WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Preview and predictions
Royal Rumble Match
The biggest match of the night, and the one that only happens once per year—the Royal Rumble match. 30 WWE Superstars will go to battle for a World title opportunity at WrestleMania for either the WWE or Universal Championship.
Heading into the Royal Rumble PPV, we know 22 of the 30 entrants. The names already involved are big ones, including the Undertaker, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho, and Braun Strowman. We also don’t know any part of the entrant order, which is a positive for the unpredictability of this match, unlike the past few years.
With this Royal Rumble match having the ability to go in as many different directions as ever, there are more than a handful of options to win. However, we’re going to cross three names off the list—Undertaker, Goldberg, and Lesnar. The Dead Man competing for a title in what doesn’t look like his last year probably isn’t happening. Goldberg and Lesnar are probably heading to their own WrestleMania match too, which doesn’t need a title. This takes them out of the mix.
If Kevin Owens retains the Universal Championship, Jericho will probably be a favorite. If Roman Reigns wins, as we predicted, then Y2J is probably removed as a potential Royal Rumble winner. He would still wrestle Owens at WrestleMania, but for the United States Championship.
Who stands out after this?
Strowman has ascended up the WWE Raw ladder in just a handful of months. It wasn’t long ago that he destroyed enhancements talent and beat Sami Zayn to a pulp. Now he’s getting segments with Goldberg, Lesnar, Reigns, and other big names to hype the Royal Rumble. That doesn’t just happen with anyone.
The Mountain of a Man has also come along in the ring, which comes a year—maybe less—after he couldn’t have a singles match of more than five minutes. He can hold his own in a 10-minute bout as well. The WrestleMania stage is a different story, but the path he’s going on should lead to a significant singles match in Orlando, FL.
The Royal Rumble should be Braun Strowman’s time. He would go onto face Reigns at WrestleMania 33 for the Universal Championship, developing the Hulk Hogan-like match that Vince McMahon has probably been wanting to build up for the former Shield man for years. John Cena has done this in recent years, except with Bray Wyatt and Rusev (he defeated both at WrestleMania).