The past few years have seen various TNA stars make surprise appearances in the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches, with Mickie James and Jordynne Grace among two of the most noteworthy recent examples.
With WWE and TNA now officially partnered up, we're expecting some big surprises. It's not exactly shocking then that PWInsider.com is reporting that they've "heard from WWE creative sources there has already been a pitch for a top TNA star to be in the Men’s Royal Rumble match."
A specific name hasn't been revealed, but new TNA World Champion Joe Hendry is the most likely possibility (especially as he's already worked matches in NXT).
Talking to Busted Open Radio after winning the title from Nic Nemeth, a clearly confident Henry called out a WWE icon. "John Cena. Let me tell you why. Look, let’s let it continue. I have done all the things that I thought would be impossible."
"We’re in an era where anything can happen, and just before Genesis Triple H tweeted us, Shawn Michaels tweeted the show and Cena, who hadn’t tweeted about it before, tweeted the TNA logo on his Instagram. What kind of representative would I be for TNA if I didn’t call out John Cena?"
"I love it, because when John Cena gets on that microphone he tells the truth, and I genuinely, honestly believe that people haven’t seen what I can truly do on the microphone yet," Hendry continued. "I feel so comfortable going out there with nothing prepared, and to me John Cena in the top, top echelon of talkers ever in this business."
"If you don’t invite that challenge to try and step up then you are not challenging yourself. I want it, I know how powerful he is on that microphone, but I believe I can hang with Cena."
In related news, following her loss to Tessa Blanchard at TNA Genesis, Jordynne Grace is thought to be done with TNA and is likely WWE-bound. That news also comes from PWInsider.com and the belief is she'll make her official debut during the women's Royal Rumble match.
As noted, Grace has already appeared in that match and on NXT. She's been part of TNA since 2018 and is a three-time Knockouts World Champion, one-time Knockouts World Tag Team Champion with Rachael Ellering, and the inaugural Digital Media Champion.
As always, keep checking back here for updates on the Royal Rumble as we have them.