10 Wild Outside Bets To Win WWE 2019 Men's Royal Rumble
Bros before pros.
When it comes to picking a Royal Rumble winner, WWE have generally relied on one tried-and-tested rule: plump for the most tedious, most predictable, and most infuriating option.
It's usually Randy Orton. Even when the field was completely wide open two years back, it was still Randy Orton. WWE, um, found a way.
But it's becoming increasingly difficult for the company to depend on their time-honoured first principle. Orton may have been a glitch, a Ruthless Aggression throwback, but in systematically levelling their roster as genuine stars have faded, that field has opened wider than ever.
Last year presented a whole new paradigm: for the first time in forever, there was no obviously tedious, predictable, infuriating option.
Except Randy Orton.
On this occasion, even he couldn't spoil it. The 'same old' names were positioned as bait, before Shinsuke Nakamura thwarted the old guard for the victory. It was the best Royal Rumble in years.
It's doubly the case for 2019's edition, and absolutely anyone could end 27 January pointing to a sign in Phoenix. Even those 'same old names' have been imbued with fresh impetus, be it through external ambition or abject illness. Disappointment isn't on the agenda.
10. Shawn Michaels
Shortly after overcoming The Brothers of Destruction alongside his similarly superannuated pal Triple H at WWE's contemptible Crown Jewel, an absolutely cream-crackered Shawn Michaels intimated that his comeback had been a big mistake. The regrets over the damage to his legacy dripped from The Heartbreak Kid's heartbroken face.
Don't listen to what Shawn says; there's no way that Saudi Arabian shambles is going to be the last we see of him. His pride - or more accurately, his ego - dictates that.
Of course, in WWE's non-linear era, the company could simply suspend all storylines to give Michaels a more fitting second sendoff in Medina or wherever, but assuming they want to make a virtue of a third Shawn run, there are worse ideas than a third Royal Rumble win.
It'd make up for the spawny victories in the depleted pools of '95 and '96, whilst also giving a really good excuse for a legitimate mentor-student dream match opposite Daniel Bryan.
Probability: He's more likely to win the 100-man Greatest Royal Rumble 2, to be fair.