WWE Royal Rumble 2018: Predicting the men's final four

Happy New Year folks! The Road to Wrestlemania has officially begun and the first and most important step towards the grand extravaganza is none other than the Royal Rumble.

On 28th of January, for the first time, the event will feature not one but two monumental Royal Rumble matches. As the men face off to decide the Main Event and title contender of Wrestlemania 34, the women clash in the first ever historic Women's Royal Rumble encounter.

It's always exciting to see who will return to the Royal Rumble, make a shock debut or even a clash between greats we've never seen throwdown.

But the most amazing prospect of the Royal Rumble is when it all goes down to the wire as we get to the Final Four. Clashes between the last remaining superstars have added intense intrigue to what might become of the Wrestlemania that year and whom WWE sees as future and present prospects of the business.

It's an anticipated moment to see who will make the final four, with the Royal Rumble just about shaping up; let's see who it might be this year staring down one another and the Wrestlemania sign at the Royal Rumble Main Event...

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#4 John Cena

The Most Anticipated Match in WWE History that Has Never Been

John Cena will enter the Royal Rumble with his typical verve seeking to headline the event and break the official record for most World Titles held. His path, however, will have a devastating roadblock in the form of a certain Phenom.

As Undertaker will make a shock return to seek revenge on Roman Reigns, he will be faced down by the other horde of competitors in the Rumble. In the ensuing chaos it will be Cena who denies Taker his revenge and in the process earn the ire of the Deadman.

Later in the Rumble, Taker will once again rise and not only smack Roman down (saving a full-blown confrontation for later) but will stare down Cena with threatening menace and a look to the Wrestlemania sign.

This will assist in a huge elimination when the wily team of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens take out John Cena.

Eliminated by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

#3 Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens

This reunion will be short lived...Fight Forever!

So this is a bit of a cheat, piling the two together. But it's very similar to the situation in 2009 when the final four of the Royal Rumble staredown counted Randy Orton's Legacy against Undertaker, Big Show and Triple H.

Earlier in the night, Owens and Zayn will have come short in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship against AJ Styles. The contest will spring up the first hints of tension between the renewed best friends.

In particular, the loss will hurt because of a mistake made by Owens. The same will come into effect here when while fighting off the other two competitors, Owens will end up eliminating Zayn and going down with him just after.

I'm unsure of what involvement Zayn and Owens might have in the continuing Smackdown power struggle, but the two need to quickly divert from that towards a Wrestlemania clash against one another. The world needs a one #-on-one Zayn and Owens match at the Show of Shows.

Most importantly, it will bring their arcs full circle when a frustrated Zayn will finally be the one to turn on his best friend resulting in a heel-face alignment switch of epic proportions.

Eliminated by Roman Reigns

#2 Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns Might Just Win Another Royal Rumble, Might just...

That Roman Reigns will headline his fourth consecutive Wrestlemania is a given. For that, he doesn't need to win the Rumble and earn the vitriol of fans, whom he has slightly appeased with his return to the SHIELD.

Roman having lost his Intercontinental title earlier in the night, will come with full force hoping to win the big Rumble match and go into a titanic showdown against Brock Lesnar. His route will be different to the clash, but here he will just fall short just like last year.

However more importantly Roman will pull of not only a lengthy stint in the Rumble but a lengthy encounter in the finale on his way to elimination. In the process, he will put over a sensational star who deserves his grand Wrestlemania showdown against an old rival.

Eliminated by Shinsuke Nakamura

#1 Shinsuke Nakamura

AJ Style vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship, Wrestlemania 34

Expect the roof of the building to tear down when the electric guitar riff rings across the arena. Shinsuke Nakamura might not main event Wrestlemania in the strictest and truest sense of the word, but he will win the Royal Rumble and go on to headline it in a marquee match.

The seeds have been planted with Nakamura's recent revival after a tepid 2017, he hasn't taken many pinfalls and always comes out on top in this season of multi-man matches. Most importantly from electric fights on PPV, to staredowns at house shows and even interesting team up celebrations.

Nakamura vs AJ Styles has been a dream match that WWE has too overtly hinted at and not yet delivered on, unlike the slew of dream matches we saw wasted across the board last year.

So it'll be an intriguing prospect to see when the two throw down. For that to happen and be believably anticipated, Nakamura needs a huge win and a huge showing. A middle entry into the match, with some fire, will see Nakamura raise the tempo for the crowd. After which single dream face-offs will lead to a prolonged and thrilling end.

A match of the year candidate in itself, Nakamura and Roman Reigns will just build the tension towards his final victory. A show of true respect from the new face of the company will see Nakamura head to Wrestlemania 34 to take on AJ Styles.