The road to WrestleMania 33 officially starts this Sunday at the WWE Royal Rumble. In previous years, the blueprint has been clear as to what WWE wants to do for most of their marquee matches. This year is very much different.
The only WrestleMania matches that seem to be set in stone are Seth Rollins vs Triple H, Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg and Big Show vs Shaq. Other than that, the card is wide open, which is what makes this year’s Royal Rumble so unpredictable. And we’re not just talking about the Rumble match itself.
While the Rumble itself has anywhere from 5-10 legitimate possible winners, the rest of the matches on the card could seemingly go either way as well. Will AJ Styles go into the Show of Shows as WWE Champion, or will John Cena finally capture his 16th world championship?
Will Kevin Owens retain against Roman Reigns, or will Reigns enter the main-event scene for the second Mania in a row? Will Charlotte finally lose at a pay-per-view? These are all legitimate questions without obvious answers.
Unpredictability is the lifeblood of wrestling; that’s why this year’s Royal Rumble has so much potential. But even though it’s hard to predict, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to try.
Here are our predictions for WWE Royal Rumble 2017:
#1 Sasha Banks defeats Nia Jax
One of three matches on the kickoff show, Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax is a rare example of a well-booked secondary women’s feud on Raw. For months, everything revolved around Sasha and Charlotte fighting for the Women’s championship with no other storyline going on alongside it.
Now, Charlotte is feuding with Bayley, while Sasha is going head to head with Nia Jax in a very well-booked storyline. Nia continues to target Sasha’s knee which we saw in a very unique segment taped in an empty arena before an episode of Raw.
Also read: WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Predictions: 5 things that are going to happen in the upcoming PPV
It’s definitely encouraging to see WWE putting effort into their secondary storylines.
But back to the matter at hand. Despite the ailment, we’re predicting that Sasha Banks comes out victorious this Sunday. Obviously Nia Jax is an imposing force, but losing to her after losing a feud with Charlotte would not be a good look for Sasha. She needs to avoid becoming the Bray Wyatt of the women’s division.
In other words, WWE can’t keep making her look like a big deal but not give her wins when it counts.
Plus there’s the added benefit of making the crowd happy to start out the night. Typically the babyfaces win on the pre-show to kick things off on a good note, and Sasha taking down Nia would accomplish exactly that.
#2 Sheamus and Cesaro defeat Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
It’s refreshing to see Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson finally being booked like a credible tag team.
After months of mostly jobbing to the New Day, they’re finally being given a real opportunity. However, that doesn’t mean that the former Bullet Club members are going to come out as winners at the Royal Rumble.
Sheamus and Cesaro’s title reign is still in its infancy, as is this feud. Although Gallows and Anderson are prime candidates to take the titles off the odd couple tag team in the future, it likely won’t happen at the Royal Rumble.
There just hasn’t been quite enough build to warrant a title change right now.
Also, the fact that there will be two referees seems to point toward a Sheamus and Cesaro victory. The stipulation was put in place after Sheamus accidentally attacked a referee during their title match a few weeks ago.
If they were to lose, it would feel like they’re incapable of winning when the officiating is done well. That’s not a stigma you want to put on a babyface team.
All signs point to Sheamus and Cesaro “overcoming” the presence of two officials and retaining their Raw tag team championships Sunday night.
#3 Alexa Bliss, Natalya, and Mickie James Defeat Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, and Naomi
Remember how I mentioned the babyfaces usually win on the kickoff show? Well, there’s an exception to every rule.
With our prediction that Sasha Banks and Sheamus and Cesaro secure victories on the kickoff show, we’re not willing to give the babyfaces a clean sweep. And in this match, it makes a lot more sense for the heel team to come out on top because of one person and one person alone. Mickie James.
James made her return on SmackDown a few weeks ago when she revealed herself as La Luchadora during the steel cage match between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss. Now she has aligned herself with Bliss and the pair look poised to dominate the SmackDown women’s division for the next couple months at least.
But James hasn’t appeared on WWE TV since 2010. So it would be wise to re-establish her as a top-level star for fans who either don’t know who she is or need a refresher.
That doesn’t mean this match needs to revolve around her, but it does mean that she should be on the winning end of things. Ideally, she’ll be the one who ends up hitting her finisher and getting the pin to secure victory for her team.
#4 Neville defeats Rich Swann for the Cruiserweight Championship
The only downside of this result is the Cruiserweight championship feeling like a hot potato.
The title has only existed for a little over 4 months, and if Neville captures it this Sunday, that will already be the 4th champion in that span, none of whom will have held the title for longer than 60 days. But when the title change makes sense, not much else matters.
Rich Swann has been a decent champion, but Neville has felt like the guy that should carry this division from the start. Since his return at Roadblock, he has run through everyone who’s stepped in his way. He’s declared himself the “King of the Cruiserweights”, and it’s hard to disagree with him.
Neville’s heel persona has given him new life and he feels like the guy the Cruiserweight division should build around.
He should be the guy that everyone is trying to conquer. Honestly, if he wins the title this Sunday, he should hold it for a long time and only drop it once the right babyface comes along.
There’s nothing wrong with Rich Swann, but it doesn’t feel like he has the star power to be the face of the division. Neville does, and that’s why we think he’ll come out on top at the Royal Rumble.
#5 Charlotte defeats Bayley for the Raw Women’s Championship
Bayley will be the Raw Women’s champion eventually. But the Royal Rumble is not her time.
Let’s start with the obvious fact that Charlotte does not lose at pay-per-views. Streaks are made to be broken, especially in WWE, and this is no exception, but it doesn’t feel like this is not the time for it to happen.
Charlotte has beaten Sasha Banks every single time the two have faced off on PPV, so there’s no reason to believe Bayley will be successful in her first attempt.
This is a feud that figures to extend into WrestleMania since the Raw women’s division is so thin. Because of that, it makes sense for the heel Charlotte to hold the title until then so we can get the payoff that we didn’t get last year.
When Charlotte took on Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, many believed that it was the right time to put the title on one of the other women and give them their WrestleMania moment.
Instead, Charlotte retained and although the match was stellar, the result fell flat.
If WWE keeps the title off of Bayley for now, they could give us one of the best feel-good moments of WrestleMania 33 by having the huggable one win it on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
#6 Kevin Owens defeats Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship
The Roman Reigns experiment did not work last year at WrestleMania 32, and it almost certainly will not work this year. That’s why WWE needs to keep the title off of the Big Dog for now and renew the Kevin Owens show for another season.
Reigns going up against Triple H at last year’s WrestleMania was quite possibly the worst main event in Mania history. The problem isn’t that Reigns is a bad performer, the problem is that WWE insists on booking him as a babyface when he has no business in that role.
If he wins the Universal title at the Royal Rumble, he’ll almost certainly have it at WrestleMania. The last thing we need is another Mania main event where everyone is rooting against the supposed “babyface”.
The only saving grace would be if they actually let Reigns occupy the tweener role that he sometimes plays and face someone like, say, Finn Balor.
But the safer play is to just keep the Universal title on Owens and go the more traditional route. Owens is more than worthy of being a top champion in WWE and he deserves the spotlight of being in one of the biggest matches at WrestleMania 33.
Plus, although a fair amount of fans like Owens, people will also willingly root against him as long as his opponent is a good babyface. Someone like Sami Zayn or Balor would be perfect, but creating the perfect WrestleMania main event all starts with Owens retaining on Sunday night.
#7 John Cena defeats AJ Styles for the WWE Championship
AJ Styles and John Cena are set to tear the roof off the Alamodome this Sunday. Their first two PPV matches were both fantastic and there’s no reason to expect this to be any different.
With that said, Styles came out on top in each of their first two encounters. And if there’s one thing Cena doesn’t do, it’s losing three times in a row to the same person. Unless this match ends with some sort of shenanigans, the Face That Runs The Place is likely to walk out of the Royal Rumble as WWE Champion.
Styles was the MVP of WWE in 2016 and has been a Phenomenal champion, pun intended. He deserves to go into WrestleMania 33 as champion, but it’s understandable that WWE would want Cena holding the title before their biggest PPV of the year.
Let’s put it this way. Roman Reigns and John Cena are probably the two most mainstream WWE superstars right now.
It would serve WWE well to have at least one of them holding a world title as WrestleMania approaches. Since we’re pegging Reigns to lose, and since Cena needs to get some payback on Styles, we’re predicting Cena to win at the Royal Rumble.
But fear not, Styles fans. The door is still wide open for a rematch and potential recapturing of the WWE title at WrestleMania. All hope is not lost.
#8 Finn Balor wins the 2017 Royal Rumble
Some might call this a bold prediction. But if Finn Balor is cleared to compete and appears in the 2017 Royal Rumble, it’s hard not to label him as one of the favourites.
Balor’s career started with a monumental push that even Roman Reigns would be jealous of. He won a fatal-four-way his first night on Raw against Rusev, Cesaro and Kevin Owens. Then, later in the night, he defeated Roman Reigns clean to earn a Universal title shot against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam.
Then, he beat Rollins clean to become the first ever Universal Champion.
It’s obvious that WWE sees him as their next big star. And no matter what, he figures to have a big role at WrestleMania, since he is expected to be healthy by then. What would be a better role for him than to have him challenging for the Universal title against either Kevin Owens or Roman Reigns?
Balor has a history with both men, so it would work regardless of who wins on Sunday. Owens and Balor had an outstanding feud over the NXT title in 2015. As for Reigns, he has himself said that he wanted Balor to beat Rollins at SummerSlam so that he could face him again.
Balor returning at the Royal Rumble and winning would be one of the best returns of all time. Not only would it be a memorable moment, but it makes sense from a storyline perspective.
If Finn Balor is cleared to compete, he should absolutely win the 2017 Royal Rumble.
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