AEW Stars Entering WWE Royal Rumble 2023, Other Surprise Entrants

AEW/WWE

A look at whether an AEW star could enter the 2023 Royal Rumble, and if so, who would it be? And also what other surprises we could see.

The Royal Rumble is right around the corner, so let’s take a look…

Will An AEW Star Enter The Royal Rumble?

Let’s be honest, the answer is no. Probably.

There have been a couple of times in the past where, if an AEW guy was to ever appear on WWE TV, it would have happened.

The most notable of those being Billy Gunn for a DX reunion, when WWE asked if he could appear and the story is AEW said “sure, if you mention AEW”, and WWE didn’t want to do that, so it didn’t happen.

You’d think AEW would want the same deal if an AEW guy was to enter the Rumble, and there’s not really a reason that WWE’s answer would have changed since then, because that was when Vince McMahon was completely out. So it’s actually even less likely now than it was then.

But, if it was to happen, who would it be?

If you were to make an actual prediction in the hope of being correct, you’d have to go with either Bryan Danielson or Chris Jericho.

Danielson has always spoken positively about his time in WWE and relationships there, and a lot of people predict he may end up back there as he winds down on his career in the next few years.

Jericho is another who a lot of people assume just based on his legendary WWE career that he’ll end up back there, but as time goes on and on, he seems to become more and more genuinely devoted to AEW.

The thing is, both men have appeared on WWE programming while in AEW. They both had videos air on the John Cena anniversary show last year, and Jericho had been a guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions in 2021. So that pretty much makes them the most likely by default.

That’s a little bit boring though, so would be the BEST choice, if it was just a completely free choice and you could choose anyone from AEW.

Well, I’d probably have whoever it is be in the final two for a face-off with Cody Rhodes, so who’d be best for that.

One option is Cody’s own brother Dustin Rhodes, which would be very cool indeed and maybe even a great way for Dustin to call an end to his career if that’s the point he’s at right now.

The other obvious choice is AEW World Champion MJF, who has history with Cody Rhodes that still doesn’t really feel resolved. It would just be an absolute spectacle.

Oh yeah, there’s also CM Punk if he counts. Yeah, let’s go with CM Punk.

Other Royal Rumble Surprises

The women’s Rumble only has seven out of 30 participants announced for some reason, but there really are plenty of active women on the roster that could make up close to 30, so it shouldn’t be like last year where about half of them are returns.

And even the “surprises” that we do get, how many of them will actually be surprises, and how many will be the same “surprises” we’ve been getting for the past five years?

Hopefully there’ll be some NXT entrants this year, which they didn’t want to do last year for some reason.

What we’re probably going to see is names that have been in NXT for a long time and are likely going to be the most recognizable faces, like Indi Hartwell and Alba Fyre, and maybe you could put Toxic Attraction in that mix.

But, it would be nice to see some of the real potential major stars of the future like Tiffany Stratton, Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez, who could all easily be future WrestleMania main eventers.

Hopefully there’ll be a couple of the top NXT guys in the men’s Rumble too – picking three I’d probably go with Grayson Waller, Carmelo Hayes and Joe Gacy. Don’t put Bron Breakker in if he isn’t winning.

With the legends, you might as well just take your pick, and a ‘Forbidden Door’ person? Jay White is the answer a lot of people are going to, mainly based off a tweet from the WWE BT Sport account.

That is by no means a ‘tease’ from WWE, last year the BT Sport account predicted Okada. It’s not an indication of anything. There is a bit of credence to it in that WWE has reportedly shown specific interest in Jay White and seems willing to work with NJPW (see Karl Anderson).

For the sake of rounding things out, here are three predictions of surprise entrants for each Rumble (without being TOO obvious and saying Kelly Kelly and Brock Lesnar):

Women’s

• Chelsea Green
• Indi Hartwell
• Beth Phoenix

Men’s

• Matt Cardona/Zack Ryder
• Cameron Grimes
• Carmelo Hayes

I imagine I’ll get approximately zero of them correct.

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• Royal Rumble
• AEW

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