WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Matches & Predictions

Wrestling fans already know what the start of a new year brings – the always exciting and surprise filled Royal Rumble Match.

For 2017’s installment of WWE’s most high-stakes battle royal, a who’s who of current wrestling Superstars will participate. Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho and several other big name competitors will battle it out for a rich prize. That prize for the eventual winner will be a World Championship title match shot match that will take place at WrestleMania 33. Along with this event’s marquee main event, several singles championship will be up for grabs during the matches that will take place before the big Royal Rumble.

Now’s the perfect time to look into each matchup and determine our picks for the winners of each one at the 2017 Royal Rumble.

Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

Predictions & Winner: Banks had to take a step down from #1 WWE Raw Women’s Championship contender after she relinquished it back to Charlotte. Her weakened state put her right in the headlights of the super intimidating Nia Jax. For the last couple of weeks, Nia has attacked the smaller Banks at every turn and made her less of a weekly competitor on Raw. Now we think it’s about time that Banks taps into her rage and gets the revenge she’s so desperately wanted on Jax. This match will be mostly Jax beating Banks into oblivion, but Banks will pull away with the shocking win after some form of surprise roll-up pin. Jax won’t take too kindly to this, which will cause her to rampage all over Banks after the bell rings. This feud won’t end at the Royal Rumble, folks…

Cesaro and Sheamus (c) vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship; Two Referees are Assigned to the Match)

Predictions & Winners: Quite the stipulation we have here, huh? Due to the controversy surrounding their last meeting, two referees have been put on duty to make sure nothing controversial happens again. Gallows and Anderson have been in a rebuilding stage ever since their flop of a comedy run against The New Day last summer. Cesaro and Sheamus as strange WWE Raw Tag Team Championship bedfellows has been intriguing to watch, so this title feud between both teams has been on our radar ever since it began. While we think Gallows and Anderson are long overdue for a tag team title run, it’s much too early to take those titles away from Cesaro and Sheamus. So don’t be surprised to see those two men retain their titles after a hotly contested Kickoff Match.

Rich Swann (c) vs. Neville (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)

Predictions & Winner: Evil Neville is a godsend. While the Cruiserweight Division has struggled to truly matter on Raw, its gotten a shot in the arm thanks to Neville’s newfound heel antics. He’s been built up strongly ever since his re-introduction to the main roster and he’s heading to a showdown with the current Cruiserweight Champion. Rich Swann has been one of the more charismatic and super easy to cheer for personalities from the entire division. We’ve enjoyed his run as champion thus far and we honestly don’t see it coming to an end at the Royal Rumble. Expect this match to go the distance and be the high-flying spectacle it’s being promoted as. But Swann will catch Neville off guard with a quick pin of some kind and keep his title intact. Neville will be furious, of course. He’ll beat down Swann after the final bell, causing this beef to carry over into February for a rematch of some kind.

Alexa Bliss, Mickie James and Natalya vs. Becky Lynch, Naomi and Nikki Bella

Predictions & Winners: Ever since Alexa Bliss captured the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship, she’s built up a shocking alliance with the returning Mickie James. She’s been forced to make that happen since Becky Lynch has been on her tail lately. As for Nikki Bella, she’s been embroiled in a feud of her own with Natalya. With the addition of the returning Naomi, we’ve finally arrived at this big 6-woman showdown. Miss Bliss has been on the winning end of a lot of her matches lately, but we think her newfound alliance will break down during this meeting. The good gals will prevail and give us one of the more happier outcomes of the evening.

Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Bayley (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)

Predictions & Winner: Charlotte is starting to come into her own as the Queen of the Raw Women’s roster. After dealing with Banks, she’s moved on to one of NXT’s other former Horsewomen – Bayley. They’re on a collision course that will unfold during this PPV and it will be contested for the Raw Women’s Championship. Since we’ve already witnessed so many back and forth title changes throughout 2016 for the Raw Women’s Title, we don’t see that trend continuing into the start of 2017. Bayley will fight hard and look to be on the winning end during this title encounter, but Charlotte Flair will steal the win somehow and crap all over Bayley’s childhood dream.

AJ Styles (c) vs. John Cena (WWE Championship)

Predictions & Winner: Both these men put on a series of incredible matches last year. Styles dealt such a severe blow to Cena at SummerSlam 2016 and it caused him to take a hiatus from the squared circle. Now that he’s returned to SmackDown Live, Cena’s made it clear that he’s looking to dethrone the “Champ That Runs the Camp,” AJ Styles. Styles has defended and retained his title so many times in 2016, but his biggest challenge looks to be WWE’s resident Superhero. When these two meet once again at the 2017 Royal Rumble, expect to see another MOTY candidate as Styles and Cena tear each other apart. We all should know how this works, right folks? Cena’s taken so many L’s from Styles and now it’s time for AJ to get his ultimate comeuppance. Cena will finally defeat his current nemesis and head to SmackDown Live as its new “Face That Runs the Place.” Don’t be surprised when AJ throws himself February’s upcoming Elimination Chamber PPV Championship match, though.

Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns (No Disqualification Match for the WWE Universal Championship; Chris Jericho Will be Suspended in a Shark Cage Above the Ring)

Predictions & Winner: And now we’re here to speak on the Raw feud that we’re beyond sick and tired of watching. Although we enjoy all three men’s work, we’re just fed up with the repetitive matches between these personalities. Hopefully, this PPV championship bout marks the last time we’ll see Owens, Reigns and Jericho dealing with each other. So here’s the thing – Y2J captured the US Championship by beating Reigns on Raw. Him and Owens hold the top two titles on Raw because of that result. But it’s looking like a future beef between Owens and Jericho over who really owns the US Championship could be set up for WrestleMania 33. Which means we think Reigns is going over here and walking out of this show as the NEW Universal Campion. Reigns will win after some misplaced interference from Y2J, which will backfire and cause Owens to lose. Reigns will take the title home and leave Owens and Y2J to argue over what just went down.

2017 Royal Rumble Match (30-Man Royal Rumble Match for a World Championship Match at WrestleMania 33)

Predictions & Winner: This…is the big one. The 30-man Royal Rumble Match is extremely hype due to all the standout Superstars involved this time around. The Undertaker has thrown his name into the hat. Goldberg and Brock Lesnar have vowed to battle it out during this match. Plus the domineering Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, the entire Wyatt Family and even Sami Zayn have chosen to get in on the festivities. As far as surprise entrants go, expect to see some legends show up (our gut is telling us Sean Waltman could be one of those guys). Texas wrestling luminaries, such as Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Stan “The Lariat” Hansen and even JBL seem like sure-fire entrants that will show up to get that hometown pop.

By the way, we think two NXT call ups will take place here for Samoa Joe and Entry #10 Tye Dillinger. We’re going out on a limb here for stating this, but we can totally see Finn Balor shocking the world by returning like Cena did in 2008. Kenny Omega’s totally not showing up, though. When Goldberg and Lesnar finally lock horns in the middle of the ring, they’re going to eliminate each other at the same time somehow and carry on their war to ‘Mania 33. And Orton will finally carry out his master plan by breaking up The Wyatt Family by causing them to argue and then eliminate them both. So our final four picks for this Rumble are looking like it’s going to be ‘Taker, Zayn, Balor and Strowman. Who will ultimately prevail? THE UNDERTAKER! He’s going to get the hometown Texas win and go on to challenge whomever holds the WWE Championship after SD Live’s Elimination Chamber.

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