8 Surprise entrants that must be in the 2017 Royal Rumble match


This year’s Rumble match has the potential to be one of the best.

The 2017 Royal Rumble match is fast approaching and already speculation is running wild on what’s going to happen. Actual entrants, entrant order, who eliminates whom, and most importantly, who will win, are all questions that lead to considerable curiosity and discussion at this time.

Since no one knows for sure what’s going to happen (not even the alleged industry experts), everyone’s having a grand old time trying to predict what’s going to happen at this annual WWE show.

One big question in discussion, of course, concerns the surprise entrants. Several wrestlers have already announced that they’ll be in the Rumble match because, apparently WWE thinks that everyone has the power to decide that sort of thing, instead, of you know, holding qualifying matches for it so that fans can see that not just anyone can get in.

The list of wrestlers officially announced in the match so far is a nice blend of veterans, younger talent, and legends.

We have Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Baron Corbin and Braun Strowman as relatively new Rumble entrants, The New Day, Chris Jericho The Miz and Dolph Ziggler as veteran Rumble entrants; and some very rare Rumble match appearances from Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker (his first appearance in the match since 2009) and Goldberg (first appearance since 2004).

So already the Rumble’s looking very exciting and is bound to bring in a lot of viewers, just for those entrants alone.

But what about the rest of the card? Who will fill in the remaining spots in the match? Odds are that we’ll see several regular faces from WWE’s upper mid-card be given random spots here or there in order to fill numbers.

But for each wrestler that announces their entry into the match, there should be a surprise entrant that either isn’t expected to appear or keeps their involvement a secret until the match starts.

Here are eight people we absolutely must see enter the 2017 Royal Rumble match.


#8 Gillberg

Gillberg vs. Goldberg. The last dream match from the Monday Night Wars.

WWE is really trying to build up Lesnar vs. Goldberg up as much as possible, to rectify its mistake from WrestleMania XX. To that end, both men will be in the Rumble match, which will further build-up their eventual confrontation at WrestleMania.

But this year, when Goldberg and Lesnar face each other, they shouldn’t just brutalize each other until one or both is eliminated. Instead, there should be a healthy reprieve in their fighting where they focus on other wrestlers. And at that time, WWE should send in someone that’ll make the audience laugh hysterically: Gillberg.

Back when WWE and WCW were archrivals (seems like such a long time ago, I know), WWE’s answer to Goldberg’s rise to superstardom was Gillberg, an obivous parody played by a skinny jobber that never won a single match. Gillberg’s entrance was a mockery of Goldberg’s spectacular one, but the music was almost identical for both of them.

This year, WWE should book the following scene: Goldberg and Lesnar are both exhausted from trying to destroy each other and are taking a break. There are a few people in the ring with him, all of them focusing on their own opponents.

Suddenly, Goldberg’s own music starts playing, and out come the security guys holding sparklers, and then out comes Gillberg. The audience starts chanting Gillberg’s name as he walks down to the ring, mocking Goldberg’s signature poses and expressions.

Gillberg walks up to Goldberg, yells ‘whose first?’, and Goldberg looks down at this tiny mockery and thrashes him, tossing him out in less than 20 seconds. It’s a perfect moment of comedic brevity that the otherwise serious Royal Rumble match will definitely need.

#7 Shelton Benjamin

Like Cesaro after him, Benjamin was one of the most underutilized wrestlers on the WWE roster during his first run.

Last year, the biggest talking point following the conclusion of the Rumble match wasn’t Triple H’s win, but AJ Styles’ debut. His was arguably the biggest reaction out of anyone in the match, and despite some dubious WrestleMania booking, Styles reached the top of WWE in almost record time, finishing 2016 as WWE Champion.

This year, WWE should try to do something similar by bringing in someone that appears to have signed with WWE but hasnt yet appeared publicly: Shelton Benjamin.

Though he is not the top calibre star that Styles is, Benjamin was one of the biggest rising stars in WWE during the early 2000s. He was an excellent athlete and definitely had the look that WWE wanted their Superstars to have.

Sadly, he was saddled with a series of disappointing gimmicks that crippled his upward momentum, and he was released in 2010, despite being one of the strongest midcarders in WWE at that time.

Benjamin could try and capitalise on the Rumble’s unpredictability by making his return in that match. It would be great to see the athletic Benjamin going toe-to-toe with some of WWE’s most athletically-gifted current talent, especially since Benjamin hasn’t really changed his style much since his WWE days.

#6 Nia Jax

Could Nia Jax follow in Kharma’s footsteps and eliminate a male wrestler?

There has been a lot of speculation recently about the possibility of WWE doing a women’s Royal Rumble match. The general consensus among fans is that it’s a good idea, and it would definitely do a lot to bring in more viewers as women’s wrestling takes another step forward in WWE.

Sadly, WWE has yet to announce such a match, and with only two weeks left before the Royal Rumble PPV, it isn’t likely to be announced if it hasn’t already. As a result, WWE should pull a surprise move and put their biggest woman, Nia Jax, in the regular Royal Rumble match.

Nia’s one of the biggest women WWE has every employed, and she dwarfs all of her fellow women (as well as the entire cruiserweight division). It would be interesting to see Jax in the same spot that was once filled by Chyna, Kharma and Beth Phoenix: a strong woman holding her own in a men’s only match.

This would do wonders for Jax’s overall character, especially since she has yet to win a major feud decisively since debuting on the main roster.

#5 Triple H

Triple H is one of only 3 men to win the Rumble from the #30 spot.

On January 9th, 2017, Seth Rollins announced he’s going to be in the Royal Rumble match. As soon as he said that, everyone and their mother could predict with 101% certainty that Rollins is not winning the match. Why? Because he has been wanting to face Triple H for months, but Hunter hasn’t appeared on the main roster since that famous deception.

There was never an explanation for his actions, and Rollins’s feuds since then have all been placeholders for the eventual Rollins-HHH confrontation at WrestleMania.

To make sure that match gets the proper build-up (because WWE has dropped the ball on that pretty badly so far), HHH needs to enter the Rumble. He doesn’t have to do anything special, all he has to do is come down to the ring, brawl for a minute or two, and eliminate Seth Rollins.

Then as an added bonus, Dean Ambrose can eliminate HHH from the Rumble to avenge his elimination from last year. Then, have HHH and Rollins brawl their way to the back and there you go, the feud for WrestleMania is set.

#4 Shinsuke Nakamura

How to debut in the Rumble in 4 steps: 1) Arrive with swag; 2) Kinshasas for everyone; 3) ???; 4) Profit

This year the Rumble match might be one of the most stacked in history, with many top stars having already announced their involvement in the match. Now, the WWE is obviously going to leave a lot out for the sake of surprise and intrigue, which is why they should throw a curve ball this year by including a few NXT Superstars as well.

And who better from NXT to show up than its current champion, Shinsuke Nakamura?

The King of Strong Style would be a fitting entrant in the Rumble match. He’s a big star with an awesome entrance and his work with NXT has been so great that it’s a wonder he hasn’t debuted on the main roster yet.

Seeing him in the Rumble would be a great way for WWE to give the audience something to be happy about, given Nakamura’s explosive popularity. Even if he doesn’t win, all he’d have to do is fight for a little while and look strong for one brief moment, just to show that NXT has a lot of strong talent as a brand.

And who knows, maybe this would be an opportunity for the powers-that-be to see if the main audience likes Nakamura as much as the NXT audience and then to start putting his main roster feuds together.

#3 “Daniel Bryan”

There exists a way for Bryan to enter the Rumble match...without actually entering the Rumble match

Picture this scenario. The ring is filling up with Superstars, most of them being wrestlers the audience dislikes. The audience is desperate for one of the company’s top good guys to come in and clean house. Suddenly, the clock counts down and Daniel Bryan’s music starts playing.

The audience erupts, giving the next entrant a thunderous ovation. Fans are going nuts, believing that somehow, Daniel Bryan got cleared to wrestle, and that he might be coming out of retirement.

And then the Miz comes out with a Cheshire Cat grin on his face. The music stops, and the audience’s reactions turns into vicious boos. No matter what happens next, the fans will be desperate to see the Miz get eliminated.

Miz’s work in 2016 has been spectacular. He has grown into arguably the best pure heel in WWE and knows exactly how to push fans’ buttons. If he were to do this at the Rumble, he would become the most hated man in the entire company, and it would be perfect for the upward momentum he has right now.

#2 Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe’s been in NXT for a very long time. Maybe now he’ll finally debut on the main roster.

The Rumble match’s randomness is its biggest selling point. You never know whose going to appear in the match, whether it’s a top star, a lower-card jobber, or an alumnus from years past. This year, WWE should take this opportunity to introduce a new wrestler that should become the next top star for SmackDown, Samoa Joe.

Joe has spent plenty of time in NXT and has proven he can wrestle in WWE’s style and draw a crowd. While he might lack the physique that Vince desires, Joe can still put on a good match and entertain the audience.

He’s also one of the more ‘legitimate’ athletes on the roster, with an experience in Muay Thai that makes him far more dangerous than most wrestlers.

Seeing Joe in the Rumble would be a treat, as it would allow him to rub shoulders with some of the top Superstars on the main roster. Joe has a lot of potential big feuds on either show, with the biggest potential one being Joe vs. Cena, especially since the two of them broke into the wrestling business together all the way back in 2001.

#1 Cesaro

If anyone needs an ‘eliminate lots of people’ spot this year, it’s Cesaro

Though he hasn’t announced his involvement in the Rumble yet, Cesaro absolutely must appear in it. Cesaro is one of those people that can run roughshod against multiple opponents at once and keep the audience excited.

His running European uppercut to different opponents in different turnbuckles is one of the most exciting things he does, as it gets a big reaction from the audience whenever the ‘uppercut train’ (as it has been dubbed by JBL) gets going.

With the past three Rumble matches suffering from serious predictability issues, and for WWE, undesirable fan reactions for certain Superstars, this year WWE must do what it can to ensure the audience is satisfied with the Rumble entrants and eliminations.

Cesaro is one of the most beloved wrestlers on the roster, one that always gets a hugely positive reaction from the audience. WWE would be foolish to keep him out of the Rumble out of fear that his reaction would overshadow someone else’s.

Even if he doesn’t win (and odds are, he won’t, despite his uncontrollable awesomeness), his presence in the Rumble, coupled with a lot of uppercuts and a few surprise eliminations, is an absolute must this year.

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