Predicting every match for the WWE Royal Rumble 2017 pay-per-view.
On Sunday night, the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view will take place from the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. This will see five championships defended, four of which will come on the main show. The main event will be the traditional Royal Rumble match, which will give one WWE Superstar a World title match at WrestleMania 33.
This is one of WWE’s biggest nights of the year and arguably is the first day of WrestleMania season. This is the company’s most important time on the calendar to build up their biggest show of 2017 and take us into the spring. So plenty of what happens at the Royal Rumble will have long lasting impact.
How could these matches go down and bring us to WrestleMania? We predicted every bout that will take place at the Royal Rumble below:
Raw Tag Team Championship MatchCesaro and Sheamus (c) vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
Royal Rumble will be the first title defense for Cesaro and Sheamus since they defeated the New Day for the Raw Tag Team Championship in December. They are facing Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, who will receive their latest title shot after being around the picture in the summer and into the fall.
It looked like Anderson and Gallows had won the titles a few weeks ago, but due to Sheamus shoving the referee, the pinfall would be reversed. The decision would be a strange one since it felt like the roles should have been reversed, further draining the moment of a weak Raw tag team scene.
Now these two teams will compete on the Kickoff Show to determine who’s the Raw Tag Team Champions. It’s a two-hour pre-show, so they should get a fair amount of time to have a match. Not expecting a title change here, especially since it’s during the part of the event that’s not really attached to the main four hours. Any title changes are likely going to be saved for when we get to 7:00 p.m. ET and beyond.
The loss here should take Anderson and Gallows out of the title picture again. WWE failed to capitalize on any momentum they had in the summer, and have all but missed the boat on doing something relevant with this tag team.
Prediction: Cesaro and Sheamus retain the Raw Tag Team Championship.
Credit: WWE.com
Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
Nia Jax has physically dominated Sasha Banks for the past three weeks, which plays to their stark difference in size. It has seen Jax try to injure Banks’ knees and succeed at every turn. This finally led to the Boss striking back, both figuratively and literally, on Raw by using her crutch to fight back.
Now these two will head to the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show to battle in a singles match. It will be a rare appearance for Banks in the ring, who has hardly wrestled since WWE Roadblock, losing to Charlotte Flair. During this time, Jax has dominated anyone who she’s been put against, mostly enhancement talents.
This match doesn’t seem like one that will have a clean ending, especially being on the pre-show. Tensions between these two women aren’t going to fade away after just one PPV, so expect things to potentially develop at the Royal Rumble and continue on Raw. This could be with Banks winning via disqualification.
Prediction: Sasha Banks wins via disqualification.
Credit: WWE.com
Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Natalya vs. Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Nikki Bella
The most recent match to be announced for the Royal Rumble is Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Natalya taking on Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Nikki Bella. Three feuds will collide from the SmackDown women’s division and likely branch off after the PPV.
Bliss and Naomi are seemingly going after each other for the SmackDown Women’s Championship following Tuesday night’s show. The former NXT star answered Naomi’s challenge for a match, which led to a demand for the women’s title.
Ever since Natalya revealed herself as the one who attacked Nikki Bella at Survivor Series, these two have fought. It’s been a brawl nearly every time they meet, so this six-woman tag at the Royal Rumble should be another case of this.
Mickie James revealed herself as La Luchadora, the one who’s been attacking Lynch in her matches with Bliss. These two brawled on SmackDown, and likely will be going after each other on Sunday.
The heels have plenty more momentum than the faces in this case. However, I would look for Naomi potentially pinning Bliss here to push forward their title feud. It will be a light match in between the championship bouts, anyway, so it might be for the babyface pop.
Prediction: Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Nikki Bella win.
Next: WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Credit: WWE.com
WWE Cruiserweight Championship MatchRich Swann (c) vs. Neville
The second of the title matches brings us to Rich Swann defending the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Neville, the one who has reinvigorated the cruiserweight division.
Since the Cruiserweight Classic, this group of wrestlers has been almost characterless, with the exception of Swann, Neville, and maybe Noam Dar. 205 Live hasn’t exactly solved the problem either given the lack of buzz around the show. The cruiserweights won’t suddenly disappear from WWE TV, but they certainly aren’t trending on the path that WWE thought they would.
How does that have anything to do with Swann vs. Neville? Well, this may be a chance for fans to get invested in the division by seeing the work these two can do. The Man That Gravity Forgot is a known commodity to WWE fans, so it’s possible the Alamodome embraces what he can do in the ring. Swann is also arguably the most charismatic Superstar on 205 Live and can win over fans with his smile and dancing.
Given the push that Neville has received, I would make him the favorite to win this match and see the title change hands. He’s been nothing but a positive for the division, and may be rewarded with a championship, his first since NXT in 2014.
Prediction: Neville wins the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
Next: Raw Women's Championship Match
Credit: WWE.com
Raw Women’s Championship MatchCharlotte (c) vs. Bayley
Charlotte has become the Queen of Pay-Per-View—literally. She’s never lost on one of the Sunday night shows since her call-up, including taking the Raw Women’s Championship from Sasha Banks at SummerSlam, Hell in a Cell, and Roadblock.
For 2017, Charlotte has a new opponent—Bayley. She has followed the Nature Girl’s title around for the past few months, and arguably since the day of her debut after SummerSlam. Despite receiving a triple threat opportunity and other singles matches, Bayley has never received a one-on-one title shot, so she’ll finally get to have this at the Royal Rumble PPV.
The one issue with this feud has been the amount of times these two have faced off. Similar to Charlotte vs. Banks, fans saw these two wrestle singles matches every two or three weeks. We’ve even seen clean finishes happen too. However, the Raw Women’s Championship has yet to be defended in a Charlotte vs. Bayley match.
With how often WWE brings up the PPV streak, it seems like something that could be conquered at WrestleMania, leaving the Hugster without a win at Royal Rumble. Expect a dirty finish here to set that up.
Prediction: Charlotte retains the Raw Women’s Championship.
Next: WWE Universal Championship Match
Credit: WWE.com
WWE Universal Championship MatchKevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns
The first of the men’s main event matches will see Kevin Owens defend the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. This will also be a No Disqualification match. Chris Jericho will also hang above the ring in a shark cage. Reigns went for Owens’ title at Roadblock, which turned into a disqualification finish after Jericho interfered. This led to Raw General Manager Mick Foley making this additional stipulation.
Throughout this, we have seen Owens and Jericho tease tension, which may not come to fruition on Sunday. However, this seems like the time and place to push this feud forward. Could that mean Y2J finds a way to get involved?
This may also be the year where Reigns gets a title defense heading into WrestleMania. He has main-evented the past two years, but chased the World championship both times. This is also WWE’s future top guy, so they’re not going to keep him out of holding the top belt for long. If anything, he would have held it for months after his WrestleMania 32 win, but a wellness policy violation caused this to end at Money in the Bank 2016.
Couple that with Owens’ somewhat lackluster title run. He hasn’t been able to fetch a clean win, using Jericho to assist him every time. While heels should be doing this, not giving KO the opportunity to establish himself with a victory that comes without help is disappointing.
For the finish of this match, Jericho could look to drop a weapon down to Owens. However, the object could accidentally go into Reigns’ hands. He then uses it to his advantage and gets the Universal Championship win.
Prediction: Roman Reigns wins the WWE Universal Championship.
Credit: WWE.com
WWE Championship MatchAJ Styles (c) vs. John Cena
John Cena and AJ Styles are going head-to-head once again. Each of their matches has taken place at least two months apart, mostly due to Cena being away from the WWE for outside media commitments. The difference with this match is it will be for the WWE Championship.
A story of this bout will be the Face That Runs the Place going for his 16th World title. This would tie him with Ric Flair for the most World title reigns that WWE recognizes. Is Cena going to be able to pull this off?
As for Styles, he has been a dominant champion since winning this belt at Backlash. He has defeated Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, and even Cena to continue his reign. However, the Phenomenal One has yet to defend the WWE Championship at one of the “Big Four” shows. Given his in-ring ability shown throughout this title run, there shouldn’t be much doubt about if he will perform well. But is his time with the belt going to have a run into WrestleMania season?
Styles has become a huge name in WWE, but Cena’s will always be bigger. With WrestleMania approaching, the company could look to place the WWE Championship on the Leader of the Cenation and have him defending the belt at the Show of Shows be a marketing sell. The former TNA star has his own brand too, but his opponent has one that’s expanding, worldwide.
Prediction: John Cena wins the WWE Championship.
Credit: WWE.com
Royal Rumble Match
The biggest match of the night, and the one that only happens once per year—the Royal Rumble match. 30 WWE Superstars will go to battle for a World title opportunity at WrestleMania for either the WWE or Universal Championship.
Heading into the Royal Rumble PPV, we know 22 of the 30 entrants. The names already involved are big ones, including the Undertaker, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho, and Braun Strowman. We also don’t know any part of the entrant order, which is a positive for the unpredictability of this match, unlike the past few years.
With this Royal Rumble match having the ability to go in as many different directions as ever, there are more than a handful of options to win. However, we’re going to cross three names off the list—Undertaker, Goldberg, and Lesnar. The Dead Man competing for a title in what doesn’t look like his last year probably isn’t happening. Goldberg and Lesnar are probably heading to their own WrestleMania match too, which doesn’t need a title. This takes them out of the mix.
If Kevin Owens retains the Universal Championship, Jericho will probably be a favorite. If Roman Reigns wins, as we predicted, then Y2J is probably removed as a potential Royal Rumble winner. He would still wrestle Owens at WrestleMania, but for the United States Championship.
Who stands out after this?
Strowman has ascended up the WWE Raw ladder in just a handful of months. It wasn’t long ago that he destroyed enhancements talent and beat Sami Zayn to a pulp. Now he’s getting segments with Goldberg, Lesnar, Reigns, and other big names to hype the Royal Rumble. That doesn’t just happen with anyone.
The Mountain of a Man has also come along in the ring, which comes a year—maybe less—after he couldn’t have a singles match of more than five minutes. He can hold his own in a 10-minute bout as well. The WrestleMania stage is a different story, but the path he’s going on should lead to a significant singles match in Orlando, FL.
The Royal Rumble should be Braun Strowman’s time. He would go onto face Reigns at WrestleMania 33 for the Universal Championship, developing the Hulk Hogan-like match that Vince McMahon has probably been wanting to build up for the former Shield man for years. John Cena has done this in recent years, except with Bray Wyatt and Rusev (he defeated both at WrestleMania).
Prediction: Braun Strowman wins the Royal Rumble match.
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