As seen at the 2022 WWE Royal Rumble, the company brought back several names from the past, including Mickie James, who was the Impact Wrestling Knockouts champion at the time. Some new details about who WWE considered for the match has emerged. While names like Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson had been mentioned, WrestleVotes informed Louis Dangoor of GiveMeSport.com of the following:
“It was never on the table for it to be anybody from AEW. That I know for sure. They agreed to have Mickie James wearing the IMPACT title, so I know the idea was ‘if we do it in the women’s, shouldn’t we do it in the men’s?’”
The following was also stated in regards to the men’s Rumble match and Vince McMahon:
“From what I understand, a list of four or five guys was presented, and Vince didn’t like any of them, so that’s where it ended. Vince doesn’t know every single wrestler outside of the WWE, so when this list was presented, there was nothing that jumped out at him. I’m not even quite sure he recognised the four or five or six guys that they said, ‘we can probably do this.’”
