This week on Smackdown Live it was almost odd that only one name was announced for the 2017 Royal Rumble match when Mojo Rawley won a battle royal to claim a spot. Although there have been a lot of names announced thus far, it isn’t quite thirty yet. At this point only twenty-two names have been released for the upcoming Royal Rumble match, which if basic math proves to be correct, leaves fans with eight unknown entrants.
Related: New Match Announced For The Royal Rumble, Updated Card, Finn Balor Rehab Video
Over the past few weeks there has been much speculation on who some of those surprise entrants might be, and there are a few names that fans can’t stop talking about.
#7 – Kenny Omega
Kenny Omega has been sending perplexing messages saying that he is taking a break from Japan. His contract is rumored to be up with New Japan, although some reports have come out recently saying that this was all a work and he has actually already signed an extension to his current NJPW deal.
Either way, Kenny Omega has been having a little bit of fun with the rumors, as he recently signed an autograph for a fan and he added the number 30 to his signature.
#6 – Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe is ready to be called up from NXT and he currently has pretty good odds of winning the Royal Rumble match according to the latest numbers. The tricky part about debuting someone like Joe in the rumble is even if WWE doesn’t have him win, they still need to make him look strong. If Joe makes his main roster debut during the Royal Rumble match, he needs to establish himself as a dominant presence right out of the gate or else the greater population of the WWE Universe who are just aware of main brand activity might not latch onto him as they should. Needless to say, he deserves something great upon his call up and hopefully he gets it on Sunday.
#5 – Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle has been rumored to take part in the Royal Rumble match too. These fiery rumors had even more fuel thrown on them when Angle cancelled his announcing gig for Saturday’s 5 Star Wrestling show in Scotland. Angle said after the cancellation that he wouldn’t be participating in the rumble, but fans have to wonder if this is just an attempt to pull the wool over some eyes before the San Antonio event.
#4 – The Broken Hardys
It was recently reported that Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero haven’t signed new contracts with Impact Wrestling, although their current contracts stretch past this Sunday. Seeing how their Impact Wrestling contracts have mere days left on them, it isn’t an unheard of possibility that Vince could buy out the rest of their contacts and we could see Vanguard 1 travel down the entrance ramp in San Antonio. Although it might seem unlikely this is the wrestling industry after all, so you can never say never.
#3 – Finn Balor
It is also possible that we could be seeing Finn Balor make his return from injury on Sunday. The story would be perfection if he came back and won the match to reclaim the Universal Title that he never really lost in the first place. Recent reports say that he has been rehabbing his injury like crazy, and in appearances over the past month he hasn’t been wearing a sling over his injured shoulder. It was recently reported that he is undergoing medical testing this week which could clear him for in-ring competition, so nothing has been ruled out for a return from the Demon.
#2 – United Kingdom Tournament Talent
Other recent reports have stated that participants in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament such as Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, and others very well might be brought in to fill out the extra spaces. These rumors might have some weight to them seeing how they’re being pulled from just about every appearance that they were booked for since the tournament’s conclusion.
#1 – Returning Legends
There is also still a hope that we could be seeing a few legends show up in the Royal Rumble to generate a nostalgia pop from the crowd, or because Triple H wants to do his friends a favor (does anybody know how Kevin Nash’s knees are doing?).
It’s highly doubtful that fans will be as blown away by anything this year as much as they were when they saw AJ Styles walk out in the #3 spot last year (or at least when fans saw Roman Reigns watch AJ Styles walk out, because for some reason Kevin Dunn decided to keep the camera on Reigns instead of AJ). Then again, anything can happen in the WWE.
(Fun fact: Kenny Omega has the same betting odds to win the Royal Rumble Match as Cesaro.)
The full list of confirmed entrants for this year’s Royal Rumble match is below, and you can see how there is still some room for surprises.
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