Welcome in everybody to Betting Pros. It's time to place your bets. It is me Joey P joe P Zapia and it's time to rumble. That's right. The road to WrestleMania begins this weekend at the Royal Rumble. And it just so happens. You may or may not know this. I'm the host of the End This Ring podcast for the last eight years, my labor of love, because I love professional wrestling. I spent almost twenty years as a
professional fight choreographer. I still work with a bunch of guys in the industry and it is a passion of mine. Pro wrestling and all different forms of the WWE sometimes aw even though it makes me frustrated. And of course New Japan, all the innd's and TNA and everything in between. And it just so happens. I'm not alone here a Betting Pros Troll, Furman Junior and South Stefanelli. Our amazing team here at Betting Pros, our producers, our hosts. We
also happen to be all really passionate about this. So instead of just doing shorts and articles, we decided to do an entire podcast dedicated to our picks for the Royal Rumble, and I am super excited now. Terrella and I message a lot about wrestling. Sally and I go back and forth before every single show talking about whatever we saw. Saturday Night's main event is in the can we know who was in and gentlemen, I'm very excited.
Last year's Roald Rumble again under Triple H. Some people thought, well, you know, it was kind of cookie cutter. We knew it was gonna come out of it. We got to see impunk injury, which turned out to be one of the best things that could possibly happen. But Terrell Furman, anything can happen in the Rumble, and anything can swerve around.
What was so stunning to me as I was making my picks here and I've got the men's and women's right here my order, We're going to break down the booking that I have and see what the guys think. What was so stunning to me, especially the Men's Rumble, is how much high end, main event level talent we have and how we've intertwined them all in the last year and a half. It is kind of stunning. It's very nineteen ninety two Rumble esque, except the championship is not on the line.
Yeah, And I think it's really really good how they have decided to interswine all of these stories into one and the fact of we have a pool of about seven to ten main events that they could just throw out of there and we could be like, oh wow, that's a main event in WrestleMania. Oh wow, that's the
main event in WrestleMania. Is so many storylines that all kind of intertwine with each other on both brands that you're like, oh wow, this is this can be good because it's like which way are you gonna go with? Are you're kind of looking like, oh is it gonna be a Cody Roman or is it? Oh Roman? Punk is over there? And oh wait, wait good, there's over there and soon. So's so many options. I love it.
So many options, and they're all gonna be tested. That's what you get in the Rumble two is you have these test moments of booking, typically sal where we're gonna tease certain matches and say, what are these what does this pairing look like together? How much heat is that gonna get from the crowd? And maybe there's been some failures sometimes in the women's division under the Triple Ah regime.
It looks like the rehabilitation is in full swing for the tag team division twenty twenty five, that's starting to go in a much better direction. But you can't knock the main event stars that they have put together because you're going through the list here, and when we get to the men's rumble, it is either former champions or believe it, Bull could be going after it, or people
will already have belts right now. It's kind of stunning to think of what they've built up in terms of the very top of the line of this talent roster.
Yeah, I think it's it's pretty ridiculous just how much talent there actually is. But I do feel storyline wise, we're kind of lacking on the women's side ever since the Ria and Live storyline. I think that's kind of if it's not done long term, it's on the shelf for now, especially if you've read, like No the Dirt Streets, how they're saying Live and Raquel might be going for the tag titles at WrestleMania, so that kind of takes
Live out of the picture. But talent wise, that's ridiculous, and that you know Charlotte Flair has been gone for how long? So you bring her back? You got Bianca Eo. Becky might be coming back. I mean they've talked about Alexa Bliss coming back. Jade Cargo has been off off TV for a little while, she could be returning. We haven't even mentioned Jordan Grace, who recently actually signed full time with w W. Remember her Royal Rumble appearance last year, how that was like to me? That was a shock,
That was one of the best. It was one of the best moments of the Rumble weekend. And I feel like she's in store for like a really fantastic performance at this year's Rumbule. So you could just keep going down down the list, and like, especially with women who are returningly, that's insane, Like Charlotte's been gone, Becky's been gone, Oscar has been gone. They can all potentially be returning this weekend. So like the Royal Rumble star powers.
And saying, well, speaking of lists, in the words of Chris Jericho, I made a list right here, and we're gonna get to the list right here. We're gonna get to the booking. Talk about that, give us, give out the picks. I should say as well, and before we do all that, quick reminder you can help shape the Betting Pros podcast by taking a quick survey at Bettingpros dot com slash survey and share your feedback to help
us improve. And I hope that feedback is more wrestling shows at least for the Big Four from these three guys. That's what we want to hear on that survey. Give it to them straight Bettingpros dot Com slash survey. More pro wrestling content here on the Betting Pros channel because you can bet on this stuff, folks, and I have in the last couple of years. And guess what, we did pretty well with some of those picks last year.
Nailed all those, including the Mania picks as well two years in a row with the Rumble and on my podcast, I have gotten this is true story nine of the last ten between the men and the women, right. That one I did not get was that one wacky brock lesnar year that nobody quite saw coming. That was let's not talk about that all right, Let's get to the women's rumble here. I always say, boys, you gotta start
with something. We're gonna do these tens of time you have to begin with somebody that's gonna get the crowd ready to go, get him engaged right away. And you want some people have some big entrances and some big feel So I'm gonna start with Chelsea Green. You want to also highlight the new bell too. She's the United States Women's champion. I think a lot of casual fans don't even know that they're secondary women's titles. Now I want to start with her. I want to go EO Scott,
who's gonna be my workhorse coming in at two? Really build up Eo here as the marathon woman. Then we're gonna go. We need some bodies to get rid of eventually. Here we're gonna bring an Islad, Dawn Zoe start that, Talia ganit a good hand like Natalia in here at five, Selina Vega, Piper Niven at seven, Naomi at eight, Sonya developed nine, and then Bailey at ten. Teral. What do you think of the opening here with Chelsea Green and EO Sky?
I think it's pretty good. I'm curious if EO Sky is gonna get the Iron Survivor push, and it could very well happen and we could see her go back in the trajectory, and she's really been doing a lot of the grunt work over the course of the full year. So I kind of think of like those starters as the Iron Survivor push, those people that may get the most eliminations of hey, we're starting to reward you, of hey, get ready for this next year, because we're about to
put you on your back. Bailey went and got the push, and she ended up winning the Rumble and ended up going on winning in Championship and had a good year leading through Summer Slam. So she really got a really big push. In the year before that, you had Ria who was the Iron Survivor and she, you know, she
went bonkers. It serves a superstardom, So I think that I could really see that for an EO, and I don't really know anybody else that I think really, uh, they want to give that responsibility to of this next year, you're really going to be like all hands on deck for us.
So I have EO making it to my final four? Do you have her in that same grouping?
No, I wouldn't argue against it, though.
All right, I'm not arguing against it. Why why why do you not have her in there? Just out of curiosity, just.
The other four I have. She she didn't make the I mean, that's a simple answer.
She just fell at all.
Right, So after okay, go back to your point about like the big entrances starting the show, and then throw
about the iron surviron. There's a couple of names you didn't mention in there who I think could potentially be either the first woman entrant or like in the top three, is again Jordan Grace or Bianca Belair, especially when you say, like the big grand entrances, who has a better entrance these days than Bianca Belair, Like we've seen it in the past, paper easy premium blind events like that'd be a great way to get the crowd going. And I'm
a spoiler. I'm kind of like all in on Jordan Grace for this royal rumble.
Oh I am too, But I think we're gonna make everybody wait. And I've got a plan here, because the plan is the slow burn. This is the Triple Ah slow Burn. And remember, we've got to fill the ring with some bodies if we're gonna make somebody else look strong. If you don't have those bodies going in, you have the Jordan Graces of the world come in too early. If you have her coming in the top you know five people. To me, that kind of puts her in a bad spot because then she's got a battle through.
She gotta be in the corner, biding time with some bad caicks and punches until spots open up. You want her to come in when there's a full body of women to throw out of the ring and make them look strong. So at eleven, another good hand Candice Loray Alba Fire thirteen Live, Morgan Shanea Bazler at fourteen, Bianca bell Er at fifteen. So halfway through, I give you Bianca because right now it feels a little loss in the booking troll? Do you agree? I feel like Bianca
feels a little lost. I think I know where we're going with this storyline, but considering this is somebody who main invented Mania couple years ago with Sasha Bangs, it feels like it's good to have you go away a little bit till I miss you. But it almost feels like she's gone so far away that I can't see her in the main events scene right now.
And I think it feels like that too, And it's kind of disheartening as a huge Bianca bell Air fan. But the thing that I think that she carries on is the fact that she is polarizing and she is one of the biggest superstars, not women superstars in the WWE. Great think about what Raw on Netflix and how big Raw Netflix is and where you saw you saw a Bianca's face on every single Raw on Netflix poster, and then we got to Raw on Netflix and she's sitting
in the crowd, but she's on every post. That's how big she is. So I think that it's okay if she doesn't get the full shine because they know, hey, we can pick this back up whenever. Let's keep building this storyline with her underlying, underlying, underlying. So I think you got her in a good spot, middle of the pack and she can go in there do some damage.
I think she could have a lot of eliminations here along with Jordan Grace and and probably end up making the final four, but just not there yet.
All right, sal Bianco bel Air, Is she in your final four? Yeah?
She is.
I mean, I know you mentioned she's kind of been like off to the side, even though she's a tag champion. But with WWE specifically it doesn't take long for them to heat up a feud or heat up a rivalry. And with Rea Ripley the champion, I envisioned a narrator where Bianca could potentially win this and challenge Rhea, and we get that Ria Ripley Bianca Blair match at WrestleMania. We've seen the history between them, especially in NXT. Those two can bring it. I think that'd be a pretty
remarkable WrestleMania match. I you know, Bianca could pull off the victory. Whether she does not, that's the different story. But I could envision it.
At sixteen, we're going to bring in the women's inter Continental Champion, Lyra Valcaria, who's had a really good run here I think so far. You know, she was heated up first, got a little quiet, and then the tournament really punched her up a little bit. I think we.
What's that were all shocked by that?
Are her winning?
No? Not at all, really at all.
I thought it was Dakota's time, you.
Know what, It would have been nice if it was Dakota's time. The problem is, once again, Dakota's on another injury now, right, And I think whenever you put belts on folks, you have to say, Okay, what's the durability of this person. It's one of the things that I always worried about with Darby Allen. It's like, look, if you're gonna put him at the very top of your board as you're champion someday, what's the durability of that guy gonna be to deliver those matches for six months
at a time, every single night. That's hard. It's hard to be at the top physically speaking. And Dakota one of my favorites. Dakota suffers from Dolph Zigler syndrome for me too, which is she makes everybody else look so damn good. Yeah, that she forgets to get herself over. Do you agree with that?
Yeah? Same, I think the same.
I think she's she's not gonna be in this rumble either.
It seems it seemed like they were getting ready for a really good push with her. It felt like it was about to go somewhere, and I was like, oh, I guess this kind of leads into a make card title, But I'm not. I'm not mad at the Liral pick, but I was like, Oh, I thought Dakota was finally going Yeah, I'm.
Not mad at either. I think we might be pushing for trying to elevate those secondary titles too. More on that to come here. Nikki Bella at seventeen now she is my only returning. She's been kicking around the last couple of weeks out. Have you noticed this? And it feels like whenever that happens you kind of roll your eyes, You go, all right, I guess is what we're gonna get here. I don't have aj Lee as much as
I want her returning. It feels like TRIPLEA doesn't really big into the member berries with some of these royal rumble things as much as the Vince regime used to be. And I don't think considering where Campunk is currently right now in that spectrum, it feels like it might be his night. And if so, I just don't feel like, you know, what we've see now the relationship with the two of them is that she's gonna come in there and have anything to do with his night. What do you think?
She just doesn't really seem that interested in coming back to WW She's got so much stuff going on outside of wrestling that it's not like a lot of legends you see that kind of cling on to WWE because they just they need to come back. Aj Lee does not need wrestling whatsoever.
Now, but I think she could use some closure on it, and I do see her eventually getting one run. I just don't think this is gonna be where it is. I think this is gonna be the road to WrestleMania for seam Punk, and we've been building it as such. So Nikki Bella at seventeen, Rakel Rodriguez at eighteen, meets it at nineteen, who's had also a pretty good finish to twenty twenty four. Just want to shout her out. She has been a workhorse for that company. Here we go,
Now you're ready. So we got all these bodies in, we got to start throwing some bodies out. Let's start at number twenty Nya Jacks, here we go, so she's gonna come in there. And right after Naya Jacks, it's time to bring back Wu Charlotte Flair at twenty one. Now there's some heat there. What a perfect moment. Let's embrace the heat. Sal I feel like this one thing Triple H loves. It's to embrace some of the real heat between some people because he knows it's good television.
I want twenty and twenty one. I want Naya to come in throw some people out, and I want Charlotte Flair to come in right after her and have that moment where Nya is looking down the ramp and she sees Charlotte Flair. What do you think?
So thought about those who queen back to back in the rumble, but I can definitely.
See it are here. That's the question I met for it for sure. All right again, we need some more bodies here twenty two, Maxine Dupre, twenty three, Nikki Cross, rox and Perez at twenty four. She is the only NXT person I have. I know there's been a lot of rumblings Durel about a lot of more NXT people maybe making some debuts here. I think it becomes less special when you have more than one. So I'm gonna stick to one here in the men's and one of
the women's. What do you think roxanm. Perez is a finally time to move her up?
Uh?
I think it is, but I disagree with the amount. I think that that NXT talent division is too like they don't have enough time on NXT for all of them. They're having segments with like four or five girls in the segment, trying to get some airtime for all of them because they're so good. I think you have to take the opportunity at the Rumble where you can throw in a couple of extra bodies. They're not saying it's gonna be a lot and not saying we're going to
throw in the whole division. Is gonna be be like a three brand war in the Rumble? No, no, no, But I think we can get one or two maybe other people in there. So I think three is a very good number for NXT representation.
Question though, but when you start bringing the NXT women guys and they like like the Stephanie Vakors or the Julia's and have these belts, does it do them a disservice though, because you're just bringing them in there to get thrown over the top and eliminated.
But also it gives them, you know, like a platform to audiences that don't watch NXT. They'd be like, hey, look the amount of talent we have down XT. They give them Remember the Keith Lee moment for example a few years back.
Yes, and it.
Feels like, I know, like, who is this guy, this guy's before.
That's with the NXT.
I'm gonna let you keep going with this, but I think there's one NXT woman who you might not mention.
I think should be in the rum. Well, you could tell me who I left out. You guys can tell me who I left at all. Right, At twenty five, you waited long enough, rox and Perez, We've got our smaller. Now we're gonna bring in the uh the Jordan Grace at twenty five. Now we start to build, So we bring the crowd up for Roxane Perez, we bring them up some more with Jordan Grace, and we come down at twenty six for Ivy Nile. Then we have a returning Alexa Bliss at twenty seven. I don't buy any
of the contract stuff. I think that's all a bunch of huha. I think the only reason they're doing it is to throw people off the scent, because they've done that before in the last couple of years. Returning Oscar at twenty eight, Returning Jane Cargill at twenty nine. People are losing their minds, going look at all these people coming back, what's gonna happen? And at thirty who's possibly left.
Who can it be?
It's Becky Lynch at thirty making her return. So I'm spiking from twenty five Jordan, Grace, Ivy Nile again. We gotta bring him down a little bit, Bliss, Osca, Cargill, Lynch, Terrell. Have I sufficiently inflated the bubble here at the end of the rubble? Yeah?
How many returns is that? Jesus, I've got more returns? Think, hey, this is more for in row. This is more returns than Monday after Black Friday, then Chris Day after Christmas.
Day. This is right there. That's a good Canadian joke for Sal. So I like that one.
So Sal again, Becky, you said who else?
Who else is Jade?
He said Jade Car Gill. So I had Alexa, Oscar, Jade and Becky. But here's also part of the reason too. Alexa hasn't worked in forever, Oscar's coming off an injury, Becky hasn't. You know, Becky's the big star whatever you get that big pop at thirty. We could really embrace that last moment. She doesn't have to rush it. And same thing with Jade too. Again you worry still about
her work. But also you know, I think This protects all these returning women between injury and some inexperience in some of them, and also looking at where they are right now in terms of getting back up to speed. By bringing them in late, you get the biggest pops, you get the biggest build and then again, oh my god, look who's in this ring now. So to me, that
is the mindset. This is the slow burned Women's Rumble that I put together, Sal, Do you think I think that the slow burn is working for you so far?
I'm into it all right?
There you go. So final four Osca Eo Sky making it all the way from two, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair. That's my final four, Sal, who's your final four for the women?
My final four got Charlotte Jordan, Grace Blair and Becky Lynch.
Becky Lynch, Terrell, your final four picks for the Women's Royal Rumble.
Bianca, be Lair, Charlotte Flair, Naya Jacks, Meggy Lynch.
All right, let's talk winner now, Terrell. Give me your winner for the Women's Royal Rumble. Looking right now at the odds, you got Charlotte Flair at minus two hundred, Bianca at one seventy five, Eosky A plus three twenty five, Becky Lynch A plus five hundred. To me, those are the only real answers here that are correct. But I can't make a case. I can't make a case for Alexa. We're not gonna go back to Live More Agan. It's too soon for Jordan Grace. He's gonna compete for the
secondary titles here. Osca is probably not going to be thrown right back into that situation. The reason why I had Oscar and Charlotte there too, once again renewing some fuse there. You got the Osca and Charlotte, you got the Becky and Charlotte stuff, you got a lot of history, and then you're throwing you know somebody that I know Triple H is very high on which has been EO And she was so good at n XT and I
don't think she's really gotten her proper run yet. So your winner Terrell again for Women's Royal Rumble.
So how I look at Winner, I think it's what storyline makes the best sense for WrestleMania, What makes the best sense for the titles for WrestleMania. I don't think either title is gonna drop before Mania, So I think we're locked in. Ria is gonna have one match, Tiffany's gonna have the other. The only match Tiffany can have
is Naya Jax. That is the only match that I feel like makes sense for Mania is Nia Jacks because we've been building this storyline for almost a year now, Like they what was that summertime Queen the Ring around that time, That's when they started to team up, and they built that storyline and it kept going going. She won the title all of that, I think, and they never got the one on one match. It was always the cash and they never got the one on one. So I think that that Naya is one match and
the other match with Rha can go any way. But Deaf taxes Charlotte Flair returning from injury and getting a title shot like that, That is why it's minus two hundred. It's might as two hundred reason. Deaf Sex is Charlotte Flair returning from injury and getting a title shot. It always happens, and Charlotte Flairria Ripley is a great storyline to pick back up on and have an awesome Mania match. I think that they are telling us exactly how it's gonna go I would be I would love to be
wrong and see anybody else. But I think it's Charlotte Flair because I don't think Naya's gonna win, even though Nya and Tiffany is the only option that Tiffany has for a match. In my opinion, I think I think it's Charlotte. I think it's gonna be Charlotte, and they're just setting us up for what we know is gonna be Charlotte versus Ria again at Mania, and it's gonna be a great match.
I think it's gonna Charlotte two. I think it's gonna be Charlotte and Tiffy. I think they want to put a little fresh coat of paint on things a little bit there, and because they already know they've got Ria and Charlotte in the bed, they've gotten that one, right, we still haven't gotten you know, Bianca and Ria either on that main roster feud quite yet. You saw an n X T a little bit. But to me, it's Charlotte and Tiffy because the crowd wants to cheer Tiffy,
and Charlotte is a heel. She's just is. There's no way you can ever just cheer hers. It's not gonna happen. It's not her in their DNA. So sal give us your final four and your pick for winner here with the odds.
Nice I'll say before that, I just want to mention if Chrell does think that there's a chance Nia Jackson can win a plus five thousand odds man lay down right now.
I think you should be and I do think she'll be in the final four. But it's just I can't see night of winning it, even though I think that is her mania. That's the way Naya has a Mania match is with Tiffy.
In my opinion, I've been tracking the line movement for both rumbles for roughly the past past month, and Charlotte's been the favorite every single week, going from plus two twenty five to minus two hundred and when I try to think of a narrative with Royal Rumble and Wrestlemanium, in my mind, there's really two concrete ones. It's Charlotte winning because they said Charlotte wins everything. It's WrestleMania her versus Tiffy. I think it's like the past versus a present.
I think Tiffany Stratton is the next Charlotte Flair and stylistically, I feel like they kind of have similarities, and I think that'd be like like as the young kids say a.
Banger of a match, it would and it gives her a little bit of the rub too, where you know, he's like, Okay, I'm gonna now you're in that part of your career where you start to put the young talent over a little bit. And I think that would be good for Charlotte Flair to do.
And then the other option, I think it could be either Bianca Blair or Jordan Grace versus rear Ripley, mainly because I just want to see Jordan Grace and also the plus thirty three hundred odds for Jordan Grace, that's
some nice value. I've been like, I've been doing a lot of research for the Rumbles and this is pretty easy to say, but since twenty eighteen, five out of the seven winners were the odds on favorite like days before, so that automatically puts it at Charlotte Flair the other two winners, whereas Becky in twenty nineteen was the second favorite and Charlotte in twenty twenty who was the third favorite. So everybody hears chalk for a reason. The oddsmakers know
what they're doing. So if you want to play some bet to win money, like you gotta go with like the top four.
Well, the minute Charlotte was in it and declared I was going, you know, I'm betting her at the plus two hundred whatever was Now it's minus two hundred. You missed the window. Everybody like, yeah, that is it, you know. But in the words of de Batista, give me what I want. That's what I want. I want Charlotte Flair.
And he's so disappointed if Bianca won. And it's only because I think Bianca and Rio, whenever it happened, needs to be a long thing.
I agree. I don't think this is it over.
A year of building up to that feud, Like you can't just give me that in a couple months and say I'm gonna be happy at Mania. So as much as I love Bianca, I would be disappointed if she won because that means they're rushing that feud way too much.
One hundred percent. I don't know if it was you or sal made the point before it was like they're pretty good at heating up stuff fast, especially a lot of these feuds that you just add water to. That's one I don't want to heat up fast. I'm with you one thousand percent slow burn that one and hasn't planted any seeds for it yet. And the big ones, the big ones always have seeds planted, always, every single time. That's the one thing you've seen from this book and go ahead.
So I was just saying just a little bit of pushback, like this has been a slow burn since NXT. It's been a very long term story. We haven't seen.
Much.
Yeah, that's which is fair.
But again, there's also a lot of people that didn't watch NXC or don't watch NXC, so they don't know that backstory. So I'm with you with their I.
Think it's more like we were gonna get her and Jade or some sort of you know, situation going on there, like man, maybe it was Naomi who took out Jade Cargill. I guess we're gonna find out on Friday or saturd. I think we'll find out it rumble, we're gonna find out sooner or later. I think when Jade gets in the ring, we're gonna find out who it was. And that's gonna be a fun elimination. And that's part of why I want it to come late, because I want
it to be a big reveal. Again, there's there's always a method to the madness here.
You know, like a little cry like think of Jade looking in the ring, looking at Naya, looking at all the suspects, and then just she.
Goes right on. Yeah, that's great, or Bianca and that's your feud. See that's easy that the water is it becomes an explosion there. It was like a science experiment if you do that, And that's why I want it late. But it can't be last because you have to have something that's a little bigger than that. And what's bigger than that? Only one thing, and that's the man. Let's take a look at them? No then no, no, yeah, I mean it's as you never know.
Before we get to the men's. I do want to ask the question because this was interesting to be uh studying all the line movement the past month. Today a new name was added to the odds for the woman's Who wasn't there the previous four three or four weeks I've been tracking this. I wanted to get your guys, if you think she'll actually make it appearance, not win it. But Ronda Rowsey showed up in the odds to last. You think, I.
Don't think somebody requested a bit and said can you please add her to the card.
She hates the company. They they had got into a thing with the whole Drew Gulak thing with her and all the other side. There's no way it's it's it's zero zero. It's a better chance. You see brock Lesner then you see Ronda Rowsey in this one. I say zero. But but that's why they get you. They get you with the big name. So don't be a fool. That's why you're hanging out with us. So before we get to the men's rumble, and I'm going to walk you
through all that. Uh, don't forget everybody. Our discord is a great way to stay on top of your sports betting with the best community on the planet for sports betting bettingpros dot Com slash Chat. Not only can you connect with expert handicappers who provide picks for NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL player props, live betting, and more, but now you can also participate in our weekly community picks, cast your vote and see how your picks stand up against the
experts and you can track your success. All Right, here we go boys, same concept, Men's Rumble. I'm gonna take you through the Joey p booking. Start at number one with a former winner of the World Rumble and somebody who's got a brand new character and a brand new entrance and a belt Shinsky Nakamora. You know, a little slow play, it's a little a little open up here. Reintroduce Shinsk and that whole thing here, and then of course you have to do the full jay Uso entrance. Right,
So he's got to be number two. You're gonna get the whole crowd, you get the hype wagon going. We're ready to go. Number three, Chad Gable, number four, Carmelo Hayes, number five, We've got La Night Yeah. Number six, Penta. I want him in early, and I want him in some spots, and I want to get him with Carmelo Hayes, Chad Gable all in that same mix. At seven, Finn Balor eight seth rawlins a little early here at nine Androdde and number ten Dirty Dom Mysterio. So I want
to see Penta with some of these guys here. I want to see him interact with Rowins and Carmelo Hayes and Chad Gable Again, are you with me here on that sal where we want to get Penta moving and shaking with some of these bigger names.
Oh yeah, we have to get them right there. As mentioned top ten, some new possibilities Nowaday's in wwe Penta ja Uso have be kind of fun face off Penta. We've seen Chad Cable, Penta La Knight would be kind of interesting to see them go back and forth a little bit. Wow, I do want to say, like jay
Usso's number one. I feel like if they had odds for who do you think is gonna be the first person in the world rumble, j Usso would be the odds on favorite, coming from the crowd all the way to the y to the ring, with the whole yea and the whole audience team.
That's why I want him too, because I feel like it's too obvious to I'm at one. Let's set up so somebody who can be a foil for him first and then bring him in have a little standoff. Torell, what do you think about these first ten names? Again, we're talking about Chinske, who's won the Rumble before. We're talking about Finn Baler, who is Ben champ An NXC champ Rowins, multiple time champion l A. Knight who just came off of a mid card title run Jay Usso,
same thing again. It's a lot of big names here in these first ten.
Yeah, I took a completely different approach with it, and I'm looking at the first two. I think that's gonna kick this thing off, and that's also gonna kick off a Mania match, because we've seen the past two years, the first two starters have had a Maniam match. Later on you had the USO's last year, and then you had Gunther and Seamus kickoff two years before that, and then they ended up having a triple threat with Juw
mckintyre at Mania. So it's a little bit of tat of he a little bit of a few there, and I couldn't I couldn't directly place it. But the one person that I think is going to have a good match, the one person that I think is going to to have the iron survivor, and that's bron Breaker. This is bron Breaker's Royal Rumble. You do you remember when bron Breaker came out last year and had four eliminations in the Royal Rumble match. Do you remember how long he was in the match?
No, I don't.
Five minutes.
Yeah, I remember. It wasn't that wild. I don't remember exactly how long A five minutes. That's crazy.
He was in the match four minutes, four eliminations in five minutes, and then he was gone. I think they give him the Iron Survivor, so I think he has to be one of the top two. And if I had to sit there and say, oh, if they're going to start him off with a feud for what's gonna be mania. The other person I think would be good and can last long too is Lewis Kaiser. I think lub Kaiser I do have in here. I don't know if you're gonna like where I've got him, though, but
I do love him. I think I think it's bron Breaker at one and I think that kicks off the Rumble and him having a big eliminations long long time in the match shows off how good he is, endurable he is. That gets him to the and then that kind of opens things up for the rest of the same.
Booze Rain Down on number ten, don Mysterio but cheers for Sammy's A and at eleven you gotta throw them is in there at twelve because I'm sure it's in his contract. He gets to be in every rumble. At thirteen, cm Punk the opposite of the thirty one tattooed. See I'm digging deep here. We're looking for meetings and Easter eggs every single time. Give me Cmpunk at thirteen because he wants to be in there long enough to make his presence felt and feel like it's a warrior. But look,
you gotta protect the Mpunk. He's forty something years old. You gotta be careful with him. Next up here Jimmy Uso and then bron Breaker at fifteen. So there you go, and there's some bodies there for bron Breaker to throw out, including dom Masterio in there, maybe a Carmelo Hayes Elimination two. Next up Damian Priest at sixteen, and then because they love him, carry and Cross at seventeen. There we get to eighteen, we start to get some big boys. Drew
McIntyre makes the cut at nineteen. You say his name and he appears, he's Joe Hendry and twenty ray mysterio, So I get Joe Henry at nineteen. Think that's too late or too early? Sal for Joe Hendry sounds.
About right to me. Build up the anticipation because I think at this point we all.
Expect him to be. There was ever a guarantee of somebody that's not on the main roster to be there is Joe Hendry.
So he gives it that opportunity for like every entrance, every like countdowns, Oh, is that joh Henry? Is that Joe Henry? And you just keep building and billy and billing until they finally say his name and he appears.
Does he last very long? Soal like? Or do you think? I don't think, I mean, because I have McIntire coming in, and I'm thinking the perfect guy to eliminate Joe Hendry is you know, another United Kingdom fellow, And I think Drew mcutarre is that guy.
Yeah, No, I think he's just he's basically here for the theme song to sing with the audience a little bit getting there smug for the camera.
Well, you don't want to get too much because he is the TNA champion that much like. You gotta let him get in there and mix it up a little bit.
But like just that the fact that a TNA champion is in the Royal Umble itself is a victory.
Imagine McIntire and Joe Hendry. But I know that, like that's the I get it. That is very good. But imagine Joe Hendry and the mizz standing across each other. Oh, throw l A Knight in there too. Just imagine all those just little personalities staring and looking at each other like, now, yeah, who's gonna do something? Because those are some very very big names in terms of charisma and how they play
their characters. And yeah, clearcut, Joe Hendry very much gonna be in the rumble, but I maybe thirty seconds.
See, I want to give him like a minute and a half. I want to give I don't want to burn him too quick because.
Then again that they already got him the first time.
Yeah, with the Bat's trial, that's true. Let's go to twenty one Seamus, who had a nice showing there with bron Breaker last weekend. Twenty two Trick Williams, this is my one NXT. I'm not I don't want to put Opahemi in there because it makes them look weak to get him thrown out, and that guy's just too strong looking. I don't want to open Emmy anywhere near this. I love Opahemi, And I was thinking, do I want to put Ethan Page in here? But I think it's time
for Trick Williams. Let's let's get him up here instead. I think, I think, from audience perspective and involvement, Durell, I think the Trick Williams entrance is a little bit more royal rumble friendly than Ethan Page. What do you think?
Yeah? Absolutely? I mean when you did you hear that SmackDown, the one SmackDown that Trick Williams came out and he saved Carmelo Hayes and the whole place erupted. I mean the music had already stopped in the wook that trick trance kept going, Trick kept going. So yeah, you got to hear his interest music geting.
Rumble all right at twenty three. Here we go John Cena at twenty three, because if you're paying to see John Cena, you gotta get him in there. But I'm not getting him in there before the twenties. It's too early. I don't want Sena interacting with everybody. He's a star, So you gotta get rid of some of those people in that first you know, fifteen twenty, and then you have a little bit of an open space here for John Seen to come in Ludwig Kaiser at twenty four.
Now here's where things get interesting. So I marinated on this boys seven night's main event. I'm like, nobody loves Jacob FA two more than me. I am loving how they're making him a star. He is got the promo, he's got the athleticism, he's got the presence, he's got everything. He is it. He is believable. So why are we making him such an animal right now? Well, because I think we're going to have him in Roman Reigns be the match. I can't do the rock. Roman's really got
nothing else going on right now. Roman Jacob FA two take my money. I want to see it. And it's something that I think is a big enough match where it still feels important. But we're gonna take a break after a decade of Roman being in the main event, and I think that's probably healthy for the company to do. I have him at twenty five, and here's the booking. Let's see if you can stay with me Jacob fo Tuo at twenty five, Randy Orton returning at twenty six,
Logan Paula twenty seven. Again, you don't want him in there too long. Aj Style is returning at twenty eight, Solo Sokoa at twenty nine. Roman reigns at thirty and I think what you're gonna have here is a final four of Jim Jacob fa Tu. Roman reigns Fatu, eliminating Roman reigns, spurning that feud. My final four Sina Punk,
Fatu and Rains. I'm trying to create something here with Fatu and Rains in this rumble, because right now Roman has no direction and to just now throw him back and I could throw him back at Cody again, to throw m a gunter feels a little forced FA two. Roman reigns Terrell. What do you think?
I don't know why you don't throw him back at Cody again. My again, I think of the Royal Romo match, and I think, Okay, what's the biggest WrestleMania we can have, what's the best wrestle Meania. We can have you take your two top stars and you give him the third match that you teased. All this year, literally throughout the entire year SummerSlam. Multiple times we talked about this match being the match and ultimately, how does Roman Reigns get
to that match? So, if I'm sold that it's going to be Roman Cody three, there's no way, and I promise you there's no way Roman Reigns is wrestling in an elimination and chamber qualifying match. That is not happening.
So I don't either, Yeah, I don't have an happen, I just have it. I agree with you. I don't think he's in elimination chamber. I think it's Jacob FA two. I think that's the future.
If you if that makes everybody a star that was that's a good way to book it, and it builds something with Roman because as of right now, if you don't think it's Roman and Cody, there's no way Roman is in a title match because he's not in an elimination chamber match, and you have to have him winging rumble if it's not going to be that.
So uh, and it immediately makes Jacob FA two elevated to a whole other stratosphere, which it feels like that's the rocket chip sou that this company wants to put on him.
All gas, no breaks, as he says, right, I laughed earlier because you and I have the exact same final four.
No, I don't know.
People don't think I'm blind, but those are the four. I thought maybe Seth could sneak in there over Jacob. But if you go with the bloodline World Rumble storyline and you break off the Roman reigns and the Jacob fuck to match for WrestleMania, that leaves seeing punkin Johnson. Which way you go between those two is a different story. I thought it might have been a little bit crazy having Jacob for two in the top four. I also think he's a dark horse candidate to be the guy
that has the most eliminations in the strumble. I think as soon as he gets in there, it's just gonna be like a tornado where he just like eliminates everybody left and right like an animal. And we get to that final four.
And you have to have him come in late to do that, and that's the like I think you have to have that press where it comes in and he's he's throwing out you know, the ray mysterios, he's throwing out the carrying crosses, I think he's thrown out. You want to give him the trick? Williams, right, like, that's believable. Right, You're like, hey, kid, not yet, you ain't quite ready for this. That's how you start to build this star. And it feels like that's what they're doing with this guy,
and it ain't wrong. It ain't wrong. So let's talk about your final four and your pick to win Terrell, and then we'll get everybody's final pick here, just to set the stage two for the Men's Royal Rumble. The odds as of recording right now John Cena plus one hundred, seth Rollins plus one twenty five se Punk plus one fifty the rock still hanging out there. I guess he's waiting for the number thirty.
I don't know his numbers.
Did you hear the theory to row about somebody saying that he gave Cody the ping pong ball from the Royal rum Remember the old school, you know they know dude the tumbler. I remember it was thirty one.
They said that he gave him a piece of the ula Fallow Like, oh my god, that's a bad one. That's the big.
Ones, all right, So give me your final four. Then based on some of these odds again long shot Roman reigns plus twelve hundreds a big long shot here actually, which I just ironic.
I just don't get it. And maybe it's because I've I'm kind of sold on this is gonna be Roman and Cody three. But it's like, why tease it now? And we're gonna get this because you're not gonna just throw this at This is only a manium match. The third one is only going to be a manium match. I can't see the counter.
Here's the counterpoint to Roman, and we'll see what you think of Roman Cody three. Fatigue, Right, you don't want to keep doing the same thing three years in a row. Sometimes the audience goes, you know, it's great, but we've seen it twice in a row. Maybe you let it breathe one more year, and maybe you have a twist where you finally let Cody go full Homelander, and maybe it's a different vibe by the time we get to that third one, so you can put Roman over again.
And maybe it's also a matter of it's been ten years in a row for Roman in the main events, you got it at some point start to build some new main event possibilities out there. I think that's the counter argument, and.
I think, hey, when you want to be the man, you gotta beaten man. And as of right now, they are the two biggest draws, and it's kind of tough your two biggest draws, and that's the match that a lot of people want to see. As much as people are so much fatigue, there's also a lot of people that that's all they're thinking about. And so I think it's two sides of the coin. So I don't know I have two winners. I haven't. I literally am fifty
to fifty on it. So my final four Roman reign Sampunk and John's seen it much to the degree of you three. However, I did not have Jacob Fatu in there.
I did have Seth Rollins in there as the last spot, and I booked it as that whole rumble is gonna be all of the ways that in some different way or shape or form, because I think Drew McIntire is out number five, that Seth Rollins, Drew McIntire, seem Punk all screwed themselves out of a chance to main event WrestleMania, and I think that's where this whole next two months is about to go is somehow, some way, whether it's through the Rumble, whether it's through elimination Chamber, it's gonna
be the rivalry between Seth Rollins, seem Punk and Drew mckintire screwed them all out the main event. They have a triple threat match and put on the greatest match of WrestleMania in Vegas. I think that's how it's gonna go. And so with that, I think Roman and john Sen and just kind of find their ways in the championship matches because that storyline is so big and you gotta finally give it that conclusion. It's gotta be over, and
it's only over with a triple threat. So I think it's I think it's Roman, but I also have Punk up there as well, because if anybody's going to get it, it's going to be Punk. He's literally come back for this. This is the thing that his career is.
Sitting right all right. I've got my reasons for my winner, and they're very clear. I want to say no, I want to hear South. Since we have the same final four, who's your winner of the twenty twenty five men for a rumble.
Right, So again we look at the odds since twenty thirteen, nine out of the twelve winners, I've been the odds on favorite the day before. The other three again in the top four. So if you look at the odds, the top four as of right now, John Cena plus one hundred, seth Rollins plus one twenty five, seem Punk plus one fifty, The Rock I don't know why he's still up here plus eight hundred if we remove him, Roman Ring.
Rosy, Yeah, yeah, twelve.
I found it kind of interesting that Roman Rains went from plus seven hundred plus twelve hundred. I thought it would have been opposite the more we got into the the rumble. There's this podcast I listened to from the Bringer, The mash Man Show with David Schumaker, And because Hekaz used to be a writer for WW, he always says during his podcast, WW will tell you what they're going
to do if you pay attention. And I think at the end of the go Home episode of Raw, that promo between CM Punk and Cody Rhoads, I think they were set in the stage for CM Punk and Cody Rhodes WrestleMania main event. Every day up until the recording of this podcast, I had flipped of who I thought was gonna win. I was John Steena all the way
the nostalgia scene is coming back. He was the odds on Favorite, and then all of a sudden, seth Rowlins went from like plus twenty five hundred to the odds on favorite.
There's a couple.
I know. I would have been so happy and then that on the minus one fifty he was the odds on fair. Now he's the second one plus twenty five. I've kind of cooled off on his potentially win in if we go with the Roman reigns Jacob for two, that eliminates Romans. It leaves us with the CM punk and Cody Roads know seem punk. He's he's forty six, he's he's close to fifty, then he has forty. He's never won the Rumble. We know one of his biggest life goals is to main event WrestleMania. I don't know
what you guys think. I currently think he's like, maybe outside of Cody, the hottest of the w yeahs at the universe right now. H he's been the second or third odds on Favorite every week and he's currently a
plus one fifty. So like the numbers of the dad and the trends back them up, and storyline wise, I think they're just they're setting it up for us, and I think it might be flip flop where by the time we get to WrestleMania, we might not get full Cody Homelander, but I think we're gonna get Cody on the hillside and Punk as the true baby fit.
I think got there.
Eventually he gets Seth Rollins. That's gonna be like the B match.
I know that that is the Night one WrestleMania main event. I'm sorry, like it ain't. I don't think Seth enough. I think, I don't think anybody. I think right.
Now there is a main and main event match, not a main event WrestleMania match, not a Night one, not where Seth Rollins is currently booked.
There's nothing. What you've done with the book, Seth row it doesn't matter, and it's not It's is WW you need more than that. Unfortunately, this is not This is not aw Tony Kahn fantasy booking where we just make good matches and then nobody cares the next day. This is different. This is about us getting to a point where We're engaged with Seth Rollins and Seth Rolins just lost to see him punk. Seth Rawlins feels like he's floating around in the character that's more of an entrance
than a character anybody really cares about. I'm sorry, like he is kind of mid tier right now. Well, and I like Seth Rollins, I just feel like this is that's where he is. So what I want to see that match? Sure do I want to see it WrestleMania. It ain't there, and I don't think you can get it there in four months.
I think it's still Wrestlemanium. Maybe not this Mania, but I think it's still a WrestleMania oh down the line.
Yeah, it's just not right now. Seth Rollins character right now is just not there. Here is the Final Four again, Rain's about to sena punk now. I'm going with CM punk. And here's a couple of reasons why. Number One, the minute John Cena came back, all he keeps talking about is the same thing. Have you ever heard him do a promo since he's come back and not say the words elimination Chamber. I think there's a reason for that.
It's an international show. John Cena in Toronto is gonna have one last run in Canada and get tip his cap to everybody. And this is the farewell tour, folks, So you're gonna get Seena everywhere so they can cash in on every single thing of merch. You see the Indianapolis merch for Sina. Guess what, We're gonna have a bunch of Canadian flag merch Forsina when he goes up to Toronto. It's going to be the same thing all the way through. This is what we're going to do.
And considering what happened to Punk last year, and considering with aw Punk two he's a little fragile, you want to have him win the Rumble and then put him in bubble wrap until WrestleMania. You do not want Seampunk at Elimination Chamber doing stupid things. I'm telling you right now, it's bad for business. You have him win this time around, you protect him till until you get to April to WrestleMania, and that's it, and you have him go over here.
Now there's if you don't want to do Sina and Cody, which is something a lot of people want. I think Sina and Cody needs the belt personally, because you have to have that draw of Oh Sina one more time? Can he win one more championship face versus face passing the torch to Cody. It's that ultimate kind of good guy moment. It's very Hogan Warrior esque kind of feel. There only two much, much much better human beings. Can
I emphasize the much there? And then what you have going on is you have the opportunity to do that match. You have a very clear night one of Cmpunk, verst Gunter. Gunter will carry He carried jay us to the best singles match he's ever had. J Uso is not a great singles wrestler, he was a good match. Gunter can carry anybody, even a forty six year old Cmpunk. It's gonna be fine, and the crowd will be very clear that night who they want to win. And I think
that's something WWE wants. They want the clarity of, you know, we want Cmpunk to be I think if it's Cmpunk and Cody, that crowd's gonna be very split. Sal what do you think?
But I think by the time we get there, promo wise, Spunk will win over the crowd.
I don't disagree, but at the same time, if you look at the you know, if you look at the crowds, got a lot of kids, a lot of younger people, and many is one of those big events too, where you're gonna get a lot of you know, the people engage in families and stuff like that. Terrell. They've made a lot of money off Cody Rhoades and those kids who This is not like you buy a pair of jorts and a hat and you dress up like John Ceno. These kids are getting coats made to look like Cody Rhodes.
It's a very different thing. I don't think you want to stick a pin in that quite yet. What do you think, Terrell?
I hear everything you're saying, but I still think the seth Rolins piece is left out and he has now created himself. I know you may not like the character, but a lot of people like the character, and I think that he has, like the eddle to do, he has something to do with all of this.
You said what, I think they like the entrance. I don't think the character has been defined for some time. And I think what you do is you have punk. I think you're doing two nights of SummerSlam now, that's where you have punkin and seth rawlins and you can and fire it up again if you want. I don't think it's gonna be a long run for Punk at the top, to be honest, Physically, I don't know if he can handle it. But it's gonna be interesting to see. Who are your picks for the Royal Rumbo? Drop him
in the comments you're on the YouTube channel. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you enjoy this, go talk about on the survey say more wrestling content from these three yahoos. Go to betting pros dot com slash survey so we can do a WrestleMania show. I can't even say survey survey, not survey unless you are I don't know, Sean Connery or something like that. So again, betting pros dot com slash it's the slash sal That's what's screwing me up.
It's slash survey is a hard thing to shay. Slash survey. See I got it the last time, and make your voice heard. Those are our picks for the Rumble. I think we all agree Cody Rhoades is gonna win. We all nod yes, Cody Rose wins. You guys before let's do one conspiracy mark theory before we get out of here. Go because you don't think Seth.
You don't think Seth rawlins and Gunther is a big enough wrestleming right now. So what if John Cena wins the elimination chamber and he challenges gun there? So you got Sena and gun there. And if we look at the odds, if you don't think you want to be on c and Punk because he's plus one fifty, Roman reigns at plus twelve hundred, we still have that cm Punk favorite. I was wondering Punk cashes it in and they make it a triple threat Cody Punk. Wow.
I was thinking of that once again. You and I are in the same booking minds out, which is why I love you. I was thinking that same thing is when do we get the favor? And do we get it because do they pull.
Men in the main event?
Well, you know what, Triple h polled the same thing, and then we'll get out of here. You know the I'm gonna make you want it more thing. You know I'm gonna have Cody lose that first time. Do we have Punk lose the rumble lose elimination chamber and then have to call in the favor to backdoor his way into wrestle media. I mean that would be the very short abridged version. The four month version is most of the year version of waiting for Cody Rhodes. But I
did think of about that this morning. Here's my only thing physically. I'm just worried about him getting there. Like I just I love where your head's at. I just worry about it. But who knows. What's the Paul Haymond favor dropped that the comments to all the speculation, Terrell sal this was super.
Cool on one fun fact before if you had.
Something, he's He's got one more thing before you go.
He had seem punk at the thirteenth in your listening order. Only one wrestler has won Raw Rumble from the number thirteenth spot. Who do you guys think it was?
From thirteen? I'm gonna go with the stone cold Seve Auston because he won a couple of times. It gives me some mounts.
Yeah, I was gonna say Sean Michaels because he won a couple of times. I know he did it one and one time and hopefully the other one.
Was he didn't one. I knew that for sure.
The first rumble ever nine Jim saw Jim Doug Wow.
Also a historian? Is CM punkins Well? And who was that raw recently? By the way, No, he was. He was at Saturday Sound of Man event. That's what it was, Saturday Man event. Hack saw Jim Duggan. There you go, Easter eggs, Easter eggs. Let's go, baby, let's go. It's rumble season. The road to WrestleMania is just beginning. Subscribe to Betting Pros. That'll do it for us, but the story of the game goes on for salam to real. I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time. Kids.
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