Chris Jericho’s potential WWE return at the 2026 Royal Rumble remains the talk of the town.
With 10 days left until the Royal Rumble takes over Saudi Arabia, DuelBits has released new rankings for the most likely celebrity and former WWE Superstar appearances at the upcoming premium live event.
According to the new data, Chris Jericho has more than a 70% implied chance of making an appearance at the event, making the former Le Champion heavily favored to return at the WWE Royal Rumble.
The closest competition to Jericho is current SmackDown Superstar Matt Cardona, with 66.67% of fans believing the former Indy God could show up in the Men’s Royal Rumble for an opportunity to main event WrestleMania. Of course, Cardona is already on the WWE SmackDown roster, so an appearance in the Rumble is pretty likely.
Former multi-time WWE Champion Brock Lesnar rounds out the top three with a 36.36% implied chance of entering the over-the-top-rope battle royal. Lesnar was last seen at Survivor Series: WarGames before later surfacing in promotional material for WrestleMania 42.
Implied Chances of current/former WWE Superstar Appearances at 2026 Royal Rumble
Here are the chances of the top three current or former WWE Superstars being involved in the main event at Royal Rumble this year:
| Rank | Wrestler | Odds | Implied Chance (%) |
| 1 | Chris Jericho | -250 | 71.43 |
| 2 | Matt Cardona | -200 | 66.67 |
| 3 | Brock Lesnar | 175 | 36.36 |
A spokesperson for the Predicts team at DuelBits said, “In terms of ex-Superstars, Chris Jericho heads the betting here with a 71 percent chance of appearing in the Royal Rumble. He has been continuously heavily linked with a return to WWE and has been strongly rumoured to feature in the Royal Rumble. He is out of contract with AEW so there’s a very realistic chance he makes a comeback at the Saudi event.”
Reports have suggested that Chris Jericho is WWE-bound this year, but his return has not taken place at the time of writing. The former ROH World Champion has not been seen in All Elite Wrestling since wrapping up his program with Bandido and is still listed on the AEW roster page.
While Jericho is reportedly headed back to WWE, PWInsider.com is reporting is likely won’t happen any sooner than that. According to the site, he is scheduled to perform on Friday as part of the National Association of Music Merchants in Los Angeles. This would make an appearance on SmackDown and Saturday Night’s Main Event in Montreal unlikely.
READ MORE: Jim Ross Reveals Where He Believes Chris Jericho Will End Up
