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Royal Rumble 2012 PPV? I'm as game as I could be! The Royal Rumble is my favorite pay-per-view of the year and I usually go really in-depth with my predictions for it, as I have a ton of fun breaking down all the details. For those interested, you can check out my Royal Rumble stats and records page to see how much time I've wasted figuring these things out for your benefit (ok, for mine as well).

Royal Rumble 2012 PPV Results here



WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler [special guest ref John Laurinaitis]
Second year in a row, Ziggler gets a world title shot. Though I was hoping that Punk vs Ziggler would be a potential WrestleMania match, I'm glad they're giving him this. The match should be awesome (but definitely not match of the night, we all know which one that will be) and I expect to see Ziggler have a strong showing but ultimately come out the loser here. If for some reason he wins the title, I'll be very shocked and very intrigued. My guess is CM Punk does something to Laurinaitis and some other ref comes in to count the winning pinfall for Punk.

PREDICTION: CM Punk retains the title.


World Heavyweight Championship [Steel Cage Triple Threat Match]: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show
So does Daniel Bryan retain the title through escaping the cage from the top or by exiting the door? It's not a matter of if he retains, it's how in my opinion. I fully expect Bryan to leave here with the title in his hands but to drop it at the Elimination Chamber to Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, or Sheamus - unless they're planning on having him in a multi-man match at WrestleMania, then he might go in as the champ. I don't see him being in a singles match for the title at WrestleMania, though. With Mark Henry's injury, I can't expect Mark to do much in this match (if he competes at all), so this could be very tough to sit through. I also wouldn't be too shocked to see Big Show's inevitable heel turn (if the Shaq match is a go) still not happen and be stalled until Elimination Chamber time.

PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan wins by escaping the cage.


John Cena vs. Kane
It doesn't hurt Cena any to lose here and it doesn't help Kane any to lose, so I'm hoping they understand that and let Kane win this match. Needless to say, with John Cena, you can never bet against him safely, so if Cena wins, I wouldn't be shocked, just disappointed. As Braeden brought up on Smack Talk, and I agree with, there's a good chance that John Cena loses this match by disqualification after he goes apeshit on Kane, "embracing the hate" and giving us that stupid angry face he did on Monday Night Raw again. I'm hoping Kane wins this match, Cena eliminates him from the Royal Rumble, Cena pins him at Elimination Chamber (and then naturally gets pinned by someone else, I don't want him as the champ going into WrestleMania), and their feud ends with Cena-2, Kane-1. That's logical...so it means they probably won't do it and Cena will probably just win here after being beaten down.

PREDICTION: Kane wins, possibly by disqualification.


THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Since WWE is going back to the 30-man format, it's a little easier to figure out who might be involved in this year's Royal Rumble. They have over 30 people to choose from, and legends can always make appearances, but usually there's only one of those if any. Here's a breakdown of what I'm expecting to happen during the Royal Rumble...

ENTRANCES AND PARTICIPANTS
Seeing as how Daniel Bryan, Big Show, Mark Henry, CM Punk, and Dolph Ziggler have title matches, it's safe to say they won't be in this. Also, I'm not expecting some of the injured superstars to return, namely Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio, or Alberto Del Rio. Undertaker and Triple H will most likely sit out. Evan Bourne is suspended, so count him out. Since this is a 30-man format and not the 40-man from last year, I don't expect anybody that wrestles predominantly on NXT to be in this either, so I'd rule out Bateman, Curtis, O'Neil, Percy Watson, and Darren Young. I'm expecting Goldust to be in it, but not Regal or Booker as far as the older crew. The entrances themselves, one by one, my prediction was the following:

1. The Miz
2. Alex Riley
3. Justin Gabriel
4. Hunico
5. Jinder Mahal
6. R-Truth
7. David Otunga
8. Tyson Kidd
9. Heath Slater
10. Sheamus
11. Ted DiBiase
12. Santino Marella
13. Cody Rhodes
14. William Regal
15. Mason Ryan
16. Epico
17. Goldust
18. Primo
19. Brodus Clay
20. Yoshi Tatsu / Trent Barreta
21. Drew McIntyre
22. Kane
23. Ezekiel Jackson
24. John Cena
25. Wade Barrett
26. Kofi Kingston
27. Chris Jericho
28. Jack Swagger
29. Randy Orton
30. Mick Foley

But don't put a ton of faith in those, they could all be dead wrong other than the Miz.

WINNERS
Only three people have a shot at winning this in my opinion...
1. Chris Jericho - The only question is whether they want him to win and give a big speech on Raw, setting up the Punk feud, or if they want to keep the Ziggler thing going and have Jericho and Punk build up their feud on their own after Elimination Chamber. Odds of winning, 50%.
2. Wade Barrett - If they do Orton against Barrett, the more likely option between the two is that Barrett will win the Royal Rumble, not Orton. More importantly, this depends on what they want to do with Jericho. Odd of winning, 40%.
3. Randy Orton - Third most likely option, home town, big name, but he's already won it before. Odds of winning, 10%

OTHER DETAILS

• Iron Man = Sheamus 
• Most Eliminations = Sheamus or Orton at 6 or 7
• Quickest Elimination = Drew McIntyre
• Comic Relief Segment = Brodus Clay or Santino
• Action Stops = Brodus Clay
• Post-Elimination Elimination = Barrett and Orton if Jericho wins, if not, then Kane and Cena or Miz and Truth, tough to call.
• Attacked Before Entrance = I don't think it will happen this year.
• Shock Entrance = Goldust, rare chance of Christian.
• Nostalgia Competitor = Mick Foley and Goldust.
• Tag Team Succession = Primo and Epico, if anybody
• Spawned Feud = I don't think we'll see that happen this year, unfortunately.
• Big Man Team-Up = Kane
• House Cleaner = Randy Orton
• Shockingly Quick = I'll update this once I figure out my entrance predictions.
• Final Four = Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, and John Cena

PREDICTION: Chris Jericho wins the Royal Rumble.

They'll definitely have a divas match, and I'd naturally assume it would consist of Beth Phoenix facing one of the trio of Kelly, Eve, or Alicia. R-Truth versus the Miz will probably be added as well.