Just like the men’s Royal Rumble match, the past years of the women’s version includes surprise entrants into the match. In past years, this came in the form of Molly Holly, Lita, and even Impact Wrestling Knockout’s Champion (at the time) Mickie James. Here are three women that could show up this year.
Gail Kim
Whenever I do a list like this, I like to go for two sure picks and one long shot. In this case, Gail Kim is that long shot. She is known to WWE fans as the woman who eliminated herself from a match.
She might not be on the greatest terms with the company but as they say, time heals all wounds, and in this case, it could be a pathway for Gail to once again work with the company in either a backstage agent role for the women or even a training role in NXT.
Her first go round, she didn’t get a fair shake at all times but I think that with Triple H in charge of creative (for now) that it could all be water under the bridge and Gail Kim could get a chance to work with the new, more able women in WWE.
Beth Phoenix
I think that this one is a no brainer. Whenever Beth Phoenix’s music plays at the peak of Rhea Ripley’s dominace during the match, the crowd will become unglued.
Although fans love Rhea, they also remember what she did to their beloved Beth Phoenix and her husband, Edge. There has to be some sort of repercussions for Rhea at some point.
Even if they don’t use Beth to cost Rhea the match, which they shouldn’t, they could use this as a chance to plant even more seeds between them. Rhea will most likely be Raw Women’s Champion after WrestleMania this year and I don’t think that her reign will be very long for the first time.
This could set up something where Beth winds up costing Rhea her championship sometime before SummerSlam, have the match at SummerSlam, then Rhea wins the title back sometime later on in the year.
It would also be a great way of getting the title onto a babyface that has no business beating Ripley.
Mandy Rose
Sometime before the end of the year, Mandy Rose will be back in WWE. I think that WWE knows that they are going to try to get her back at some time this year. Why wait when you can have her make a big splash at the Royal Rumble?
From what I have seen online, people tend to be 50/50 on whether she should have been released for the reason that she did or not. I tend to think that the company did what was best for the image of the company (sounds funny saying that out loud).
Even though they had valid reasons to release her, we all know that WWE folds under the pressure of public opinion all the time and I think that this will be one of those cases and we will see Mandy along with Toxic Attraction at the Royal Rumble.
Where does she come in and what does she do? Well, for when she comes in, I think that if you want her to come in early, you are trying to highlight how much better she has gotten in the ring since she went back to NXT.
I think that she could do it and it will set her up to be seen as something like a ring general for her brand. If they want her to come in later, I think that she should be one of the last women left in the ring.
She could be the last woman from Smackdown eliminated and that could set her up for a program later down the road against Charlotte Flair.
