WWE Royal Rumble 2017: 10 Potential Main Events

Next year, for the second time ever and the first time since 1997, WWE will present the Royal Rumble from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The famed Alamodome last played host to the Royal Rumble just before the Attitude Era kicked off, when fans witnessed the continued rise of Austin 3:16 as Stone Cold Steve Austin was declared the winner of the marquee match. In the main event, hometown hero Shawn Michaels regained the WWF Championship from Sycho Sid to the delight of 60,000 screaming San Antonioans. This event had all the top stars of the era and came off like a very special show.

While WWE had some trouble filling the Alamodome for the 1997 event, resorting to comps to fill out the empty seats, they hope to have more success 20 years later when they present the 30th annual Royal Rumble on January 29, 2017. In order to sell 70,000+ tickets, however, WWE will need to present a special card that's worthy of the venue, with near-WrestleMania level star power.

Off to a good start, WWE has already announced the participation of Goldberg and Brock Lesnar in the mixed-brand, 30-man Royal Rumble match, but where does that leave the rest of the card? What will headline the RAW brand's presentation for the event? What match does SmackDown need to book in order not to lose ground? What are the matches and who are the superstars that can be expected to headline this monumental event?

All that and more in the pages ahead...

This match has been done to death since Kevin Owens won the WWE Universal Championship the week after SummerSlam 2016, but it's still possible that the final installment comes at the Royal Rumble.

While it's unlikely to blow the roof off with ticket sales based on the number of events this match has already anchored (Night Of Champions, Hell In A Cell, and Monday Night Raw), this blow-off could serve as the red show's main event and provide a satisfying conclusion for the brand's top babyface.

Should this match get booked, expect Seth Rollins to walk out of the Alamodome as the third-ever WWE Universal Champion. Considering the outcome of all previous Owens/Rollins matches saw Owens escape with the gold, the end result here would need to be different in order to avoid being a letdown.

With that said, it's ranked #10 on this list because there are other, flashier, more headline-grabbing match-ups that WWE could choose to book in attempt to sell out the Alamodome. While we'll work our way through the rest, a third and final (for now) pay-per-view main event match between Seth Rollins and Universal Champ Kevin Owens, perhaps with a gimmick or stipulation attached to give fans reason to believe in the babyface, is a very believable Raw main event for Royal Rumble 2017.