Final Picks for Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes and WWE Royal Rumble 2023 Match Card

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The 2023 Royal Rumble will be monumental, as it not only kicks off The Road to WrestleMania, but it also sets the tone for the rest of the year as a whole.

On top of that, it will be an indicator to fans of just what Triple H's creative direction will be going forward, with or without Vince McMahon's influence.

Are we in store for something predictable? Surprising? Underwhelming? Groundbreaking?

Let's break down the card as advertised and try to predict who will walk away victorious in all the matches.

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WWE hasn't specifically explained what this Mountain Dew Pitch Black match is.

Is that just to keep it mysteriously intriguing, or to prevent anyone from knowing it will be just a No Disqualification match with some lighting effects?

In all likelihood, the latter is the case, which opens up plenty of opportunities for interference when the lights go out—particularly from Uncle Howdy, who is the key to this match.

Bray Wyatt could well beat LA Knight and then get attacked, but it makes for a more interesting outcome if Uncle Howdy does something to Wyatt during the match, instead.

That way, Knight can get a cheap victory (which he'll tout as if he did it all by himself), allowing him to avoid being written off as a complete sacrificial lamb, while the issues between Wyatt and Howdy will continue to build.

If this goes before the Raw Women's Championship match, this makes even more sense, so Wyatt can get some payback later in the night.

Prediction: Knight wins

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Alexa Bliss has been reverting back to the twisted character she used to be alongside The Fiend, but Wyatt is no longer that same persona. He's a babyface who has not once indicated directly that he would be on her side.

Instead, Howdy's been the manipulative one, and since he's clearly the heel, it would make more sense for him to be aligned with Bliss than Wyatt.

Bianca Belair stands a far better chance to walk into WrestleMania with the Raw women's title than Bliss, which would dictate her retaining it here—and she just so happens to have six different ways she could do that.

Assuming Wyatt loses earlier in the night to Knight following interference by Howdy, it's reasonable to assume Howdy pops up here but is confronted by Wyatt. That distraction can allow Belair to capitalize, hit the KOD on Bliss, and pin her to retain her title.

But there could also be a count-out or disqualification finish, or a draw, wherein the title won't change hands even if Bliss technically wins the match.

That could happen if WWE wants to drag this out a little longer with another Belair vs. Bliss match at Elimination Chamber or on Monday Night Raw, or The EST of WWE will simply win outright to move on to someone else.

In any fashion, Bliss is not walking away with the title in her possession.

Prediction: Belair retains her championship.

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After all this time, WWE is not going to take the title off Roman Reigns prior to WrestleMania.

That might have happened if there was anything at all indicating a possible split of the two belts, like how The Usos defended only the Raw Tag Team Championship this week, but nothing of that sort has applied to The Tribal Chief.

That means, at best, Kevin Owens is winning this match through a count-out or disqualification, but Reigns will retain his title. But even that is hard to believe in.

This revolves around Sami Zayn. It will be his final test to prove his loyalty to The Bloodline.

It isn't 100 percent certain something will go down that will cause a rift leading to Zayn being booted out of The Head of the Table's good graces, but all signs point in that direction.

What's most intriguing is how that could happen in a way that Reigns still wins, which is anyone's guess. There's no telling what cards WWE has its up its sleeves.

At the end of the day, Reigns is walking into WrestleMania as champion, not Owens, and the chances a temporary title change happens just to swerve audiences—where Reigns loses it and wins it back a few days or weeks later—are slim to none.

Prediction: Reigns retains.

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Anything can happen in WWE, including champions losing their titles just prior to WrestleMania. That's been a twist a few times in the past, but it doesn't seem as though it will happen this year with Belair or Charlotte Flair.

Therefore, the winner of the 30-Woman Royal Rumble match has to be someone who can challenge either of them and realistically make for a worthy challenger and proper marquee name.

Plenty of fan favorites like Liv Morgan can't fully be counted out, but the Superstars with the strongest chances to win are Raquel Rodriguez, a returning Naomi, Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley.

What's holding Rodriguez back is that she's a babyface, as are her challengers. If Flair were still a heel, she'd make for a great option to dethrone The Queen. Right now doesn't seem like her time. But she may get a featured spotlight with the most eliminations, if not even the runner-up finish.

Naomi would create considerable buzz—especially if she turned heel to join The Bloodline—but since her return hasn't been hinted at in the slightest, that's too risky of a bet. She likely won't even be in the match. But if she is, the moment she comes out, she'll rocket to the top of the favorites list.

Lynch is still the biggest star in the women's division. Even though she's already fought Belair and Flair countless times, WWE ran Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock on repeat. Who's to say that doesn't happen with The Man?

But all eyes should be on The Nightmare of The Judgment Day as the winner.

Ripley is arguably the strongest woman on the roster and good friends with Rodriguez (to set up eliminating her last to win), a former champion in her own right (for marquee value), can cross this off her bucket list of accomplishments she's yet to achieve, and would make for a valid challenger to either champion.

Ripley was supposed to fight Belair months ago, but an injury put that on hold. She also has unfinished business with Flair, and beating her now would be revenge for losing at WrestleMania 36.

Prediction: Ripley wins

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Since Reigns is holding both titles, he's the only champion the 30-Man Royal Rumble winner can choose. There is no backup option that can put in doubt who is fighting who at WrestleMania.

That means any underdog types who could challenge for the lesser title match (a la Shinsuke Nakamura winning the Royal Rumble to fight AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34 while the true main event is Reigns against Brock Lesnar) are out the window.

There are no believable scenarios this year other than Reigns fighting Sami Zayn, The Rock or Cody Rhodes.

At the moment, the only one of them confirmed to even be a participant is Rhodes, who is not only returning after months on the shelf, but has video packages dedicated to hyping him up for his quest to become champion.

Yes, The Rock could be a surprise. But history is not on the side of Dwayne Johnson following through with this match against Reigns that has been teased effectively since 2015. You're better off believing it when you see it.

Yes, Zayn makes the most sense as far as the storyline with The Bloodline goes, and he would easily be the fan favorite to dethrone The Tribal Chief. But Elimination Chamber is in Montreal, wherein he could get a title opportunity there. He may also team with Owens against The Usos for the tag titles at WrestleMania, instead.

As predictable as it may be, Rhodes coming back similar to Triple H in 2002 for a triumphant victory is hard to pass up.

Prediction: Rhodes wins

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, Spotify and everywhere you find podcasts. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.