Royal Rumble, Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin and More from the 2016 Mailbag

It's Royal Rumble season, and nobody knows who's going to win. Despite being early favorites, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will likely cancel each other out, so it's anybody's guess as to who is going to punch his ticket to WrestleMania.

If the Royal Rumble was held one month earlier, James Ellsworth could have been a legit favorite. Seriously. But now's the perfect time for WWE to elevate a promising young star with a big win in January. 

Braun or Baron? 

I don't normally do this, but this is a legit push—pun intended. Both Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin are monster heels who don't have to worry about those confusing cheers from the Internet Wrestling Community that got to weaker, more unconvincing heels like AJ Styles and Kevin Owens. 

Both Strowman and Corbin have been given slow, steady trajectories where they have shined against lesser competition. As a result, both are now believable as world-title contenders. With the Royal Rumble being as open as it has ever been, this could be the year when a dark horse like Strowman or Corbin comes out of nowhere and wins the whole thing.

WWE went all-in on aging indy veterans carrying world championships in 2016, and it did little for ratings. With promising, young, homegrown stars like Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks now established main eventers, it's likely WWE follows through with this model in 2017. 

Cesaro, Sheamus and Who?!

With the Raw Tag Team Championships as valuable as ever, WWE will need to address the lacking depth of the tag team division so that these titles can keep their momentum. The entertaining antics of The New Day and a focus on its historical run as tag team champions helped distract from what has been an underdeveloped division. 

WWE can address this problem a few ways. Calling up duos from NXT could be possible, but it's tough to make headway on the WWE main roster in the thick of WrestleMania season with so many big names set to return. Furthermore, DIY stands out as one of the only tag teams that could enter the main roster and hit the ground running. There's still a developmental feel to The Authors of Pain, and TM61 lacks the purpose and personality to succeed among the sea of characters on Raw. 

Another option could be a free-agent signing. SmackDown has a strong roster of tag teams, including The Usos, The Wyatt Family and American Alpha. A storyline where one of these teams jumps ship will give Cesaro and Sheamus fresh competition. 

Finally, WWE can do what it did with the current Raw champions and team up a pair of struggling singles stars. Titus O'Neil and Darren Young come to mind for a potential Prime Time Players reunion. 

Samoa's Show?

Samoa Joe should be the favorite as the next call-up. My money is on Joe appearing as a surprise entrant at the Royal Rumble, and hopefully WWE has major plans for him at WrestleMania from there. Remember, for every AJ Styles—who debuted at the Royal Rumble and caught fire for the rest of the year—there's a Sami Zayn—who quickly flamed out after making his return at the Royal Rumble and is just now starting to put together momentum in December. 

With big names like Goldberg and Lesnar both signed to Raw, Joe may have more potential on the Raw roster in a possible blockbuster match with either of them. But similar to Styles, he would be a bigger fish in a smaller pond on SmackDown Live, where he would have less of a chance of getting lost in the shuffle. 

Royal Jumbled? 

This is an excellent question, but whether or not WWE intended for this to happen, it's always a great thing for the Royal Rumble to be this unpredictable. Think about this: Goldberg and Lesnar will headline the 2017 Royal Rumble field this year, and neither of them can safely be considered a favorite. 

The door is ajar for anybody to win the Rumble, which will add more drama and suspense behind each elimination. WWE's inability to create full-time, transcendent stars is partly to blame for this scenario, but for entertainment purposes, it couldn't have asked for a better setup for one of its biggest pay-per-views.

With only Goldberg and Lesnar announced thus far, it'll be interesting to see how WWE fills up the Royal Rumble and if anybody emerges as a strong favorite. Hopefully not. 

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.