9 Reasons WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Match Was The Worst Of The Decade

9. A Disappointing Lack Of Surprises

Where were the surprises? For the last few weeks rumors had been rampant about some of the names who might make an appearance in the Rumble match. There was talk of Finn Balor being rushed back from injury to compete, but as we saw that didn’t play out.

Kenny Omega was the biggest of all the potential surprise entrants, and although both he and several WWE stars took the opportunity to troll the fans, it appears he will be remaining with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Samoa Joe was another heavily rumored option that seemed likely given his position in NXT.

Kurt Angle’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame made him another prime candidate but unfortunately we were deprived of hearing “Medal” blow the roof off the Alamodome. Even much smaller surprises such as the rumored inclusion of DDP were a no go.

In the end, the only unexpected competitor we got in the Rumble was NXT midcarder Tye Dillinger, who entered at #10 as a nod to his “Perfect Ten” gimmick. While it was nice to see what’s essentially been an ongoing joke come to fruition after three years, it wasn’t the shocking moment that we expect from the Royal Rumble.