The WWE’s Royal Rumble is a match that’s built on surprises. Surprise entrants, draws, returns, betrayals and most of all winners. Although, the last few years have felt predictable regarding the winner.
Last year Triple H winning shocked no one due to the heavily saturated feud between The Game and Roman Reigns. In 2015, Reigns himself was the favourite and to the surprise of no one, he cemented his spot in the main event at Wrestlemania by winning the Royal Rumble match.
This year seems a little different. Granted, we have our favourites. Brock Lesnar and Goldberg were the first two to declare entry and both of those behemoths are heavily tipped to win.
The returning Undertaker is always a threat to win when he’s involved. You could also see main event calibre superstars pulling double duty such as John Cena, AJ Styles and the aforementioned Reigns, who could enter and end up winning the 30-man over the top rope classic for themselves.
What about the superstars that aren’t in that upper echelon? Could one of them be the last man standing? Here’s a list of 5 superstars who could potentially be the Dark Horse in this year’s Royal Rumble.
#1 Kurt Angle
Recently announced Hall of Fame inductee Kurt Angle could be in this year’s Royal Rumble. How crazy is that? The possibilities are absolutely endless designing his comeback with the company. Where do you start? AJ Styles? John Cena?
The comparison between The World’s Greatest Tag Team and American Alpha has been a popular one. Teaming them up with Angle only seems fitting. The three collegiate style wrestlers would be great adversaries for the Wyatt family.
Angle last wrestled for WWE in 2006 for their ECW brand. Since then, he had a lengthy run with TNA and up until recently had been taking Indy bookings. Angle is 48 years old though and can’t go like he used to.
He has taken a lot of bumps on those old bones but if he entered the Royal Rumble late it’d be a believable win for the Olympic gold medalist. Headlining Wrestlemania one last time for either brand’s title could be his swan song.
His matches with AJ Styles in TNA were epic and on the biggest stage of them all, Wrestlemania, that showdown could be a monster draw.
#2 Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston had arguably the best year of his WWE career in 2016. Being 1/3 of the highly entertaining tag team, The New Day, allowed him to show his true charisma. Making history with Big E and Xavier Woods as the longest reigning tag team champs of all time doesn’t hurt to add to his long list of credentials either.
However, the only title to elude the extensive accomplishments of Kingston is a world championship. Not only has Kofi never held the top title but he has also never had an honest shot at even competing for it.
He’s seen it all in WWE. He’s been through brand splits and brand unifications, returning part-timers and has faced the competition of rising stars hot from developmental. But he’s viewed it all from the mid-tier of the roster. His only real high profile match in recent memory was in 2015 against Brock Lesnar at Beast in the East.
Things didn’t end well for the high flyer as the Beast Incarnate pulverised him in less than three minutes.
The Royal Rumble has been a sort of a speciality for Kingston though. A platform in which he showcases his acrobatic and creative athleticism to avoid elimination.
We’ve seen him run on the barricade and long jump to the stairs, walk on his hands on the outside and even hop on an announcer’s chair back to the ring all to avoid his feet touching the ground.
Someday, when Kofi’s career is over there will be a discussion on whether to include him in the Hall of Fame or not. A world title run would certainly put the stamp on what should be a definitive yes.
Aside from a Money in the Bank cash in, winning this year’s Royal Rumble could be the most direct route for Kofi to capture the coveted prize.
#3 Big E
There's been a lot of speculation that Big E could be leaving the New Day for bigger and better things.
Holding the tag titles for the longest reign in WWE history is pretty much the top thing you can accomplish as a tag wrestler. Whether he stays with Kingston and Woods or not, it’s apparent that there's nothing left for him to prove in the tag division.
The only argument that can be made against Big E is that his six-month run with the Intercontinental Title in 2013-2014 wasn’t considered a successful one, therefore winning the Rumble and heading to the main event at Wrestlemania might not be on the cards.
Back then, he was a squeaky clean babyface with defences against the likes of Jack Swagger and Damien Sandow - not exactly the cream of the crop. The only thing repressed more than his shot at a viable challenger was the lack of opportunity to show his charisma.
The few times it did sneak out it was looked down upon and some speculate that those glimpses were the reason that he was made to drop the title.
Big E found himself in a bit of a rut until he joined Xavier Woods and veteran Kofi Kingston in the outlandish, over the top faction The New Day. Here, with power in numbers, Big E could be his goofy self and the group catapulted to stardom.
In the Royal Rumble, it’s every man for himself but it doesn’t hurt to have friends until the end. This is a huge benefit for any member of The New Day but especially for Big E, given his size.
If WWE is serious about bringing Big E to the next level then the Royal Rumble is a great place to do it at. Keeping Kingston and Woods as his backup would also help. Some of the greatest champions of all time had an entourage.
The Rock had the corporation. The Undertaker had the Ministry. Hollywood Hogan had the NWO, Triple H and Shawn Michaels both had DX. If he wins the Royal Rumble and goes on to Wrestlemania to challenge for the Universal Title, it will be nearly impossible for anyone to dare to be sour about Big E.
#4 Samoa Joe
Speculating that Samoa Joe will be a surprise entrant in this year’s Royal Rumble is a hot topic at moment.
He’s lost his NXT title back to Shinsuke Nakamura and there isn't much left for him to do in NXT anymore. There’s no question that Joe has been ready for a long time. It’s puzzling that he even made a stop in NXT yet alone such a lengthy one.
Joe’s made a career being the top dog in every organisation except WWE. His intensity is outmatched by no one. His wrestling is top notch. His ability to fear another man is non-existent. And he’s everything the main roster needs right now.
He’s a guy that could bring back the aggressiveness that the attitude era generously gifted us in the 90’s.
His age could be a double-edged sword for him, though. At age 37 he’s not getting any younger so that might prohibit WWE from investing much stock in him. But on the other hand, they might realise that they don’t have time to slow play his rise to the main event.
The Royal Rumble would be an excellent spot to make the biggest impact. He could potentially enter the Rumble at number 30 and easily bulldose his way to victory.
Because he spent most of his career outside of WWE, the matchmaking alone for Wrestlemania makes his Royal Rumble win all that more logical. Both brands provide incredible matches in the making. Smackdown provides a match with an old foe in AJ Styles or a never before seen dream match in John Cena.
Raw also provides an old foe in Kevin Owens and a dream match in Chris Jericho. All of these have potential five-star outcomes and could draw huge money for Wrestlemania.
#5 Cesaro
Sheamus and Cesaro have worked the cheer/boo shtick into their tag team gimmick but let one thing be clear about it - it’s not that much of a shtick. The WWE universe is still firmly seated in the Cesaro section. We all love the Swiss Superman.
He has the stamina and freak athleticism to unquestionably conquer a match type like the Royal Rumble. He was the first-ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner and things should have skyrocketed from there... but they didn’t.
Cesaro’s career has been halted for various reasons over the years. He had an exciting and successful tag team run with Tyson Kidd as The Brass Ring Club, until Kidd succumbed to a potentially career-ending neck injury.
Also read: 5 Unlikely WWE Superstars who could win the 2017 Royal Rumble
This left Cesaro without a partner and not much to do except consistently come up short in mid-card title matches. His recent teaming with Sheamus has led to tag team gold but they still feel like two singles competitors oddly paired together without any flair or real connection.
I mean they don’t even have a cool name like The Brass Ring Club.
Cesaro needs to reach that next level in 2017. The Royal Rumble could be that launching pad.
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