This Sunday sees the first pay-per-view event of the WWE calendar take place.
The iconic Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling event that has been taking place every January since 1988.
This year’s 34th event in 2021, however, at the Tropicana Field in Florida will be unlike any other, as it will take place behind closed doors due to the ongoing global pandemic.
There are still some intriguing matches to look forward to, though. This includes the fourth Women’s Royal Rumble.
Indeed, this year’s match looks set to feature just one of the previous three winners in Charlotte Flair, so who are the favourites to come out on top this time around?
Favourites
According to SkyBet, Bianca Belair is the pre-event favourite to emerge victorious. Belair secured the biggest victory of her career on this week’s edition of SmackDown by beating the longest-reigning Women’s Champion Bayley.
In addition, during last year’s Royal Rumble, Belair came out as the number two entry and eliminated eight participants before losing out to eventual winner Charlotte Flair.
The second favourite is Alexa Bliss. Bliss has undergone a radical character transformation in recent months and has been possessed by ‘The Fiend’ aka Bray Wyatt. She has subsequently secured a recent non-title victory over Raw Women’s Champion Asuka and looks formidable.
Australian superstar Rhea Ripley is 4/1 to win the match. Ripley is a former NXT Champion and has been in and around the main roster for the past year. She also impressed against Flair at last year’s WrestleMania despite coming up short, and a chance for the Aussie to main event ‘The Grandest Stage Of Them All’ again is certainly a tantalising prospect for many wrestling fans.
A former winner in Flair is next on the list of favourites. Currently one half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions, Flair has done it all in the business.
Bayley comes in just after Flair and is only missing a Royal Rumble victory on her impressive resume.
Fan favourite Becky Lynch is next up. ‘The Man’ is 10/1 to win her second Royal Rumble, although doubts remain as to whether or not she will enter, as it is only two months since she gave birth.
Another potential returning superstar Ronda Rousey has also been listed, but the UFC Hall of Famer has not appeared in a WWE ring since losing in the main event of WrestleMania 35.
‘The Queen of Spades’ Shayna Baszler is 14/1 to win her first Royal Rumble. Baszler currently holds the record for total number of days spent as NXT Women’s Champion and since arriving on RAW has formed a successful tag team with Nia Jax.
Ex-member of the Absolution group Sonya Deville is also 14/1 to emerge victorious. The final name on the list, meanwhile, is Lana. The Russian Superstar, who successfully managed her husband Rusev to three US titles, is 20/1 to win the match and get the chance to be in one of the headline events at WrestleMania.
Who is your pick to win the Women’s Royal Rumble? Feel free to give us your predictions…