest ever 50 man Royal Rumble. The event is a huge part of a 10-year partnership between WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority, and whilst it has drawn a large amount of criticism already with none of WWE’s female rosters allowed to compete and the attendees to be made up of primarily families and men (women may only spectate if accompanied), you cannot deny that WWE are going all-out to impress.

The card is ridiculously stacked to a degree that makes fans worldwide both angry and elated that we haven’t had a PPV this massive before. By and large, GRR is WWE on an ‘impress your partners parents before they throw you out the house’ mode x 100.

There are already a whole host of big names confirmed for the Greatest Royal Rumble match, including Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan, but there’s no clear idea of who will win, from any kind of storyline perspective. As of this writing, it hasn’t been revealed what, if anything, the Greatest Royal Rumble victor will receive, other than prestige, which in today’s economy is worth about 3 Euros.

With the notable exception of the Women, all Championships across Raw and Smackdown are on the line, effectively making this PPV a sequel to Wrestlemania 34.

I, Greatest Darryl Edge, will be breaking down the match card for the honour of the Kingdom of Vultures and seeing who will be victorious at this absurd show.

 

Casket Match

The Undertaker vs Rusev

The build to this match has been a really weird affair, in that first Taker was set to face Rusev. And then it was Jericho. And then it was Rusev again.

All this back-and-forth booking was shrouded in uncertainty as to whether Rusev would be leaving WWE, and to be honest, no-one, even Chris Jericho, has any clue what the deal is here.

However, when you get down to the facts, you just don’t bring out the big guns in the form of The Undertaker and have him lose, even if it is on Rusev Day. I don’t think this match will end as quickly as Cena’s effort of WM34, but Rusev will most definitely be having a nap in a coffin on Friday.

Winner: Undertaker

 

John Cena vs Triple H

Let’s face it – in and out of the ring, John Cena has not had a good year. After suffering his biggest and most humiliating loss a Wrestlemania 34 to The Deadman, and the news of his beak-up with Nikki Bella, Cena needs this win.

Triple H was part of arguably the best match at Mania this year, teaming with wife Stephanie McMahon in a losing effort against Kurt Angle and the debuting Ronda Rousey.

HHH doesn’t need the win and, if any crowd is going to get behind Cena 100%, it will be the crowd in Saudi. He hasn’t been seen since Mania, so this could be the start of Cena’s comeback arc.

Winner: John Cena

 

Smackdown Tag Team Championship

The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs The Usos

The Bludgeon Brothers, Erik and Rowan, won the tag titles at Mania 34, in a dominating, but ultimately disappointing display, adding a fresh team to the SD tag scene.

The Usos and New Day helped carry the Smackdown tag division to new heights, putting on some of the blue brands best matches in years and, as much as I would be fine seeing The Usos hold the belts again, it just isn’t going to happen yet.

Whilst I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Angry Mario Bros win by DQ here, I expect we’ll see a rematch at Backlash.

Winners: The Bludgeon Brothers

 

Raw Tag Team Championship

The Bar vs WOKEN Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt

This match will determine the new Raw Tag Team Champions, after the belts were relinquished by Braun Strowman and Nicholas (a boy) due to Nic’s school commitments.

A tournament to decide the new tag champs will come to a head at GRR, with former champs, The Bar, taking on the new team of WOKEN Matt Hardy and newly reincarnated Bray Wyatt, a team we may not all have known that we needed but can now not live without.

To be honest, the Superstar Shake-Up has kind of given this one away, as The Bar were announced to be joining Smackdown this week, so on that basis I’m giving the Deleters of Worlds the win here.

Winners: WOKEN Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt

 

Cruiserweight Championship

Cedric Alexander (c) vs Kalisto

Cedric Alexander, whose road to the Cruiserweight Championship has been longer than a darn long thing, will make his first title defence against resident lucha boi, Kalisto.

The former Cruiserweight Champion won a Gauntlet match to earn himself a shot at Greatest Royal Rumble, after it was determined that the original contender, Buddy Murphy, had not made the required 205 weight. More than likely they’ll be holding off on Alexander/Murphy for a while yet.

I don’t see Cedric losing the title at GRR. His journey to the top of 205 Live has been too great, and there are still too many tantalizing matches for Alexander to have to help solidify the brands quick ascent to relevance in a post-Enzo world.

Winner: Cedric Alexander

 

United States Championship

Jeff Hardy (c) vs Jinder Mahal

This is another match that’s been a bit spoiled as a result of last week’s Shake-Up. Jinder Mahal was traded to Raw and was dropped the title to the returning Hardy, who then debuted on Smackdown the following night, beginning his singles run by keeping him apart from Brother Matt’s Woken antics.

Smackdown is already planting seeds for a Hardy/Orton feud, who is yet to receive his US Title rematch, and, as bored as you may be of ‘The Viper’, it’s an infinitely more appealing match-up than anything Jinder related.

Winner: Jeff Hardy

 

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match

Seth Rollins (c) vs Finn Balor vs The Miz vs Samoa Joe

This could very well be the match that steals the show. Adding a ruddy ladder into the mix only excites me more.

Samoa Joe and The Miz have both been traded to Smackdown. Joe is setting up for a post-GRR match at Backlash with Roman Reigns and The Miz gets his rematch at the same show, so there’s not much sense in either of them winning here.

Finn Balor also doesn’t necessarily need the win, but I have to assume WWE is setting the course for a Rollins/Balor feud a little later down the line. This all goes without saying that Rollins has been utterly on fire of late and after only just winning the title at Wrestlemania, I don’t see him losing here.

Winner: Seth Rollins

 

WWE Championship Match

AJ Styles (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura

This is part 3 of the Styles/Nakamura dream matches, and we are going into this one with an entirely new dynamic between the two.

Their hotly anticipated match at Wrestlemania 34 was, well, disappointing (it was never going to be as good as their Wrestle Kingdom encounter, let’s be honest) but this time around, Nakamura is in full low-blowing heel mode and conveniently unable to speak English when questioned about his motives.

While I think we’ll get a better contest than their match at Mania, Styles will once again get the better of Nakamura here, hopefully setting up a final blow-off match at Backlash.

Winner: AJ Styles

 

Universal Championship Cage Match

Brock Lesnar (c) vs Roman Reigns

While their match at WrestleMania 31 turned out to be something of a classic, the rematch at WM 34 was a glorified shit show that the Mania crowd quickly turned on, after a laughable amount of spears, German Suplexes, Superman Punches and F-5s.

Allegedly, Reigns was supposed to topple ‘The Beast’ at Mania, but Vince McMahon changed his mind. If rumour is to be believed, this rematch was set due to WWE thinking Reigns will be given a much more positive reception in Saudi.

I don’t know if anyone massively cares who wins here, but I think it’s time to get the Championship off Lesnar. Raw desperately needs a full-time Champ and, if given even close to some of the same promos he had in the build to Mania, Reigns could be a kickass champion.

Winner: Roman Reigns

 

Greatest Royal Rumble

Putting 50 men into this match makes this a really damn difficult match to predict. So far, names like Big Show, The New Days, Elias, Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin have been announced, with still plenty of room left for surprises on the night.

As mentioned earlier, the winner of Greatest Royal Rumble gets, well, nothing, but it’ll look nice on their CV. Heck, if previous Rumbles are anything to go by, anyone can enter, so I will again be putting my name forward for some of that sweet, sweet Greatest glory.

With that being said, this PPV is ultimately a massive ‘send the fans home happy’ affair, so that leads me to believes there are only two men who can possibly win:

Braun Strowman or Daniel Bryan.

They are two guys who have become entirely embraced and beloved by the WWE Universe, getting monstrous receptions wherever they go (excuse the pun) and, to be honest, I wouldn’t be shocked if Bryan and Strowman are the final two in the match.

It’s a tough choice but, purely based on my year long devotion to the man who got me back into wrestling, I have to stick with my boy, Daniel Bryan. To win the first-ever 50-man Rumble after a career-threatening injury will truly be the icing on a remarkable comeback story.

Winner: Daniel Bryan