30 men enter. One man stands tall. It's time for WWE's most unpredictable match and we're here to tell you what's what.
Ah, it’s almost time. The new year has begun. It’s January. That means we’re on course for WWE Royal Rumble 2017! A handful of matches will happen, only to be overshadowed by the best gimmick match WWE has to offer! It’s the show that takes the edge off being done with the holidays.
This will be the 30th edition of Royal Rumble, which is fitting. The first Royal Rumble was a televised cable event in 1988, featuring a 20-man over-the-top-rope Rumble. It became a PPV with a 30-man match the year after. In 1992, the match was for the vacated WWF Championship. After that, it became a match for a guaranteed WrestleManiatitle shot. That is, except for 2016, where the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was on the line.
While it’s arguably the PPV to look forward the most each year, it’s also known as the first stop on the Road to WrestleMania.
WHEN IS WWE ROYAL RUMBLE 2017?
The show will take place on Sunday, January 29, 2017 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
This is notable for housing the 1997 Royal Rumble, won by Steve Austin. Also worth mentioning is that the Saturday before will give us NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.
CONFIRMED MATCHES
30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Winner Becomes #1 Contender for WWE World Championship or WWE Universal Championship
Known entrants: Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar
The namesake and selling point of the PPV comes in the form of a 30-man battle royal where every entrant is a random draw. Every minute and a half or so, a new person enters and they can only be eliminated via going over the top rope. Former winners include Steve Austin, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Undertaker, Batista, he-who-shall-not-be-named-due-to-racism, and he-who-shall-not-be-named-due-to-murder.
As it is right now, the big story is that Goldberg and Lesnar will be involved. At Survivor Series, Goldberg made a return match against Lesnar and to everyone’s surprise, he destroyed him within a minute and a half. Goldberg then decided that he wanted to try for one more title reign and entered himself into the match. In response, an emotional Paul Heyman claimed that Lesnar would enter as well to get revenge on that Survivor Series massacre.
KEVIN OWENS (C) VS. ROMAN REIGNS
WWE Universal Championship, Chris Jericho Suspended Over the Ring in a Shark Cage
For months and months, Kevin Owens has been able to retain his Universal Championship thanks to the help of his BFF Chris Jericho. For a while, it looked like the two were on the outs, but Jericho showed his true colors by attacking Owens at Roadblockand giving him a disqualification victory. As the two boasted about their friendship the next night on Raw, Mick Foley appeared to tell them that Owens would have to defend the title against Reigns once again, this time with Jericho suspended over the ring in a cage.
Basically, it's a way for them to hype up that new action figure set.
LIKELY AND UNCONFIRMED MATCHES
One of the big rumors is that we might see AJ Styles vs. Undertaker. Styles seems about done with his rivalry with Dean Ambrose and he's almost done dealing with James Ellsworth. The theory is that Styles will be used as a cog to build the dream match between Cena and Undertaker at WrestleMania.
Bayley vs. Charlotte is most definitely in the cards due to Bayley challenging the champ on Rawand winning in a controversial fashion. This one may lead to a title match before the show, but we'll see.
There's also Sasha vs. Nia Jax, based on Nia showing up on Rawto annihilate the injured Sasha. Since the company desperately needs to keep Charlotte and Sasha away from each other, this is a good way of going about it.
Check back for more news on WWE Royal Rumble 2017!
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