The Royal Rumble is one of WWE's premier pay-per-views of the year, and the 2021 event will be no different as it boasts the same-titled men's and women's matches and two blockbuster title defenses.
Some Superstars enter Sunday's extravaganza riding a wave of momentum, while uncertainty surrounding the booking of two reigning champions has their stock plummeting.
Dive deeper into the top competitors ahead of Sunday's PPV and learn why they find themselves in the position they do ahead of the kickoff to the Road to WrestleMania with this preview of the WWE Network presentation.
Nearly one year to the day of his epic comeback at the 2020 Royal Rumble, Edge appeared on Raw to announce his entry into the 2021 men's match. He did so in an intensely personal promo, recalling his journey back to the industry he dedicated his life to.
With that pre-taped segment, he instantly jumped to the front of the line of Rumble favorites.
He is a huge star, a former Rumble winner and someone the company can trust to carry his end of any high-profile storyline it programs him in. His is a name that can be placed on a marquee and attract fans to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida come April 10-11.
The Rated-R Superstar is extremely valuable, especially on a Raw brand that lacks credible depth behind its two or three main event performers.
His stock is way up, as it should be. He could easily win his second men's Rumble match this weekend and cash his ticket to the WrestleMania main event he didn't get to have in front of a fanbase that erupted so passionately for his return at last year's Rumble.
Fans should be nervous for Sunday's Royal Rumble and Drew McIntyre's participation in the pay-per-view.
The WWE champion missed two weeks of television following a positive COVID-19 test. On his first night back, he casually reminded fans that Goldberg has defeated every champion he has challenged for gold since his comeback in 2016.
With no real, long-term booking ideas for McIntyre readily apparent, it would not be surprising if WWE pulled the trigger on Goldberg and booked the veteran to dethrone the Scot to set up some high-profile dream match at WrestleMania 37.
With momentum not on his side and a showdown with one of those legends WWE has repeatedly proved to care about more than the future of its programming, there is every reason to be concerned that Goldberg will defeat McIntyre, thus lowering the Scotsman's stock heading into the first major event of the year.
There was a year or two when it looked like Kevin Owens may have lost a step as a performer, both on the mic and between the ropes. Whether it was disenfranchisement with his place on the card or creative frustration, he appeared unfulfilled.
That could not be further from the truth in 2021, though.
Riding a wave of momentum afforded him by his feud with universal champion Roman Reigns, KO is as hot as he has been in years and is turning in some of his strongest performances. There was the excellent Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at the December pay-per-view and the equally as good Steel Cage match on Christmas Day.
He has upped the intensity, been the sympathetic babyface when he needed and will be rewarded Sunday with a big Last Man Standing match for The Tribal Chief's title.
While it is highly unlikely that he will win, the match should serve as the culmination of a year's climb back to main event relevancy. More importantly, it should reestablish Owens as a viable top star on SmackDown and result in more sustained pushes and consistent creative moving forward.
Asuka is the supporting player in every feud she appears, thanks to WWE Creative's clueless approach to her character.
The Empress of Tomorrow has struggled to regain the magic of her NXT days from the moment she arrived on the main roster. She has been the recipient of inconsistent booking and the company's uncanny ability to ruin anything Triple H and the black-and-gold brand hands it on a silver platter.
It has somehow gotten worse over the last year, though.
Since becoming Raw women's champion in May, Asuka has repeatedly been the co-star in programs that should be all about her. First, there were Bayley and Sasha Banks, and then she was a bit-part player in Zelina Vega's quest to prove she belonged in the title picture. After that, her inability to fend for herself against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler was the emphasis for Charlotte Flair's triumphant return.
Now, The Empress is the reactionary babyface to Alexa Bliss' supernatural twists and turns.
None of these stories were her stories. In fact, it is hard to remember the last time she had a tale to tell. She has always been there, always dancing to the ring and wearing the mask, and occasionally spitting the mist. But she has never been the centerpiece around whom WWE Creative has built a division.
As she enters the Royal Rumble, the last impression we have of her is being laid out by evil Bliss' mandible claw, which proceeded several minutes of her being terrified by the harlequin of WWE.
That hardly screams "credible champion" or "division centerpiece" at a time when she should be thriving on the Road to WrestleMania.
Rarely does a single Superstar so positively affect the overall quality of any WWE presentation, but Roman Reigns has accomplished just that.
Heading into Sunday's show, the universal champion is the hottest star in the entire company and the one character that has become a building block for the company creatively.
Reigns has excelled as the arrogant, entitled, brooding lead heel on the SmackDown brand. As The Head of the Table, he has established dominance and laid waste to those who do not believe in their Tribal Chief.
Jey Uso and Kevin Owens have felt his wrath, and the latter is likely to do so again in their Last Man Standing match Sunday.
Almost certain to retain his title and begin his march to WrestleMania 37, Reigns is the undisputed best thing about the current WWE product and the driving force behind SmackDown's recent ratings success.
He is a legitimate star at a time when the company doesn't seem to be able to create them, making his quality of work and rise to new heights that much more impressive. This isn't the ill-cast inspirational babyface or overpushed babyface.
Reigns is cold, calculating and an extraordinary bad guy when the company most needed one.
