Very Early Picks For The 2027 Men’s Royal Rumble

We are six months out from the 2027 Royal Rumble PLE, with WWE officially announcing that the show would emanate from the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona in February of next year. It might be early, but it is always fun to speculate with the Royal Rumble match, predicting who will go on to win the iconic matchup to earn a world title match at WrestleMania.

When looking across the WWE roster (and potentially some of those outside of the company), there are certain names on the men’s division who stick out as being amongst the early favorites to win the 2027 men’s Royal Rumble match.

6

Oba Femi

• Oba Femi won the King Of The Ring.
• He is one of WWE’s fastest rising stars right now.
• Fans want Femi to defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 43.

The favorite heading into the 2027 men’s Royal Rumble is undoubtedly Oba Femi. Fans were already ready to see him rise to the top of WWE and challenge Roman Reigns ahead of SummerSlam on the back of winning the King Of The Ring tournament, so things will only be ten times hotter for the rising star in six months time.

Femi retired Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, so the next logical step on his climb in WWE is to continue his super push with a Rumble victory and headline WrestleMania 43 to win a world title, becoming a complete megastar in the process.

5

Kevin Owens

• Owens returned from injury at SummerSlam 2026.
• He hasn’t been a world champion in WWE since 2017.
• Owens deserves a Royal Rumble win and world title ascent.

Kevin Owens recently returned from injury, and there is no easier story to tell than a babyface redemption arc after a long being out of action, and this can come via a Royal Rumble victory. Owens would be a massively popular choice for fans to get behind, and winning the Rumble would be a feel-good moment.

WrestleMania 43 was originally set to be the place in which Sami Zayn won the WWE Championship for the first time, but with his victory coming much earlier, Owens would be the perfect candidate to take that spot, giving fans a huge babyface victory at the show, especially if his feud with CM Punk picks up steam, with the door open for WWE to stretch their bad blood until WrestleMania.

4

Gunther

• Gunther is one of WWE’s best Royal Rumble performers.
• He has been runner-up in two Rumble matches.
• He holds the record for longest time spent in a men’s Royal Rumble.

Gunther is one of the most relied upon performers in WWE today, so if the promotion needs to push someone into the limelight at the Royal Rumble event, Gunther is an incredibly safe pick that would go down well with fans, whether that be those who love his work or those who boo him in his effective heel role.

In recent years, Gunther has been runner-up in the Royal Rumble twice, plus he has broken the record for the longest time spent for a man in the Royal Rumble match, cementing himself in the history of the event already. WWE can go one step further with a historic victory in the match, taking him back to a world title at WrestleMania 43. It has been many years since a heel won the Royal Rumble match in WWE, with Triple H the last full-blown heel to win the men’s bout back in 2016, which is a wild statistic.

3

Bron Breakker

• WWE considered Bron Breakker for the 2026 Royal Rumble.
• Breakker has proven himself as a future star in WWE.
• Breakker can become a star with a Royal Rumble victory.

It was revealed recently that one of WWE’s original plans for the 2026 Royal Rumble was a Bron Breakker win, however the promotion decided to back out under fear of Breakker being “forced down throats”. In 2027, WWE can run things back and have Breakker win this time around.

His momentum has certainly dropped throughout 2026, but his potential is still clear, and a Royal Rumble win can be the bold and definitive moment that turns his entire career upwards, cementing him as a main event talent from that point on.

2

CM Punk

• CM Punk is the current WWE Champion.
• He has never won the Royal Rumble match.
• WWE may want to crown him as a safe option for the Rumble.

CM Punk may be the reigning WWE Champion right now, but there is always a chance that he could lose the title prior to the 2027 Royal Rumble. This would open the door to WWE enabling Punk another “first time ever” upon his second run with the company, following up on main eventing WrestleMania with his first ever Royal Rumble victory.

Punk is one of, if not arguably the single biggest WWE star in history to never win the Royal Rumble match, and WWE can finally change that in 2027. He would be another safe option for WWE as they build towards WrestleMania 43, handing Punk a third successive main event in the process.

1

The Rock

• WrestleMania 43 is in Saudi Arabia.
• The Rock vs. Roman Reigns is an expected main event.
• The Rock can win the Royal Rumble to earn a title match.

Ever since WWE announced that WrestleMania 43 would be in Saudi Arabia, fans have been under the impression that The Rock will fixture into plans. If WWE wants to set up the long-awaited Roman Reigns vs. The Rock match, then The Rock could surprise fans with a wild Royal Rumble appearance and victory, earning himself a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.

It would be the safest option and one that might be hard to sell given that he isn’t even someone who could be considered a “part-timer” at this point. However, you cannot rule him out of the equation when predicting the potential winners of the men’s Royal Rumble match next year.