WWE Royal Rumble (2017)

Written by,
Will W. Erins

One of the biggest events hosted by the WWE aside WrestleMania is the Royal Rumble. It’s simply a battle royal that has several different rules implemented for the winner, the participants involved, and prestige that follows. Every year this event has established many WWE Superstars who participated. The Royal Rumble has played host to deciding a WWE Champion; the first in 1992 where Ric Flair won the then, vacant WWE Champion and Roman Reigns had to defend the title against 29 other Superstars. The 30th Annual Royal Rumble on January 29th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX; its will be 20 years since the WWE held the Royal Rumble at this arena where Stone Cold Steve Austin won his first rumble ever.

GOLDBERG/BROCK LESNAR ENTER THE RUMBLE

All of this would be the result of Goldberg making his return to the WWE after a 12-year hiatus to answer the challenge made by Paul Heyman on Brock Lesnar’s behalf. Fast forward to Survivor Series 2016, Goldberg would destroy Lesnar in his first return match. On the November 21st episode of Raw, Goldberg would declare himself the first entrant in the Royal Rumble match. The following week, Paul Heyman commented that despite being humiliated by Goldberg, whom Heyman had underestimated, and that Lesnar would also compete in the Royal Rumble where Lesnar “has something to prove”.

With the Royal Rumble making it’s return to the Alamodome in 20 years, some more names have tossed their name into the hat to realize total victory. This past Monday, The New Day (Xavier Woods, Big E, & Kofi Kingston), & Chris Jericho all have announced their participation in the Royal Rumble match. Another monumental name that will wreck havoc all over the Rumble match is Braun Strowman. Strowman has been on a roll lately showing why he’s the new big man that will destroy anything in his path. His rivalry with Sami Zayn has shown that even the determined babyfaces don’t stand a chance. However, Strowman did get taken out this past Monday when hit with a double spear by Roman Reigns and Goldberg. Anything can happen in the Royal Rumble match but only one man will be victorious.

Prediction(s): Strowman, Wyatt, or a complete left fielder like Jericho may win the Rumble match. Look the playing field right now. Jericho is being pitched to have a feud with Kevin Owens whether it is for the Universal title remains to be seen. Strowman is  clearly getting the push necessary to get over a tremendous monster and it’s actually working, and Bray Wyatt despite losing the tag titles has gotten back in the good graces of fans lately since Orton joined the family, so a win for him would catapult him in the main event title picture only to win it from Styles, Cena, or what many think The Undertaker later down the road.

KEVIN OWENS (c) VS. ROMAN REIGNS
WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP (W/ JERICHO SUSPENDED IN A SHARK CAGE)

This past Monday, the rematch was officially announced by General Manager, Mick Foley. Kevin Owens will defend the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns at the 30th Annual Royal Rumble. At WWE Roadblock: End of the Line, Kevin Owens would face Roman Reigns for the title but the ending was controversial, to say the least. Earlier in the night it would seem the two best friends dissolved into becoming former friends. However, attacking Owens in the match to ensure he retained the title was all a plan from the beginning, as Jericho would help Owens up and raise his hand in victory. You have to hand it to Owens and Jericho for revitalizing interest in the Raw product as it seemed to be dying a slow death for a variety of reasons. Back on topic, the night would conclude in Reigns and Rollins taking their frustrations out on Owens and Jericho by putting them both through tables closing out the show. Aforementioned, Mick Foley would not only make the rematch but add that to prevent a Chris Jericho interference he would be placed inside a shark-proof cage that would be suspended above the ring. Now this is a clever move to eliminate Jericho from the equation however, there’s still Rollins possibly costing Reigns the title as he’s said he wants to take the title away from Triple H’s new golden boy to get Trips attention. On the other hand, Triple H could come out to help Owens retain the title which would trigger a Rollins run-in to beat down the 14x World Champion.

AJ STYLES (c) VS. JOHN CENA
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP

The return of the Cenation leader was met with the expected mix reactions, but seeing Cena back on WWE TV is a great feeling. John Cena has been away handling a few projects that have kept him away from the square circle but he’s back and ready to compete and compete for the WWE Championship. Previous matches with Cena and Styles have ended with Styles getting the better of the decorated champion. The match at SummerSlam this past August was truly a dream match that absolutely set the bar higher than anybody expected. John Cena has also been open about his quest to make a historic tie for 16 World Champions with Ric Flair. However, back in October Cena was denied that opportunity as Styles defeated him and Ambrose in a triple threat match in October at WWE No Mercy. Styles would use the rules of No disqualification in a triple threat with the usage of a chair to help pin Cena to the mat for the 3-count. Now that Cena has returned that opportunity has arisen again for his probable 16x winning World Championship. Although Styles has been targeted by Cena, the Phenomenal One had his own worries as he’s prepared to defend his WWE Championship against Ziggler and Corbin. In a great showing from all three men, Styles would come out the winner making him the final champion of 2016 and the man that will face John Cena at the Royal Rumble. Only time will tell how this story will unfold as Cena would make his way to the ring and shake the hand of AJ Styles as the show ended.

CHARLOTTE FLAIR (c) VS. BAYLEY
WWE ‘RAW’ WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

In the year 2016, Bayley and Charlotte Flair were on two totally different ends of the spectrums in terms of success. Bayley would be successful in terms defusing personal feuds (i.e. Nia Jax & Dana Brooke) and Charlotte Flair would climb the mountain of success by becoming a 4x champion and undefeated in singles PPV matches. Despite all the success these Charlotte has had on the main roster one superstar is a thorn in the side of the 4x champion, Bayley. The Huggable Hero would have three victories over ‘The Queen’ but with the third victory being expunged from the records after her high-power attorneys cited a “referee error”, Bayley is fired up to prove that an error is the least of Charlotte’s worries. The score wasn’t settled even in the supposed rematch where Charlotte would get the victory with the help of her protege, Dana Brooker serving as special guest referee. This past, Monday on RAW, Bayley would only prove she’s more than ready to become the new ‘RAW’ Women’s Champion after she overcame the destructive Nia Jax in a single match to determine the #1 Contender for the title at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. There’s no doubt that Bayley has captured the hearts of the WWE Universe and many within it knows Bayley deserves to be the champion but is her time now? Will the playing fields catalyst, Dana Brooke get involved as Bayley zeroes in on the win? Or will Charlotte be too much for the Huggable underdog? All these questions and more will be settled at the Royal Rumble on January 29th inside San Antonio’s Alamodome.

Don’t Forget the Numbers of the Royal Rumble:

Anything can happen as WWE is aiming to make this year’s Royal Rumble historical. There have been teases of huge surprise returns and debuts in the Rumble. So this is a great time to be excited. Don’t miss out on the action that will determine how the ‘Road to WrestleMania 33’ is played out. With each match announced this the article to check back on for the updates and first-hand analyst.

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Source(s): WWE.com