As the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble show approaches live from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on Jan. 28, I constantly get asked, who are the favorites to win the Royal Rumble match? Who do you want to see win? Well, here are my favorites and a wild card to win the Men’s Royal Rumble.
Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes remains an overwhelming betting favorite and a fan favorite to win the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble match. The American Nightmare has been out of in ring action since June as he recovers from surgery on a torn pectoral muscle. Cody’s comeback at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas was amongst the biggest returns in WWE history.
With a win on Jan. 28, and a win in the main event of WrestleMania 39, he will have fulfilled the goal of his dad, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, and his own personal goal of becoming WWE Champion.
The Rock
The Rock has the third-best betting odds to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match. There have been years and years of speculation that he’ll return in 2023 to set up a dream match against Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. Supposedly, WWE has had the storyboard for this potential WrestleMania main event in place for years. The reasons why this match hasn’t happened yet: the Rock’s film making schedule and possibly the finish.
We all assume that the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns would retain his championship in the match with The People’s Champion, but maybe the Rock has a different opinion of who’s standing tall at the end of this matchup.
Sami Zayn
According to the gambling world, Sami Zayn is the second-most likely to win the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble match.
Sami Zayn had an incredible 2022 run with the Bloodline and feature match up with Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38. A Sami Zayn win would be cause for Roman Reigns to be looking over his shoulder on the road to WrestleMania 39 in LA. I have no doubt that if Sami Zayn were to win the championship opportunity at WrestleMania, that the storytelling leading up to the match would be outstanding.
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins was the MVP of WWE in 2022, despite having the most losses in WWE. Seth currently ranks No. 4 in the betting world to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
With all the history between Rollins and Roman Reigns, there is a natural story built in for this potential WrestleMania 39 main event match. Even if Rollins doesn’t go on to main event WrestleMania 39, a Rollins win would allow Cody Rhodes, or someone else, to chase Rollins for that WrestleMania championship matchup.
Jey Uso
Main Event Jey Uso should be considered for a WrestleMania main event match with Roman Reigns, if for no other reason that WWE has been telling a story of Jey Uso becoming the Tribal Chief of WWE. I’m not sure that WWE knows they’ve been telling this story and building towards it, but the clues and the story are there.
Steve Austin
Steve Austin has been training for another match for a few months, and while I tend to believe he’s penciled in for a match with John Cena or another opponent, a dream match for WrestleMania would be Steve Austin taking on Roman Reigns.
WWE would love that match for a poster and the match would deliver record numbers. The 57-year-old Stone Cold Steve Austin had what we thought would be his last match at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, a good match and win over Kevin Owens. Could the Texas Rattlesnake be primed for one more WrestleMania main event?
