2022 WWE Royal Rumble Betting Preview and Best Bets
To many, Saturday, January 29th is the day before the AFC and NFC conference championship games. But it’s also a big day in WWE, as the 2022 Royal Rumble will be the first stop on the road to WrestleMania.
For those who don’t know, the Royal Rumble is an annual event hosted by WWE. There is a men’s Royal Rumble and a women’s Royal Rumble. The match starts with two competitors in the ring, and ultimately 30 wrestlers will participate. The goal is to eliminate competitors by throwing them over the top ropes, ensuring two feet land on the mat. The last man and woman standing are the winners and are guaranteed a championship match at WrestleMania.
Betting on a “scripted†sports entertainment event requires a unique approach from a handicapping perspective. Betting on WWE isn’t about matchups or physical ability. It’s about storylines. And that requires us to do some reading between the lines.
With that being said, here’s my betting preview and picks for both matches:
All odds courtesy of BetOnline
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2022 Women’s Royal Rumble Match
The women’s Royal Rumble match is wide open for a few reasons. The current roster doesn’t have many viable contenders coming in with a ton of momentum. However, sidelined stars such as Bayley and Alexa Bliss could make their long-awaited returns in St. Louis, adding more intrigue to the match. There are also a handful of WWE legends returning, like Lita, the Bella twins, Mickie James, and Michelle McCool. If any of those women were using the rumble as a comeback, then WWE could easily hand them the title shot at WrestleMania in Dallas.
Bianca Belair +300
Belair won the Royal Rumble last year and used the win to catapult her into a highly successful run. She knocked off Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 37 for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Title. She held the belt for four months before shockingly losing the belt to a returning Becky Lynch at SummerSlam. Belair hasn’t been the same since and doesn’t have any momentum entering this year’s event. I don’t think she should be favored.
Alexa Bliss +400
It’s been a weird year for Bliss, who went full-fledged psycho (character-wise) as the companion of The Fiend Bray Wyatt, who’s since been let go by WWE. Bliss hasn’t fought since late September when she lost a title opportunity to Charlotte Flair at Extreme Rules. That loss to Flair might’ve served as the end of her demented character that struggled to get over with the fans.
There’s definitely a chance Bliss returns as her normal self in St. Louis Saturday night. And given her popularity when she’s not demonized, she’s a natural choice for revenge match with Flair.
Bayley +550
Bayley has been out since June after tearing her ACL while training. She recently provided an update saying her knee felt great and hinted that she could be returning sooner than later. Although her update was rather vague, rumors have now spread like wildfire that Bayley could be back for the rumble. If Bayley does return, she’d be a great choice to win it. She’s a tremendous in-ring performer whose “heel†character was a hit among fans. She would add instant credibility to a women’s division desperately lacking some depth in its star power department. And she could instantly pick up a great feud with either Flair or Lynch, depending on whether WWE inserts her on RAW or Smackdown.
Liv Morgan +1600
Morgan has the best shot to win of all the active wrestlers, and she’s coming at a great price. She’s been getting quite the push from the company lately, and the Royal Rumble tends to be where the rising stars in the business are anointed. Morgan’s problem is she’s done nothing but come up short lately. She hasn’t won a televised singles match since November 8th and has lost three title matches against Lynch. Morgan’s gotten close, but WWE hasn’t given her the victory. There’s a huge possibility that Morgan comes up just short again.
Rhea Ripley +800
Ripley entered the WWE main roster with a bang, winning the RAW Women’s Title off Asuka at WrestleMania. However, that may have been Ripley’s peak moment of her WWE career, as she lost the belt two months later to Flair and hasn’t been in the title mix ever since. She’s a mid-card performer right now who feels like a bigger long shot.
Charlotte Flair +1200
Flair is doing the unconventional: entering the Royal Rumble as the WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion. Flair could be performing simply because WWE needed bodies to fill out its 30-women card. But there’s a possibility that WWE decides to unify its titles again, meaning there will only be one men’s and women’s WWE title. And the smooth way for that to happen would be Flair winning, challenging Lynch at WrestleMania for a winner takes all title bout. It might be a long shot, but it’s plausible given the roster trimming WWE has conducted as of late.
Nikki Bella +8000 and Lita +2500
Finally, let’s discuss two legends. Neither woman hasn’t been in the ring since 2018. Yet both could very easily be using the Rumble to spark a return. While it would be awesome to see either of these stars, particularly Lita, make a return run to WrestleMania, both feel like long shots to be anything more than one night attention grabbers.
The pick:
To me, the top three contenders are Bayley, Morgan, and Flair. However, I don’t fully trust Bayley coming back and winning off such a significant injury. I suspect she’ll have a slower build-up to title contention. And for some reason, I feel WWE won’t give Morgan the win she probably deserves.
There’s a reason Flair was included in this field, and it’s to win it all. She doesn’t have any real threats on the Smackdown roster. And I just have a feeling WWE is going to fuse its brands together, given all of the roster cuts it’s made in the past year. I’m going with Flair at +1200, with Morgan as another value bet worth making.
2022 Men’s Royal Rumble
The 2022 Men’s Royal Rumble is just as uncertain and perhaps even more thin. Just about anything can happen in this year’s event after Roman Reigns’ positive COVID-19 test set the men’s division into a frenzy at WWE’s Day 1 pay-per-view event. There are tons of scenarios out there, but only a few men who can realistically win it.
One name to immediately throw out is Drew McIntyre at +1200, as he’s dealing with a neck injury that will most likely hold him out of the event.
Brock Lesnar +350
The odds-on favorite to win the 2022 Royal Rumble hasn’t even been confirmed to be participating in the event. In fact, Lesnar is scheduled to defend the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley that night. So why is Lesnar even listed? Remember what I said about unifying the titles? That could happen on the men’s side too. I think WWE’s plan is a Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns super fight at WrestleMania. But with both of them currently holding titles, the cleanest way for that match to happen is for one of these men to win at the Royal Rumble. It’s unconventional, but it makes sense given where the storyline was headed between these men.
Big E +350
Big E was the biggest victim of what happened at Day 1. With Reigns out due to COVID, Lesnar was inserted into what was supposed to be a Fatal 4 Way with Big E, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, and Bobby Lashley. Lesnar won the belt off Big E in a match I suspected Big E was supposed to win before COVID messed with everything. Is there a scenario where WWE makes it up to Big E by fueling another title run? Definitely.
Roman Reigns +800
Like Lesnar, Reigns is a favorite to win despite not being confirmed to participate. And while Reigns certainly could win the Royal Rumble as another feather in his cap during a dominant year. But Reigns is scheduled to defend his Universal Title against Seth Rollins, and it’s more likely that Reigns retains his belt than Lesnar retains his. That means Reigns probably isn’t worth a bet.
AJ Styles +1200
Styles is a tremendous wrestler who wasted this last year helping build up his former tag team partner, Omos. The fact that he’s got the fourth-best odds to win the Rumble speaks to his viability as a wrestler, as well as the lack of depth on the men’s roster. But Styles hasn’t really been in the title picture for a while, and a sudden victory in the Rumble feels unlikely.
Omos +1400
Maybe I’m just missing something, but Omos should not be priced like this. He can’t really wrestle. He’s just really big. And if not for his tag team title with Styles, he would have no credibility whatsoever. There’s no chance he wins.
The Rock +1200
This is more a pipe dream than anything else, and at this price, I wouldn’t wager on The Rock to return. But to play devil’s advocate, there’s been rumors of a Rock vs. Roman Reigns WrestleMania feud for a couple of years now. And WWE certainly could use a jolt given the growth of its competitor AEW. But I wouldn’t put my money on The Rock returning.
The pick:
Nobody truly knows what WWE is going to do here, and that’s what makes this event so exciting and intriguing. But I’m going to rely on my logic that I used when picking the women’s match. Brock Lesnar is going to lose his title to Bobby Lashley before the Royal Rumble. Then, Lesnar will enter as one of the final participants and win the Royal Rumble, setting up for a match with Reigns at WrestleMania. Big E will then get a chance to win his title back against Lashley at Mania. I’m going with Lesnar at +250 to win it.
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