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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Fintan Monaghan of Dublin, Ireland
PWTorch.com Reader

The Royal Rumble comes but once a year as 30 WWE Superstars battle it out for a shot at the gold at WrestleMania. I say "thirty," but we all know that the list of wrestlers with a realistic chance of winning is far shorter. 2002 springs to mind, where no one would have bet against a Triple H Rumble win after taking one look at the direction the storylines were headed.

Things have become a little more unpredictable since the brand extension created two top titles (three if you count ECW), and the ability for a winner to hop brands to challenge either champ. WrestleMania 2006 showed us that the winner need not even necessarily be in the main event/final match of the night.

With this in mind, let’s take look at the three rosters and the realistic contenders.

ECW

Potential Rumble winners are thin on the ground in ECW. Of the 14 active wrestlers on the roster, we can safely exclude comedy acts like Finlay, Hornswoggle, and the Boogeyman, as well as the host of young rookies they have brought up in recent months. Chavo also seems an unlikely Rumble winner at best and Evan Bourne is on the injured list.

Presuming that ECW Champ Matt Hardy will not be featured in the match, this leaves Mark Henry, Miz, and Morrison. Mark Henry has come on in leaps and bounds as a performer during his time in ECW, but having just lost to Finlay on PPV, he lacks momentum.

Miz and Morrison just won the tag belts, and while they are an entertaining tandem gaining a following, individually they aren’t quite at the level to be considered serious contenders. In summary, I would eat my hat if an ECW wrestler won the Rumble.

Smackdown

Jeff Hardy’s WWE Title win throws up a few interesting possibilities from within the Smackdown brand.

Hot Favorites - Triple H: Perennial title contender and multi-time Rumble winner, in any given year it is never beyond the realms of possibility that Hunter will win the Rumble. The last six years have shown that even if he doesn’t win the Rumble, he will end up challenging for one of the titles regardless. Presuming Cena holds on to the Raw belt until Mania, WWE are usually loath to do the same Mania main event twice. On the other hand, a match up with Hardy is a strong possibility as their on-going feud has been one of the high points of the last year.

Edge: He just returned from a hiatus and has already won and lost the title in the space of a month. A match up with Hardy at WrestleMania would be fresh and Edge has never won a Rumble before. This all points toward an Edge win, except it raises the unfamiliar specter of a WrestleMania without Hunter in a title match.

Outside Chance - Undertaker or Big Show: Both had big nights at last year's WrestleMania, but a slightly disappointing feud with each other has dropped them down a notch. Still, a Rumble win for either of these competitors could present some exciting match ups, particularly John Cena vs. Undertaker.

Long Shot - MVP: His losing streak may have been a long build to a triumphant Rumble win. The big problem is that he has been losing so much that he hasn’t got much credibility with the fans or momentum to take him in to a memorable Mania main event.

Raw

Hot Favorite - Randy Orton: Orton has been on fire recently and has just formed an exciting new faction. He has history with both Hardy and Cena. He is a top-tier talent who has never won the Rumble before. All this adds up to a strong argument for an Orton Rumble win. Despite his loss to Batista at Armageddon, he will probably still have more than enough momentum to go in to the Rumble a hot favorite.

Outside Chance - Batista: Big Dave still has a great connection to the crowd, but appears to be in a bit of a slump at the moment. While you would never quite rule him out, nothing points to this being a Batista year.

Shawn Michaels: Again, another guy you could never rule out entirely, but storylines don’t point to a main event this year. The only chance Michaels has of winning the Rumble is if they play in to his current plotline with JBL and he is forced to surrender his main-event title shot to his ruthless new employer.

Chris Jericho: 2008 has arguably been Jericho’s most successful year ever, with two World Title wins and the feud of the year with Michaels. Yet with two back-to-back losses against Cena, it looks like his push is being cooled off for the moment.

Outside Chance - C.M. Punk: In one year he has held ECW, tag team, and World Title gold and became Mr. Money in the Bank. His shocking title win against Edge on Raw was one of the most memorable moments of the year. Unfortunately for Punk, his push has cooled off considerably since then. An IC title win seems more likely than a Rumble win to be the next feather in Punk's cap.

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Comment Below on who you see as top contenders to win the 2009 Royal Rumble.

[C.M. Punk photo by Nick Menecci (c) PWTorch]

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