5 fresh ideas for the Royal Rumble

#3 An NXT winner

Shayna Baszler defeated Bayley and Becky Lynch at Survivor Series 2019

We’ve seen NXT wrestlers enter both the men’s and women’s Rumbles as surprises entrants in recent years, but none of those performers has ever won the match. If someone from NXT were to make history and win, this year would be a better year than any before. In this case, if a Royal Rumble winner does come from the NXT roster, it woud most likely be Shayna Baszler.

‘The Queen of Spades’ has unfinished business with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch. ‘The Man’ leg dropped ‘The Queen of Spades’ through a table after Baszler was victorious in the Champions Triple Threat main event at Survivor Series, which saw Baszler tap out SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley, while Becky was not involved in the decision.

Baszler lost her NXT Women's Championship to Rhea Ripley last month and didn’t get an immediate rematch. Ripley has already moved on to a feud with Bianca Belair. Factoring in what happened at Survivor Series, this strongly hints at Baszler entering and possibly winning the Women's Royal Rumble to face Lynch at WrestleMania in April.

On the men’s side, Keith Lee could be a dark horse, and is CM Punk’s pick to win. The big man was very impressive in the 5-on-5-on-5 elimination match at Survivor Series where he was the final man eliminated, bested only by Roman Reigns. The deceptively agile Lee would be the ideal NXT candidate to eliminate Brock Lesnar to set up a truly gargantuan showdown at WrestleMania.