WWE Royal Rumble Preview 2010

The 2010 Royal Rumble kicks off the WWE's pay-per-view calendar and starts the official road to Wrestlemania.

This year, the WWE is going with some different pairings for the title matches and is really loading up the Rumble match with star power.

Let's look at the undercard first:

ECW Champion Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson

I appreciate the fact that WWE is enforcing the brand split and not having the ECW guys wrestling (and usually losing) on Raw and Smackdown.

The problem is, fans who only watch Raw and Smackdown will barely remember who Jackson is (he was The Brian Kendrick's partner on Smackdown).

For that reason, I don't see WWE giving Jackson a big title win over Christian at the Royal Rumble. Christian should hold the title until Wrestlemania, and hopefully he will move to Raw or Smackdown in the draft, because he has really carried the mail for ECW for many months.

Women's champion Michelle McCool vs. Mickie James

As the father of a girl, I'm not too thrilled about the storyline here with a woman getting picked on for being fat. It's even more confusing because Mickie James actually isn't fat.

Hopefully, this angle will be salvaged by a good match, and I wouldn't mind Mickie getting a long run on top of the Smackdown women's division.

World champion The Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio

I suppose anything could happen, but I would be very surprised to see Mysterio pull off the upset win over the larger and seemingly indomitable Undertaker.

The only way Mysterio could win is if some huge monster (Great Khali? Kane? Both?) attacks Undertaker, leading to the pin.

WWE champion Sheamus vs. Randy Orton

I'm pleasantly surprised to see WWE go with a heel vs. heel title match on pay-per-view for the first time since...well, the first time ever, I think.

If the WWE wants to establish Sheamus as a main event star, it would be a good idea for Sheamus to win this match cleanly in the middle of the ring.

The 2010 Royal Rumble

I like the fact that we really don't know who is going to win the Royal Rumble. While we can think about matchups with the four men who could come out of the Rumble with the title, you have to remember that 12 men will have the chance to come out of next month's Elimination Chamber with the World or WWE title.

First let's weed out the guys who almost certainly won't win the Rumble: Cody Rhodes, Yoshi Tatsu, William Regal, Zack Ryder, Evan Bourne, The Hurricane, Shelton Benjamin, Carlito, Chris Masters, and Santino Marella.

Then, let's get rid of the people who the WWE could light a match under and rocket them to the moon but just won't do it: Shelton Benjamin, Ted DiBiase, The Miz, Jack Swagger, Matt Hardy, and MVP.

Now, we'll take away the monstrous veterans who will eliminate a few guys before getting tossed: Mark Henry, The Great Khali, Kane, and The Big Show.

Next, let's pick four guys who could really use a big win and just might break through to the top by winning the Rumble for the first time: Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, Chris Jericho, and CM Punk.

Finally, we have the usual suspects: Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels.

What will probably happen? John Cena will win the Rumble and challenge Undertaker for the title, also seeking to ruin Taker's 17-0 record at Wrestlemania.

Shawn Michaels would instead face Undertaker at the Elimination Chamber PPV before battling Triple H at Wrestlemania.

What would I like to see? How about Punk winning the Rumble and Mysterio winning the title from Undertaker? Orton could also win the WWE title from Sheamus.

Then, we could see HBK-Taker at the Elimination Chamber and headline Wrestlemania with HBK-HHH, Cena-Taker, Rey-Punk for the World title in a hair vs. mask match, and Orton vs. Kofi for the WWE title.

Those are my picks; let's hear yours!