The Royal Rumble takes place at the Alamodome in what may well be the biggest Rumble of all time. WWE will be looking to sell over 60,000 tickets. In order to do this, they require big names. Some of the big names confirmed to appear are Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena.
The Undertaker is expected to be part of the show, and Shawn Michaels is rumoured to be appearing in a non-wrestling role since it is will be in his hometown of San Antonio. The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels will both appear on Raw on January 9th. It is expected that both legends will announce their respective roles in the Rumble.
The build to the Rumble began after Roadblock: End Of The Line.
Here is the list of Royal Rumble 2017 Matches:
Kickoff Show:
Sheamus & Cesaro(c) vs Gallows & Anderson – RAW Tag Team Championship – Two referees assigned to match
Sheamus & Cesaro have been riding a wave of momentum since dethroning the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history – The New Day. After they defeated The New Day in a rematch, their feud ended. They then moved on to a feud with Gallows & Anderson.
Karl Anderson picked up his first singles win in WWE against Cesaro. Luke Gallows defeated Cesaro on RAW as well.
In a tag team championship match on January 16th, Gallows & Anderson seemed to have picked up the victory and the tag team championships from Cesaro & Sheamus, but due to the fact that Sheamus accidentally knocked down the original referee, Gallows & Anderson won only by disqualification. This prompted a rematch for the Royal Rumble kickoff show, where their feud might be decided once and for all. Two referees will be assigned to the match to avoid any shenanigans or dusty finishes.
Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax
The feud between Sasha Banks and Nia Jax started off on the night after Roadblock: End Of The Line. Sasha Banks came off an unsuccessful title defence against Charlotte, ending their feud. When she called out Charlotte to congratulate her, it was Nia Jax who came out instead.
Over the next few weeks, Nia Jax would attack Sasha Banks on her injured knee(which she obtained from her Roadblock match against Charlotte) time and again. Sasha Banks would get her measure of redemption as well when she cost Nia a chance to face Charlotte for the RAW Women’s Championship at the Rumble. On the go-home RAW to the Rumble, their match was announced as part of the kickoff show.
Main Card:
AJ Styles(c) vs John Cena – WWE Championship
AJ Styles defeated Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin in the final episode SmackDown Live to end the year as WWE Champion. Earlier in the show, John Cena made his return to WWE after two and a half months and declared that he would compete for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. The two former arch-rivals shook hands to close the show.
Cena returned with an attitude that was never seen in his run as WWE’s top babyface. He will be chasing his 16th World Championship to tie the record with Ric Flair. Cena has a big chip on his shoulder, namely that he has two defeats in the hands of AJ Styles, out of which one is a clean victory.
The rivals tore the house down at Summerslam, and this should be no different in the four-hour show.
Kevin Owens(c) vs Roman Reigns – WWE Universal Championship match(w/ Chris Jericho suspended in a shark cage)
Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns have faced off numerous times over the past few months, with The Big Dog getting the win most of the time. Whenever Owens has defeated Reigns, it was thanks to the help of Chris Jericho. As a matter of fact, all of Kevin Owens’ successful title defences has been due to Jericho’s interference.
To address this problem, Raw General Manager Mick Foley announced on the Raw after Roadblock: End Of the Line that Reigns would get another shot at the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, and Chris Jericho will be suspended above the ring in a shark cage to prevent any interference in the match.
The person who wins this match may very well walk into Wrestlemania 33 as the Universal Champion.
Charlotte(c) vs Bayley – Raw Women’s Championship
Bayley defeated Nia Jax on the first edition of Raw of 2017 to become the Number One Contender to the Raw Women’s Championship. The Charlotte-Bayley feud had its seeds planted after Hell In A Cell. It looked like WWE were going for Charlotte vs Bayley at Roadblock: End Of The Line, but plans changed when they decided to blow-off the Sasha Banks vs Charlotte feud instead.
After Charlotte came out of the feud victorious, and a 4-time Women’s Champion, Bayley confronted Charlotte and declared her intention to pursue the Raw Women’s Championship. Bayley had a pinfall victory over Charlotte on the Raw after Roadblock: End Of The Line, but the victory was overturned as Charlotte had her shoulder up. The next week, Charlotte defeated Bayley through nefarious means when her protege Dana Brooke was the special guest referee who helped Charlotte gain the victory.
Bayley confronted Stephanie McMahon about all this, and the Raw commissioner bluntly told The Hugger that she wasn’t fond of her, while praising Charlotte for being a high-calibre, larger than life superstar. She criticised Bayley for being just ordinary, and when Bayley retaliated, Stephanie put her up against huge odds,i.e, Nia Jax. As mentioned, she overcame the largest female superstar in WWE to become the number one contender.
Bayley has a huge challenge to face. Charlotte is still undefeated in singles matches on Pay-Per-View.
Rich Swann(c) vs Neville – Cruiserweight Championship
There is no doubt that Neville’s long overdue debut in the Cruiserweight division has sparked new life into it. He has taken a role as the top heel of the division and has been getting praised by fans and critics alike for his renewed role in WWE. He has been riding a wave of momentum. On December 27th, Neville defeated Rich Swann on 205 Live in a non-title match. On the January 10th edition of 205 Live, Neville challenged Swann for the Cruiserweight Championship. Swann told him to name a time and place. Neville said the Royal Rumble would be the time.
Nikki Bella, Naomi, & Becky Lynch vs Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, & Natalya – Six-Woman Tag Team Match
The match was set up on the go-home SmackDown Live to the Royal Rumble. The face of the division, Becky Lynch just started a feud with Mickie James. Natalya and Nikki Bella have been at it for a while now, since Natalya admitted that she attacked Nikki Bella at Survivor Series and took her spot on their team. Naomi returned on January 24th, and a feud with Alexa Bliss was teased. It looks to be the next title program. Perhaps Naomi could pin the SmackDown Women’s Champion to solidify her claim for a title match.
30-Man Royal Rumble Match
Goldberg announced himself to be the first entrant in the 2017 Royal Rumble the night after Survivor Series. The week after that, an emotional Paul Heyman said that Lesnar will be in the Rumble match as well. The two are bound to cross paths, and will likely cost each other the match, setting up a blow-off match at Wrestlemania 33.
On the January 2nd edition of Raw, The New Day, Chris Jericho, and Braun Strowman all declared their entry to the Royal Rumble match. On the January 3rd edition of SmackDown Live, Baron Corbin was the first member of the blue brand to announce his entry to the Royal Rumble match.
On January 9th, Seth Rollins tweeted that he was going to enter the Royal Rumble. In the beginning of the January 9th episode of Raw, Rollins told Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon of his intention to enter the Rumble match. However, on the January 23rd edition of RAW, Stephanie McMahon put him in a match against Sami Zayn, where if Zayn won, he would take Rollins’ spot at the Rumble. Due to an indirect distraction by Triple H, Rollins lost to Zayn, thus losing his spot. The same night, The Undertaker made a return to Raw after nearly 10 months to declare that he was entering the Royal Rumble.
On the January 10th edition of SmackDown Live, Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose and former champion The Miz declared their entry to the Royal Rumble. On Talking Smack later that night, Dolph Ziggler announced his entry to the Rumble.
Before the January 16th edition of RAW, Sheamus and Cesaro declared their entry to the Royal Rumble match on twitter. On the January 17th edition of SmackDown Live, Bray Wyatt declared that he, Randy Orton, and Luke Harper would be entering the Rumble.
On the January 23rd edition of RAW, Big Show, Big Cass, and Rusev were confirmed to be participating in the Rumble. As mentioned above, Sami Zayn earned his spot the same night as well.
On the January 24th edition of SmackDown Live, Mojo Rawley won a 10-Man Battle Royal to qualify for a spot at the Royal Rumble.
This is perhaps the most unpredictable Royal Rumble match in years. There are a few names up in the air such as Finn Balor. This may very well turn out to be the best Royal Rumble match in a decade. However, as of this moment, The Undertaker is an early favourite to win the Royal Rumble match.
Here is the updated list of participants
- Goldberg – RAWBrock Lesnar – RAWBig E – RAWXavier Woods – RAWKofi Kingston – RAWChris Jericho – RAWBraun Strowman – RAW Baron Corbin – SmackDown LiveThe Undertaker – OtherDean Ambrose – SmackDown LiveThe Miz – SmackDown LiveDolph Ziggler – SmackDown LiveCesaro – RAWSheamus – RAWBray Wyatt – SmackDown LiveRandy Orton – SmackDown LiveLuke Harper – SmackDown Live Sami Zayn – RAWBig Show – RAWBig Cass – RAW Rusev – RAWMojo Rawley – SmackDown Live
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