WWE Royal Rumble 2026 Predictions: Will Gunther End AJ Styles' Career?

Get hyped, everyone, because it is nearly time for the 39th annual Royal Rumble.

AJ Styles will be putting his WWE career on the line against Gunther, Sami Zayn will attempt to finally win the big one against WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, and 60 WWE Superstars will be looking to punch their ticket to WrestleMania 42 by winning the annual Men's and Women's Royal Rumble Matches.

Rick Ucchino, Zack Heydorn and Blake Lovell are back once again to offer up their final thoughts and predictions for this weekend's show, including who could show up, who could win, should win and who will win these big match-ups that are officially kick-starting WrestleMania season.

You can get more in-depth discussion on this Saturday's Royal Rumble by watching our predictions video above, and please subscribe to The Takedown on SI YouTube channel to check out all of our talk shows and exclusive interviews.

AJ Styles vs. Gunther

The WWE creative team really wants you to believe that AJ Styles is going to retire this weekend, but they've also done a great job of creating a reasonable amount of doubt whether it's going to actually happen. They've teased future opponents, while Styles and Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque have publicly discussed desires for his retirement tour this year.

Then again, Shinsuke Nakamura seemingly spoiled Styles' retirement with a now-deleted Instagram post following Saturday Night's Main Event. It would not be surprising at all to find out that the King of Stong Style's post was some kind of WWE: Unreal setup, because that's the world we live in nowadays. The show that many believe kills kayfabe, has actually added a layer of nuance to it.

AJ Styles has now filed to trademark "The Phenomenal AJ Styles" and his P1 logo, so it appears he is preparing for life after WWE. A Saudi Arabia PLE in January, Royal Rumble or otherwise, just seems like an odd time and place for his time with the company to come to an end.

Although he did debut at this event. Does the 'Career Killer' add another name to his list and bring Styles some full-circle closure? Our panel is split.

Predictions:

Rick Ucchino: AJ Styles
Zack Heydorn: Gunther
Blake Lovell: AJ Styles

WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Sami Zayn

Is certainly feels like it's now or never for Sami Zayn, doesn't it? Which is exactly why no one on this panel wanted him to win the Fatal 4-Way No. 1 Contender's Match at Saturday Night's Main Event. WWE has surprised us before, but having Drew McIntyre lose the WWE Title in his first defense would be an all-time shocking moment. Which means that Sami Zayn will once again come up short in his quest to win the big one.

The question then becomes, does WWE find a way to get Sami into the Men's Royal Rumble Match and give him a second opportunity to send the Saudi Arabia crowd home happy? Raw General Manager Adam Pearce has already told Finn Balor that the field is set, which means that the WWE creative team would have to pull a 2019 Becky Lynch in order to make this work.

Despite having a title match on the card already, Zayn is still one of the betting favorites to win the Men's Royal Rumble Match and secure his spot in another world title match at WrestleMania 42. So, let's not rule out the possibility. What we can rule out is Zayn heading back to the United States this weekend with the WWE Championship in his possession.

Predictions:

Rick Ucchino: Drew McIntyre
Zack Heydorn: Drew McIntyre
Blake Lovell: Drew McIntyre

2026 Women's Royal Rumble Match

The field for this year's Women's Royal Rumble is absolutely stacked, with more than enough room for some decent surprises to enter the fray on Saturday, but recent creative decisions have whittled the number of legitimate contenders down to just two in our eyes. And one of them hasn't wrestled since she was injured at WrestleMania 41.

We've taken Rhea Riple, IYO SKY and Becky Lynch off the board after they won the Women's Tag Team Championship and Intercontinental Championship, respectively, earlier this month. It appears that WWE has different 'Mania plans in mind for them.

The same goes for some other heavy-hitters who have been firmly planted in the tag team division, like Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss and Bayley, and Raquel Rodriguez already has her title match this coming Monday on WWE Raw.

That narrows it down to Liv Morgan and the returning Bianca Belair. It's not known at this time if the E-S-T has even been cleared to compete after breaking her knuckle last April, but she'd be a very welcome addition to the main event scene on SmackDown. It'd also be easy to pick right back up where she left off with WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill. That said, it just feels like it's Liv Morgan's year.

Predictions:

Rick Ucchino: Liv Morgan
Zack Heydorn: Bianca Belair
Blake Lovell: Liv Morgan

2026 Men's Royal Rumble Match

Speaking of a stacked field, the Men's Royal Rumble has no shortage of star power this year. Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Jey Uso and Rey Mysterio have each had the honor of pointing at the WrestleMania sign before, while Bron Breaker, Oba Femi and Jacob Fatu would each make intriguing first-time winners.

We also expect a fair amount of surprise entrants as well, including the return of nine-time world champion Chris Jericho and the debut of Royce Keys (formerly known as AEW's Powerhouse Hobbs), but both would have to be considered long shots to win the match. Let's not sleep on a returning LA Knight, or the aforementioned Sami Zayn getting their big moment, but should our attention be focused elsewhere?

This same panel was so blinded by the "obvious" choice of John Cena last year that we completely overlooked the possibility of Jey Uso coming out on top. While Zack and Blake are still going with the betting favorite of Roman Reigns, Rick believes more attention should be given to Finn Balor. WWE set the stage this week for the long-awaited singles push for The PrinXe, and not only will he find a way into the match on Saturday, but he's going to shock the world and win it.

Predictions:

Rick Ucchino: Finn Balor
Zack Heydorn: Roman Reigns
Blake Lovell: Roman Reigns

The Latest On WWE, AEW & More

How To Watch WWE Royal Rumble 2026: Date, Start Time, Match Card, Location & Stream

Jackie Redmond May Have Revealed a Major Royal Rumble Spoiler

Tommaso Ciampa Debuts On AEW Dynamite Days After WWE Contract Expires

Harley Cameron Provides Career Update on Saraya