WWE Royal Rumble 2020: Match Card, Start Time, Predictions, Date, Tickets, And How To Watch

The start of a new year means one thing for WWE fans: the arrival of the Royal Rumble. Each year, the PPV features two big matches which pit the wrestlers from both the Raw and Smackdown rosters against each other in a 30-person over-the-top battle royal. The winner of both the men's and women's matches will face the champion of their choice at Wrestlemania in April, so a lot is on the line.

2020's Royal Rumble already has a few surprises, not including R-Truth declaring himself part of the event only to be undeclared seconds later in one of the most enjoyable segments in recent memory. In addition to that, every year, the rumble matches have numerous surprises, and at least once a year, there is at least one really bizarre surprise entrant no one sees coming.

This year's event is coming to Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on Sunday, January 26. Depending on where you live in the world, you'll be able to watch the event at a reasonable hour or during the middle of the night until the early morning--sorry Europe. Below, you'll find the start times for the main card of this year's Royal Rumble.

Royal Rumble start time:

• 4 PM PT
• 6 PM CT
• 7 PM ET
• 12 AM GMT (January 27)
• 11 AM AEDT (January 27)

The start times are for the main card, and it's important to note that all WWE PPVs have a Kickoff Show as well. With more important events like Royal Rumble, said preshow usually starts two hours before the main card. Usually, there are a couple matches on the Kickoff Show as well, but at the time of this writing, nothing has been announced for the preshow.

How to watch:

If you're interested in watching this year's Royal Rumble, there are a couple ways to do so. You could purchase it through your cable or satellite provider; however, the cost for this event can range between $45-55, depending on your provider. This is the only way for some people to watch who don't have access to high-speed internet.

You can actually watch this year's Royal Rumble for free on the WWE Network, as long as you're a new subscriber. If you're signing up for the first time to the streaming service, you get one month for free, and you can cancel anytime. So you can stream the PPV this Sunday for no cost. If you like what the network has to offer, it costs $10 a month.

If you'd rather attend the event live in Houston, tickets are still available for the Rumble. The cheapest seats available are $75, and if you're looking for ringside action, there are seats six rows back for $700.

Match card:

As for the confirmed matches for this year's Rumble, one thing that's interesting about this year's event is that WWE Champion Brock Lesnar declared himself part of the Rumble match in the #1 spot. If he lasts the entire match--which is normally at least an hour long--he'll be able to face the Universal Champion at Wrestlemania. Normally, we don't see a main event champ in this match, so it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Hopefully, Lesnar doesn't win the Rumble. We don't need a part-time champion holding both main event belts.

The rest of the card is slowly coming together. As of this writing, there are seven matches on the card, which may not seem like a lot. However, both the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches can last over an hour each, so we're not expecting this year's Rumble to have much more than 10 matches on the main card. Below, you'll find every match on the card so far, and as of this writing, nothing has been booked for the Kickoff Show.

• Shorty G vs. Sheamus
• Bayley (c) vs. Lacy Evans (Smackdown Women's Championship)
• Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin (Falls Count Anywhere Match)
• Becky Lynch (c) vs. Asuka (Raw Women's Championship)
• "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Daniel Bryan (Universal Championship)
• Women's Royal Rumble Match
• Men's Royal Rumble Match

Additionally, we'll keep you updated with who has been confirmed for both the men's and women's Rumble matches. Check them all out below.

Women's Rumble participants:

• Charlotte Flair
• Alexa Bliss
• Nikki Cross
• Sarah Logan

Men's Rumble participants:

• Brock Lesnar (#1 entrant)
• Roman Reigns
• King Corbin
• Dolph Ziggler
• Shinsuke Nakamura
• Braun Strowman
• Erick Rowan
• AJ Styles
• Randy Orton
• Elias
• Rey Mysterio
• Ricochet
• Drew McIntyre
• Otis
• Tucker
• Rusev
• Bobby Lashley
• Aleister Black
• Buddy Murphy
• Seth Rollins
• Kevin Owens
• Samoa Joe
• R-Truth (He may or may not show up)

Predictions:

Part of the fun of the Rumble event is predicting the winners and losers of the event. Later this week, GameSpot will have its official predictions out, but here's a quick taste of what we think will happen before then.

Men's Royal Rumble:

Everything is pointing to Lesnar winning the match, which leads me to believe there will be a unification of both Raw and Smackdown's main event championships. There is nothing I want less than Lesnar to win, but with the build up to the match, that's where it seems to be headed.

However, this would be a great time for WWE to pull of something really cool like giving Drew McIntyre a big push. At the end of the Rumble, it could come down to McIntyre and Lesnar, and McIntyre could eliminate the beast, becoming this year's Rumble winner. Ultimately, he would then challenge Lesnar for the title at Wrestlemania, already setting up a nice story between the two.

Women's Royal Rumble:

Unlike the men's match, there haven't been a lot of wrestlers confirmed for the Women's Rumble match. More than likely, WWE may take a big chance with someone that hasn't been in the main event spotlight for the Women's Championships. This could be the time for Nikki Cross to shine. However, what is much more likely is Charlotte winning the Rumble, only to challenge Becky Lynch at Mania for what will surely be a great match.

Come back to GameSpot on Sunday, January 26 for live coverage of the show.