The WWE announced on Monday's "Old School" edition of Monday Night RAW that "The Animal" Batista and Alberto Del Rio will both be in the 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble match at the January pay-per-view on Jan. 26 live from the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, leaving 28 more spaces for the WWE to fill.
It remains to be seen who will take those spots, but with Batista's impending return to the WWE for the first time since 2010 on the Jan. 20 edition of RAW, the WWE announced that "The Animal" will take a spot in the Royal Rumble. Del Rio responded by calling out Batista and saying that he will also be entering the match and that he'll be gunning for Batista.
The WWE has had some surprise entrances they've been mulling over and some highly speculated names include Chris Jericho--who has adamantly said that he isn't returning, Hulk Hogan--who may not be able to wrestle but could possibly make a short appearance in the Rumble match, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts--who returned on Monday night's RAW.
Batista responded to Del Rio on his official Twitter page:
So I hear Alberto Del Rio is talking trash. Just one question... Who the hell is Alberto Del Rio?!!!
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) January 7, 2014
The WWE also started pushing the rumored match between Brock Lesnar and The Big Show as Lesnar took out Mark Henry and "dislocated and fractured" his elbow on RAW before Big Show came down and threw Lesnar down, possibly hinting at their highly speculated meeting at the Royal Rumble.
A Big Show and Lesnar match is rumored to be added to the card in addition to the 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble match and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship rematch between Randy Orton and John Cena on the pay-per-view.
It has been rumored that Batista may win the over-the-top-rope match and go on to WrestleMania XXX to take on Orton for the belt on April 6 in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, meaning that Orton will likely retain.
The WWE Royal Rumble takes place in just under three weeks on Jan. 26 in Pittsburgh and will ignite the road to WrestleMania XXX.
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