WWE Royal Rumble 2017: 10 Superstars Who Have A Realistic Shot Of Winning
7. Roman Reigns
In 2015, the Philly crowd's non-acceptance of Rumble winner Roman Reigns made the reaction to Batista winning the prior year look like The Rock's homecoming at WrestleMania XXVIII. Tack on Triple H tossing out Dean Ambrose to win the 2016 Royal Rumble and it's been quite a few years since anyone's won the Royal Rumble that's seen a genuine babyface reaction.
In other words, fans have been pretty disappointed with recent Royal Rumble winners. Should Roman Reigns, another of Raw's top superstars, win the 2017 edition, the trend is likely to continue as would Roman's march to the company's number one spot.
In two years, Reigns has received as many coronations in major matches that signaled WWE's plans for Roman as The Guy. While Reigns winning in 2017 would probably be less poorly received than in Philadelphia in 2015, that's only because it's not as obvious. For once, Roman Reigns winning the Royal Rumble is not option 1 or 1A.
But it is an option.
Reigns is currently behind Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, and even Chris Jericho on Raw's pecking order. Once Finn Bálor returns from injury, Roman may drop even further. Knowing that WWE still has big plans for the Big Dog, a Royal Rumble victory in 2017 has to be considered as a strong possibility.