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The Royal Rumble is always the most highly anticipated match of the year. The countdown, who will come next and the swerves that come along all factor into making the Rumble WWE's second-biggest Pay-Per-view every year, next only to WrestleMania.
In recent years, however, the event hasn't been as exciting as it had been in previous years, due in large part to the Royal Rumble winner being leaked online in the months, weeks and sometimes days beforehand.
This year is a little different, however, as there are at least 3 leading candidates who could, or in this case will take the top spot.
#3 John Cena
Yes, two-time Royal Rumble winner John Cena has been leading the pack lately as the top favorite to win the 30 man match. Cena had been the favorite among professional sports betting websites as recent as this past Monday, and was the known favorite to win it within WWE throughout all of November and December, with the plan at the time being for John to face now former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal for the title in the main event of WrestleMania.
AJ Styles managed to win his second WWE Championship from Jinder on a taped Smackdown event in Manchester, England.
However, this didn't put the match in question as many expected AJ to drop the title back to Jinder post-Survivor Series, but as of this writing, AJ remains Champion. Could we get a fourth Styles vs Cena match Pay-Per-View match? It is possible but many also believe the Phenomenal One will drop the Championship to someone else, possibly Jinder, come February.
As of now, Stone Cold Steve Austin is the only wrestler too ever win the Rumble match three times, but I have no doubt that WWE would absolutely think of giving Cena that record to tie as well, en route to beating Ric Flair's World Championship record at the grandest stage of them all.
#2 Roman Reigns
John Cena is still probably the most polarizing superstar in WWE history, but if anyone is close to taking that claim, it's the 'Big Dawg' Roman Reigns.
Love him or hate him, in WWE Top Brass' eyes he is 'The Guy', and WWE like to believe that somehow, someway he will be cheered by the majority of the live audience one of these days.
If you think that Roman being booed every week will change WWE's plans, then rethink! .
No, being booed after winning his Royal Rumble in 2015 by almost the entire building doesn't matter, being booed by 90% of the 100,000 + strong AT&T stadium in the main event of WrestleMania 32 doesn't matter and being booed for 5 minutes straight on the post-WrestleMania RAW doesn't even come into the picture, Mr. McMahon still feel the WWE Universe will adore him someday.
Why a Rumble win is quite likely to happen for the Intercontinental Champion is because the Royal Rumble takes place in Philadelphia, the same city, and venue as the 2015 Royal Rumble, when Roman won in front of a hostile crowd.
WWE may think that Roman will be cheered that night and want to give him the poetic return victory after the travesty in 2015.
Unless plans get flipped upside down in the same way as at TLC 2016, Roman Reigns will face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania, and likely the main event, irrespective of him winning of losing the Rumble.
#1 Shinsuke Nakamura
I won't say the odds for this are as huge as they are for John Cena and Roman Reigns, but a Royal Rumble win for Shinsuke Nakamura is quite realistic, especially compared to everyone else who will be in the match, apart from Cena and Reigns.
Firstly, in some cases a Rumble win for Cena and Reigns would come off a little to obvious, so predictable that WWE may try to pull the kind of swerve they did with Orton in January, and have one of the lesser obvious picks to win, be the last man standing, in this case, Shinsuke Nakamura. Although if Cena were to win he would likely challenge the WWE Champion, a Rumble win for fully fledged Smackdown star in Shinsuke Nakamura would be a great move for Smackdown, which has been portrayed as the B show ever since they lost every high profile match at Survivor Series.
Finally, Nakamura vs Styles at WrestleMania is almost a lock. Their Wrestle Kingdom 10 match made everyone stand up and take notice of NJPW, even WWE. Nakamura vs Styles was teased at last year's WWE Money in The Bank and still remains pretty much the only really big one-on-one match between two Smackdown stars that hasn't happened yet.
Much like Lesnar vs Reigns, I expect this match to happen at WrestleMania.
