10 Ways WWE Can Guarantee Royal Rumble 2017 Sell-Out

3. Pack The Undercard

AJ Styles Shawn Michaels
WWE.com

The 2017 Royal Rumble is a four hour show. The Rumble itself is going to take up at least a quarter of that, but that still leaves a lot of airtime for WWE to fill, and they don’t have a great track record with longer shows in 2016. WrestleMania and SummerSlam both felt like an ice age, and while WWE negated this problem by trimming 40 minutes from Survivor Series, it’d be criminal to shortchange a huge San Antonio crowd in such a way.

Fortunately, there’s an easy solution at hand. WWE’s insane amount of titles means they have plenty of available options when it comes to filling-out the undercard, and they can easily fill another two hours with Universal, World, and both Women’s Title matches. Add the tag teams and IC/US belts to the equation, and the Rumble will have a very enticing card indeed.

These matches must be kept exciting, though. If they’re uncompetitive filler, the fans will be exhausted and disinterested by the time the Rumble comes around, so it’s important to make sure that each champion is presented with a worthy challenger. For fans who aren’t entirely excited by the Rumble itself, a solid Bayley vs. Charlotte or New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro match might just convince them to attend.

Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.