6. Sheamus
Sheamus has been out of action in the WWE for months now, after a leg injury sustained in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match in July, and he's set to return in January. It's well known that superstars coming back from injury always have a good chance of winning the Rumble match, as Triple H did in 2002 (although he didn't return in the match itself, but earlier in the month), John Cena in 2008 and Edge in 2010. Just by these facts, you can already tell that Sheamus is definitely a favorite to win the Royal Rumble match this year. In the few years that Sheamus has been on the main roster, we can tell that they're trying hard to elevate Sheamus to that status of main event star, and in the kayfabe world of WWE, all the accolades that he has put him in that spot. Two-time WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion and King of the Ring, among others. And if you watched his WHC reign in Smackdown in 2012, it's obvious that someone inside WWE wants him to be one of the focal points of the product, from what numerous reports have said over the years, that man is Triple H. Considering he was recently appointed the new Head of Creative, you just put two and two together and there's one more reason why Sheamus could win this match. Other important factor is one accolade that wasn't mentioned before. Sheamus won the Royal Rumble match in 2012, when no one credited this as a possibility (the favorite was by far Chris Jericho, who had recently returned to the WWE after weeks of cryptic vignettes). Now that many things point towards him winning, the chances are even higher. On the other hand, this same fact points against Sheamus' second Rumble win. As I mentioned, the Rumble winner could pick whether he would face the WWE Champion or the World Heavyweight Champion, and Sheamus picked the latter on that year. This year, if he won, he'd challenge the Undisputed Champion, and although he's really close to that main event level and they really want him there, he's a tiny bit away from it. So his chances are also not high, but he's in the running.