Predictions for John Cena’s Opponent at the 2009 Royal Rumble

After the December 22nd edition of Monday Night Raw, the pool of possible opponents to challenge for John Cena’s World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble dwindled down to four. Shawn Michaels Super Kicked Kane in the face and got the pin. Then JBL was about to be 619’ed before his newest “employee” Shawn Michaels pulled him out of the ring and slapped him in the face to get JBL the win by having his opponent Rey Mysterio disqualified for interference. Then the douche bag, Randy Orton advanced by default because apparently his punt on Batista on the last Raw was too much for him to handle. After that, Chris Jericho advanced by way of a mid-air Code Breaker on CM Punk.

Now the four winners will meet next week on Monday Night Raw in a Fatal Four Way match where the winner will face John Cena at the Rumble. Of the possible four, you have to eliminate first and foremost, Shawn Michaels. He has been relegated to the role of puppet to JBL, and will be forced by his new master to do everything in his power to help JBL win. The next man out is Chris Jericho. He has already had the opportunity to beat Cena in the last two Pay-Per Views, Armageddon and Survivor Series. The WWE Universe does not want to be subjected to the obvious outcome of a Jericho loss again.

Finally, we have two men left. JBL and Randy Orton. This is so tough to call. First of all, the Randy Orton and Cena feud was never able to come to fruition as Cena suffered his first of two pure injuries prior to last year’s No Mercy, where he was set to face Orton in a Last Man Standing Match. However, Orton wouldn’t be a bad pick to win the Rumble for that same reason so that he could face Cena at WrestleMania (Truth be told, I think Batista will win it).

JBL on the other hand is a good option because we know he’s not going to win the Rumble, and he would obviously lose to Cena if they fought because there is no way the bookers would let Cena put JBL over. At least not yet. Furthermore, the Royal Rumble is the king of all WWE Pay-Per Views where the title-holders retain their belts.

So for me, I am going to say that the big-talking New Yorker from Texas will be coming out victorious on next week’s edition of Monday Night Raw. Then after that it will be some showman trash talking mic skills being spewed from JBL’s mouth on John Cena for almost an entire month as the Royal Rumble won’t take place until January 25th, where he will eventually, and undoubtedly, lose.