2018 is drawing to a close, which means before long, the 2019 Royal Rumble will be upon us.

Now is the time WWE must start finalizing plans for which man and woman will win their respective Battle Royals, plotting a course on the Road to WrestleMania 35.

However, the idea of WWE having ideas and sticking to them has been a foreign concept the past few months.

Multiple injuries and changes in creative direction have drastically altered storylines and left WWE in a haphazard state. Pushes have stopped midway through execution, events such as Survivor Series set up big angles that meant nothing the next day and there is an overwhelming confusion of what's going on, let alone what's to come.

It's hard to look at all that chaos and imagine any semblance of order that won't be disrupted again before the January 27 event, but if everything stays on course, we may have at least some indication of which Superstars have a chance of winning the men's and women's Royal Rumbles.

Women's Dark-Horse Options

Relatively speaking, only a handful of women are in the discussion to be fighting for the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships at WrestleMania, with even fewer being likely candidates to win the Royal Rumble for that title shot.

Two of the women who bridge the gap of being both unlikely and also still plausible are Asuka and Nia Jax.

Both will receive title opportunities at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, which means there's at least a chance they won't be eligible to compete in the Royal Rumble because they could be holding the titles themselves. But neither is likely to win gold on December 16.

Behind Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, Asuka is the de facto third-ranked woman on the blue brand and can't be left out of the discussion, especially since she won last year's Royal Rumble.

But since we've already seen Asuka against Flair, a win for The Empress of Tomorrow would have to set up either a match against Lynch or Ronda Rousey. The former option has a chance but doesn't require a Royal Rumble win, and the latter is not going to be a priority over a Rousey vs. Lynch or Flair match.

Jax is in a similar boat, where losing to Rousey at TLC doesn't take her out of the picture, but her options become limited to just a grudge match against Lynch.

That could spark a Royal Rumble win to excuse why she would be going over to SmackDown to challenge for that title, yet WWE could play around with things and have Jax compete in the Elimination Chamber to earn a title shot regardless of being on another roster given the company can change rules on a whim if necessary.

The third and final outlier who likely won't win but should still be brought up in the discussion is Rousey herself.

In the unlikely event she drops the title to Jax, Rousey could win the Royal Rumble and challenge Flair or Lynch for the SmackDown Women's Championship instead. But that would require taking a loss, putting the belt on The Irresistible Force and a brand change for the former UFC star, which would be massive steps to take for something that is more easily done with our two more likely options.

Men's Dark-Horse Options

When it comes to the men's Royal Rumble, the dark horses are less in the camp of being involved in main event storylines and more in the realm of being outsiders brought in for name value.

For instance, there will always be some buzz about a Rock return to win the Royal Rumble and fight for the title at WrestleMania because he's one of the most popular stars of all time and his fanbase would flip if he were brought back for another run.

A match between Brock Lesnar and The Rock is always on the table, but the latter's schedule could prevent that in ways that of Batista, a solid backup contender on a somewhat level playing field, wouldn't.

It seemed as though Triple H vs. Batista was in the works for WrestleMania based on their interaction on SmackDown 1000, but The Game's injury put a stop to that. If Batista had already freed his schedule to work from January until April, he may still be down for a big match, and Lesnar vs. Batista would get some buzz.

There's also Shawn Michaels, who perpetually says he is done wrestling but has changed his mind in the past and could be a great choice to win the Royal Rumble and challenge the now-heel Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship if both parties and company officials want to go that route.

Lastly, while it's hard to imagine he would be healthy enough to return come January 27, Roman Reigns must be considered a possibility in theory alone.

If there were any chance whatsoever that he's cleared to compete, WWE would want to tell that comeback story by having him finally fight with the crowd on his side to take the title off Lesnar once and for all.

Women's Runner-Up: Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch is arguably the hottest thing in WWE as she channels Superstars such as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to reach new levels for the women's division and brings in more interest in the product in general.

Since she and Rousey were not able to have their previously scheduled match at Survivor Series, those two must clash somewhere down the line.

If not, and WWE ignores booking that match, it would be not only a tragedy for fans but one of the most glaring examples that the company's officials are out of touch with reality.

But while everybody in the WWE Universe seems to be calling it a guarantee that those two women will main-event WrestleMania, it may not be as much of a certainty because that is just one of two places the Rousey-Lynch match could happen.

Lynch is still holding the SmackDown Women's Championship, and in order for her to fight Rousey at WrestleMania, she would have to first drop that title beforehand and then win the Royal Rumble and jump over to Raw.

The only way around that would be to ignore all previous rules, allowing Lynch to enter the Royal Rumble despite being champion, have her win and then set up a champion vs. champion match instead.

After more than 30 of these matches, it's safe to say that is something WWE is unlikely to do. The closest that has ever gotten to happening was when Chavo Guerrero was allowed in the 2008 Royal Rumble despite being ECW champion, but that belt was never on par with the two main world titles.

It's more likely Rousey and Lynch have their fight at the Royal Rumble elsewhere on the card rather than sitting out the event as spectators as Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss did as champions last year.

Men's Runner-Up Options: The Miz, Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre and Lars Sullivan

If Daniel Bryan remains champion on SmackDown, there aren't many options on the blue brand to realistically challenge him for the title, but The Miz and Shane McMahon are perhaps the two top picks.

Even with limited options, though, both are hard sells.

The Miz would have to turn babyface—something he's inherently not as good at pulling off in comparison to his heel character—and continue a feud that has gone on for a long while, only in reverse.

With McMahon, the big problem is he's not a true member of the roster. Having him win the Royal Rumble could be groan-inducing, as there are plenty of other people the WWE Universe would rather see in that position, such as Finn Balor.

Plus, it seems McMahon and The Miz may be heading toward a confrontation revolving around the World Cup, so unless it is a Triple Threat with Bryan involved, that may disqualify them from the win, and SmackDown may need to establish a No. 1 contender at Elimination Chamber or Fastlane.

On the Raw side of things, it seems Lesnar is set to keep the belt, but he does have a title match against Braun Strowman tentatively planned for Royal Rumble.

If—and only if—The Monster Among Men walks out of Phoenix with the Universal Championship, we could see Drew McIntyre win the Royal Rumble in order to challenge him for the title at WrestleMania. He's been protected and is clearly being groomed for a solid push.

Likewise, WWE obviously wants to get Lars Sullivan over as a credible threat with the way his main roster debut has been hyped. Since his brand designation hasn't been established, the Royal Rumble could be how the company decides that.

Sullivan could win and choose to face the other monster, Strowman, which would put him on Raw in a battle between two behemoths who are looking to establish dominance on Monday nights while Lesnar leaves to focus on his UFC career.

Women's Top Pick: Charlotte Flair

Since it makes sense to have Lynch and Rousey fight at Royal Rumble in the champion vs. champion contest they weren't able to have at Survivor Series, that leaves Charlotte Flair as the top pick to win the 2019 Women's Royal Rumble.

All of the signs are there, even if fans don't want to admit it.

WWE has always put her on a pedestal, and she remains just as high of a priority as ever, evidenced by the company's attempts to give her more of an edge to replicate the rise in popularity Lynch has enjoyed over the past few months.

The non-finish to her match with Rousey at Survivor Series was done in part to allow for a rematch. Not having a true winner left it open to debate who would have won, and the feud between the two is more personal for having had that encounter.

Lynch, as champion on SmackDown, makes sense as a draw. And she could be set up to have a match against Nia Jax to play off their problems that stem from The Irish Lass Kicker's injury at the hands of The Irresistible Force. Meanwhile, having Flair win the Royal Rumble would allow her to jump over to Raw.

This would also offset how Flair was not able to compete in the inaugural women's Royal Rumble last year because she was champion. And WWE always positions her as being at the forefront of the Women's Evolution with as many accolades as possible.

It's inevitable she will win at least one Royal Rumble in her career. And this year, with the Rousey feud being as hot as it is, the fact Lynch vs. Jax is a palpable No. 2 on the card and no other better challengers in sight, The Queen seems poised for a victory.

Men's Top Picks: Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins

While it may seem like Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman are set to do battle at Royal Rumble, there is a chance WWE decides to hold off on that until WrestleMania, if not just to take the easy way out.

They have had numerous fights, and Strowman has always come up short, so it's not the type of match that would generate tons of excitement, but WWE writers didn't shy away from repeating the same thing over and over again in 2018, so who's to say they don't still have that mentality?

The only other babyface on Raw who is popular enough to fight Lesnar is Seth Rollins, who might as well be the top pick above everybody else in WWE.

We've seen it before, but that didn't stop WWE from going with Lesnar vs. Reigns for WrestleMania 34. And this match was teased when The Architect seemed to take on the mantle of avenging Reigns in the Universal Championship scene.

If Ambrose wins the Intercontinental Championship at TLC, it would be a major indicator that Rollins will fight Lesnar given he would be free from that title's responsibilities.

There is at least some speculation that this is the plan, and when looking at the two rosters and the shambles WWE is in, even if it doesn't seem like the most grandiose or awe-inspiring idea, WrestleMania 35 might be in similar territory to WrestleMania 32, when injuries have forced the card to be "good enough, with all things considered" instead of amazing.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.