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Two superstars will change their fortunes at the WWE Royal Rumble. On Saturday, one man and one woman will secure world title matches at WrestleMania 42. Every year, the Royal Rumble jump-starts the Road to WrestleMania. Superstars throw each other over the top rope with hopes of winning the Rumble. This year, Cody Rhodes seeks to become only the second superstar to win three Rumbles, a feat achieved only by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. That’s a tall task with a stacked field featuring Roman Reigns, Jacob Fatu and Bron Breakker.Nine former world champions are set for the women’s Rumble, including Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan. Rounding out the card is Drew McIntyre’s first undisputed WWE title defense against Sami Zayn, plus the potential finale of “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles. It’s a high-stakes retirement match pitting Styles’ career against Gunther’s Rumble spot.
WWE burning questions for the Road to WrestleMania 42: Who wins the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber and more
Shakiel Mahjouri
With so many big matches set for the event, let’s take a look at what the CBS Sports pro wrestling experts think will happen when the action goes down in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
2026 WWE Royal Rumble predictionsMen’s Royal Rumble match: While WWE pulled a brilliant move last year by having Jey Uso win the Rumble to the surprise of everyone, it feels as though there is a good chance that this year’s edition gets the “expected winner” treatment. Breakker is very clearly positioned to challenge CM Punk for the world heavyweight championship at WrestleMania. While Oba Femi might be the man who has the standout Rumble performance, Breakker has the backing of The Vision, who has agreed to help Breakker get the win. It’s not the most shocking outcome, but it makes plenty of sense to set up a big match for WrestleMania. Pick: Breakker wins — Brent Brookhouse (also Shakiel Mahjouri)Women’s Royal Rumble match: Where is Belair? She contributed to the best match of WrestleMania 41 weekend, a women’s world title match with Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. During the match, she suffered a finger injury that sidelined her for over eight months. In July, Belair told CBS Sports that she was at “the tail end of this healing process,” but we still haven’t seen her wrestle. She re-entered the women’s world title scene on the road to WrestleMania last year. I cross my fingers that she does the same this year as a surprise entrant. Pick: Belair wins — Mahjouri (also Brookhouse) Undisputed WWE Championship — Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Sami Zayn: Sometimes, you have to just look at a match and think, “Hey, why not?” It’s fairly clear that Zayn will eventually have a run with a world title, and this is an easy opportunity to put the title on him for a month or two before taking it off of him ahead of WrestleMania. It probably makes sense to keep the title on McIntyre, but if we aren’t going to get surprising Rumble winners, why not a surprising title change? Pick: Zayn wins — Brookhouse
McIntyre and Zayn both deserve solid world title reigns, but the defending champ deserves it slightly more. This version of McIntyre has repeatedly fallen short, or had his reign ended the same night it started. McIntyre must win his first title defense, especially amid his feuds with Rhodes and Fatu. I’m not sure McIntyre enters WrestleMania, let alone leaves it, with the undisputed WWE title, but he should hold it past the Rumble. Pick: McIntyre wins — Mahjouri AJ Styles vs. Gunther: Do I want Gunther to win? No. I want Styles, my all-time favorite professional wrestler, to deny a loss that would see him retire. I want him to steal Gunther’s Rumble spot and win the 30-man match, 10 years after he debuted at the same event, before he retires in 2026. I want him to headline WrestleMania and further his phenomenal legacy. The story is right there. Sometimes the obvious decision is the right one, but I’m not confident WWE will see it through. Reports about creative shake-ups inspire some hope, but not enough to pick against the modern-day legend killer. Pick: Gunther wins — Mahjouri Styles isn’t going to lose a retirement match. Sure, they could do a rerun of the referee missing Gunther tapping out only for Gunther to win and then reverse the decision on Raw, but that feels unnecessarily complicated. Rather than jumping through unnecessary hoops, Styles should just get the win and continue along his final year as an active wrestler. Pick: Styles wins — Brookhouse
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