WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Predicting 12 Wrestlers Not Yet Announced
3. Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe's time at Full Sail University is almost up. Having spent the last couple of months passing the NXT Championship back and forth with Shinsuke Nakamura, Joe has lost his last two matches to the King of Strong Style, and is finally out of title contention. Joe has done everything there is to do in NXT, and he didn't appear on the last set of TV tapings. His main roster debut has never looked likelier, and where better to do it than in the Royal Rumble?
Fans had earmarked Joe for a potential call-up a long time ago, and it's time for WWE to pull the trigger. Bobby Roode will claim his role as NXT's top heel, and without a niche to fill, there's no point in holding Joe up in developmental any longer.
His NXT run should ensure familiarity among the main roster crowd, and he'd immediately be one of the strongest heels on the roster. Joe's character work is as good as it has ever been, and while his athleticism has declined, he's still a dominant monster between the ropes. A strong performance and a handful of eliminations would set his main roster career off to the perfect start, and put Raw and SmackDown's superstars on notice.