10 Early Favourites To Win WWE Royal Rumble 2018 Match

7. Finn Bálor

Roman Reigns
WWE.com

WWE loves Finn Bálor.

He is everything to everyone in the current climate. While he hasn't had much of an opportunity to show it since his NXT days, he's a phenomenal in-ring performer. One true blow-away match, of which he is more than capable, should be enough to rebuild his reputation among a spoiled fanbase. His Demon alter-ego is a marketing masterstroke, a baked-in means of creating anticipation for his major PPV matches. You can well imagine that Kevin Dunn is already devising his WrestleMania 34 entrance, months in advance. His character alone affords him a booking advantage heading into 'Mania season - enough for WWE to enter him into Universal Title contention? In a post-Undertaker landscape, that might matter more than you might think.

Obviously, the spectre of Roman Reigns renders that unlikely - but there's nothing stopping WWE from having Bálor challenge, say, AJ Styles on SmackDown to initiate a rivalry with another baked-in, Bullet Club-related, premise. That entrance alone dictates something major for the Demon in NOLA. Then again, there's depressing scope to manufacture an empty and purely superficial modern 'Mania moment.

In a sad sense, it might not matter who he shares the Grandest Stage with. It didn't at SummerSlam; the return of the Demon amounted to little more than a drab ten minute match with Bray Wyatt.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!