Chairshot Picks: The 2021 WWE Royal Rumble

The Road to WrestleMania kicks off this Sunday at the Royal Rumble, and your Chairshot staff is here with the picks! 100% accuracy guaranteed!

Say hello to an old friend, your Chairshot Staff picks! We are picking the Royal Rumble winners, which will go a long way towards establishing our top matches for WrestleMania.

Your panel:

• Andrew Balaz
• Rey Ca$h
• Mags Kirkby
• Adam “AJ” Balaz
• PC Tunney
• Patrick O’Dowd
• Steve Cook
• DPP
• And me…Greg DeMarco!

Now, on to your picks!

Last Man Standing Match for the Universal Championship – Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens

• Andrew Balaz – Roman Reigns
• Rey Ca$h – Roman Reigns
• Mags Kirkby – The Tribal Chief
• AJ Balaz – Roman Reigns
• PC Tunney – Roman Reigns
• Patrick O’Dowd – Roman Reigns
• Steve Cook – Roman Reigns
• DPP – Roman Reigns

Greg DeMarco’s Take: I know the Last Man Standing gimmick lends itself to Roman Reigns being able to lose without actually losing, getting screwed by Kevin Owens, etc. But the run Roman is on feels like the start of a long run at the top, something we don’t get to see a lot of. So I am picking Roman Reigns to win here, and I think he retains at WrestleMania, too. I could honestly see him walking into WrestleMania 38 (in Dallas) as Universal Champion, and dropping it there.

Greg DeMarco – Roman Reigns

Chairshot Consensus – Roman Reigns (9-0)

WWE Championship – Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Goldberg

• Andrew Balaz – Goldberg
• Rey Ca$h – Drew McIntyre
• Mags Kirkby – Big Daddy Drew
• AJ Balaz – Drew McIntyre
• PC Tunney – Drew McIntyre
• Patrick O’Dowd – Drew McIntyre
• Steve Cook – Drew McIntyre
• DPP – Drew McIntyre

Greg DeMarco’s Take: Like most people, I can’t see Drew losing here. Crazier things have happened (involving Goldberg), but it this was Randy Orton or The Fiend challenging Drew McIntyre I could see justifying a pick in that direction. But for the first WWE event with fans in over a year, I don’t see Goldberg entering as champion. The legacy of Drew McIntyre continues to grow with a win here. And no, I don’t know what Andrew was thinking, either.

Greg DeMarco – Drew McIntyre

Chairshot Consensus – Drew McIntyre (8-1)

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships – Charlotte Flair & Raw Women’s Champion Asuka (c) vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler

• Andrew Balaz – Nia & Shayna
• Rey Ca$h – Nia and Shayna
• Mags Kirkby – Shayna and Nia
• AJ Balaz – Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler win and gain the tag titles
• PC Tunney – Baszler/Jax
• Patrick O’Dowd – Asuka & Charlotte Flair
• Steve Cook – Asuka & Charlotte Flair
• DPP – Asuka/Flair

Greg DeMarco’s Take: The more I think about this match, it comes down to two things: 1) #LOLCHARLOTTEWINS, and 2) Asuka and Charlotte Flair only won to make Charlotte’s surprise return at WWE TLC that much more impactful. I believe they lose the championships here, and I could see Asuka dropping her title to Alexa Bliss, who in turn defends against Charlotte Flair at WeestleMania. Hopefully Asuka does something at the big show, possibly reuniting with Kairi Sane to challenge Nia and Shayna.

I’ll also to as far as to say that Baszler gets the win over Asuka here, setting up a defense on Raw between Asuka and Shayna (which is a WrestleMania worthy match).

Greg DeMarco – Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler

Chairshot Consensus – Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (6-3)

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

Surprise Entrant(s):

• Andrew Balaz – Kairi Sane
• Rey Ca$h – Tessa Blanchard, Melina, Victoria, Jazz
• Mags Kirkby – Becky Lynch, Rhea Ripley
• AJ Balaz – Rhea Ripley, Candice LaRae, Kairi Sane
• PC Tunney – Tessa Blanchard, Rhea Ripley
• Patrick O’Dowd – Summer Rae
• Steve Cook – Rhea Ripley, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Trish Stratus, Shotzi Blackheart
• DPP – Ripley / Melina / Beth Phoenix

Winner:

• Andrew Balaz – Bianca Belair
• Rey Ca$h – Bianca Belair
• Mags Kirkby – Bianca Belair
• AJ Balaz – Bianca Belair
• PC Tunney – Tessa Blanchard
• Patrick O’Dowd – Bianca Belair
• Steve Cook – Bianca Belair
• DPP – Bayley

Greg DeMarco’s Take: Holy crap, far too many people picking the same person. It’s like sports betting: if the public is heavily leaning in one direction, go the other way. Biana Belair’s time will come, and it will come really soon–right after WrestleMania. To me, this is Bayley’s Royal Rumble to win, and we get another match for Bayley and Sasha Banks on the stage they deserve: WrestleMania. My hope is they can main event Night 1 with that match. As for surprises? I’m gonna go with Meiko Satumora, Trish Stratus, and Becky Lynch. And I must say I love Tunney’s Tessa Blanchard pick, from a fantasy booking perspective.

Greg DeMarco – Surprise Entrants are Meiko Satumora, Trish Stratus, and Becky Lynch, winner is Bayley

Chairshot Consensus – Bianca Belair (6), Bayley (2), Tessa Blanchard (1)

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

Surprise Entrant(s):

• Andrew Balaz – Hideki Suzuki, John Cena
• Rey Ca$h – Jay White, John Cena, Damien Priest
• Mags Kirkby – Goldberg, Adam Cole, Seth Rollins
• AJ Balaz – The Fiend, Adam Cole, Damien Priest
• PC Tunney – Jinder Mahal, Jay White
• Patrick O’Dowd – Booker T
• Steve Cook – Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Booker T, Santino Marella
• DPP – Seth Rollins

Winner:

• Andrew Balaz – John Cena
• Rey Ca$h – Daniel Bryan
• Mags Kirkby – Edge
• AJ Balaz – The Fiend
• PC Tunney – John Cena
• Patrick O’Dowd – Big E
• Steve Cook – Edge
• DPP – Edge

Greg DeMarco’s Take: This shows you how wide open everything is right now on the men’s side, when there is no obvious winner. Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns are both in programs that will wrap up soon, and outside of Daniel Bryan, no one has even been hinted to as a possible challenger. At WrestleMania, I see Daniel Bryan challenging Roman Reigns, and Drew McIntyre’s opponent being either Edge, Randy Orton, or The Fiend (with he other two wrestling each other). But then there’s my gut instinct, a feeling that I can’t shake, and that’s AJ Styles. So different than my pick on the Babyface Heel Podcast, different than my pick on DWI Podcast, I am going with AJ Styles to shock the world and add “Royal Rumble winner” to his list of accomplishments.

Greg DeMarco – Surprise Entrants are Jay White, John Cena, Damian Priest, Karrion Kross, and Kyle O’Reilly, winner is AJ Styles

Chairshot Consensus – Edge (3), John Cena (2),  Daniel Bryan, The Fiend, Big E, AJ Styles (1)

Those are out picks! Who are yours?
Drop them in the comments or on social media @ChairshotMedia.