WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Ranking 10 Most Likely Winners
Who will claim victory in front of 60,000 fans?
It's never too early to start thinking about the Royal Rumble, and 2017's edition of the popular Pay-Per-View event is slated to be the biggest in years. As announced late last month, the show will be held at San Antonio's Alamodome, host stadium of the 1997 event. As the venue can hold upwards of 60,000 fans, it will take a huge card in order to pack the building.
Rumors have been swirling about matches and comebacks, but one thing's for sure - there's going to be a Royal Rumble match, just like every year. This year, though, the bout takes on a different complexion - with the introduction of the Universal Championship, the title scene is a bit diluted. There won't be one Royal Rumble winner challenging for one major title at WrestleMania like we saw in 2014 and 2015 - instead, the winner of the match may not effect the show of shows all that heavily, like in 2011 and 2012.
That opens up more possibilities for potential winners. Instead of crowning someone who's already a main eventer or a multi-time champion, the match can be used to get over a rising star or to put focus on a hot program. At the same time, though, those "favorites" are favorites for a reason - they can't be overlooked.
Here's a ranking of the 10 most likely Royal Rumble 2017 winners:
10. Sami Zayn
At first glance, it's hard to give "The Underdog from the Underground" much of a chance of victory in this year's Royal Rumble, but Sami Zayn has succeeded before where others thought he would fail. The fact that Kevin Owens may very well still be the WWE Universal Champion come WrestleMania gives Zayn respectable odds of winning.
The two men - who have been feuding in WWE since the evening Owens arrived in NXT - wrestled what was allegedly their last match against one another at Battleground. Zayn won a great contest, but a month later, Owens captured the Universal Title. They subsequently had a non-title match on Raw, which Owens won.
There's still a lot of interest in Zayn challenging Owens for the title, given all of the history between the two men. If Zayn were to win the Royal Rumble, it would give WWE an easy way out of that "last match ever" stipulation. "The Likable One" could simply challenge his archenemy for the red belt at WrestleMania and win a career-making victory at the show of shows.