WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Power Ranking NXT Stars' Odds of Battle Royal Appearance

Anything can happen at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, which makes it one of WWE's most exciting events of the year.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Royal Rumble match itself is its tendency to feature surprise entrants, which always leads to speculation from fans when formulating their predictions for what will happen.

These competitors can come from all sorts of different avenues. Some are returning from injuries, and others are legends who make guest appearances for one-time deals. Once in a while, wrestlers even come in from other companies—like AJ Styles at least year's event.

Another source that goes relatively untapped most of the time but that still offers a wide variety of options is the NXT roster.

Bo Dallas and Rusev have been able to make the jump from the developmental brand onto the main roster during the Royal Rumble, so there's a chance at least one person might do the same this year.

In fact, when looking at NXT's roster, there are plenty of options for wrestlers who could make appearances as surprise participants in the 2017 Royal Rumble match.

In ascending order of likelihood, here are the top potential candidates from NXT who may find themselves entering among the 30 Superstars this year.

Honorable Mentions

Credit: WWE.com

Two Superstars who are somewhat in the running to show up in the Royal Rumble but who are nowhere near as likely as some of the others on this list are No Way Jose and Andrade "Cien" Almas.

In the case of Jose, his entrance alone would be a fun way to break up the monotony of having everybody run down to the ring in the same fashion.

When his music hits, he would create a party atmosphere to lighten up the mood.

This has happened before in the past with Rikishi and Too Cool, The Godfather's numerous entrances and Ernest "The Cat" Miller dancing around, among others.

Working against him, though, is his lack of notoriety.

With the brand split, there are more than 30 people available to take all of the Royal Rumble spots, particularly if any legends or injured stars return.

Given those numbers, it's hard to argue that he should be given a prioritized spot over other names.

It's a similar story for Almas, who is high enough on the totem pole that it isn't outside of the realm of possibility, but he's still low enough that there are bigger fish to fry.

The one positive working in his favor is the location of this year's event.

The last time the Royal Rumble was held at the Alamodome was 1997, and WWE tried to incorporate several Mexican wrestlers to appeal to the San Antonio crowd, bringing people over from AAA to fill in a few places.

There would be no need to draft outside talent when a man like Almas is already on the roster, so if WWE is interested in doing a similar thing this year, he would be a perfect fit.

Sometimes it's better to utilize a star who needs a bit of a push rather than one who is already on top of the world. Almas has been struggling for a few months, and this could be exactly what he needs to give his career a shot of adrenaline.

All in all, if there are any Superstars from NXT, it's doubtful these two will be chosen, but they still have a much better chance than many others on the roster who are even further down the ladder in terms of importance.

5. Bobby Roode

Credit: WWE.com

The story being told for this particular weekend in regard to Bobby Roode is his potential NXT Championship victory over Shinsuke Nakamura.

That in itself is big enough, but it's not set in stone that he will win the title. If he doesn't, there may be other plans in motion.

There's no mistaking that Roode is one of the most popular Superstars on the NXT roster right now, so if WWE is looking to put somebody into the Royal Rumble to make the fans jump out of their seats, there aren't many better options out there.

Just hearing his theme song would pop the crowd, which would start singing along. As mentioned with No Way Jose, his entrance may be justification enough for having him appear.

Also, when Kassius Ohno made his return to WWE on the Jan. 5 television tapings, he made it clear he would be gunning for the NXT Championship by having an in-ring segment with Shinsuke Nakamura.

If there are plans to do a feud between those two for the title, that would leave Roode out of the mix—unless WWE turns it into a Triple Threat scenario down the line, possibly at NXT TakeOver: Orlando.

Under the assumption that Roode does not win the NXT Championship at this Saturday's TakeOver event in San Antonio, WWE may want to simply move him up to the main roster and go straight to Ohno vs. Nakamura.

There are other names more likely to make an appearance, though, as Roode's title contention will most likely be sufficient enough for that weekend's events.

4. Hideo Itami

Credit: WWE.com

Recently, Hideo Itami sent a rather vague tweet teasing that he may make his return soon.

While this is great news to hear, it's up for interpretation in a multitude of different ways.

First off, this doesn't confirm that he is coming back from his injury, nor does it set any true timetable for when that could occur.

For all we know, he could merely be having some fun teasing the WWE Universe and was "ready" to go eat dinner that day.

Furthermore, if it's even true that he's cleared for competition, when that happens is up in the air.

If it's soon, he'll likely be brought into the fold for the build to NXT TakeOver: Orlando, but what if WWE decides to go a different route?

He has spent the majority of his time in the company on the sidelines with injuries, so WWE may feel a twinge of impatience when it comes to getting the most out of him.

Ideally, Superstars wait to move up to the main roster until they've become seasoned enough in NXT to be trustworthy and build a nice rapport with the audience, but while Itami hasn't quite fit the bill compared to some others, he's in a different position than most.

For years, he wrestled outside WWE, so he put in his dues before signing with the company. During that time frame, he developed into a popular star in the wrestling world, which is why WWE signed him.

If he's able to return in time, WWE might be tired of keeping him in the developmental system and want to move him up to the main roster by skipping a few steps along the way.

By doing so, it can put Itami on Raw or SmackDown, let him travel and do the live events and learn anything else he needs to learn along the way, and he wouldn't be stuck down in NXT for another year or so.

But just because Itami himself says he's ready doesn't mean the creative team in WWE feels the same.

3. Tye Dillinger

Credit: WWE.com

For months, Tye Dillinger has been teasing that he could leave NXT in some form or another, mostly out of self-doubt.

It would seem like his impending exit will come when he finally gives up and stops being a professional wrestler, but in WWE, it's more often than not the start of a resurgence.

Sometimes a change of scenery is all someone needs in order to find success. It worked for The Miz going to SmackDown, for example, so it could work for Dillinger.

He's one of the longest-tenured wrestlers in NXT history—particularly if you count his time in WWE beforehand, when he wrestled under the name Gavin Spears.

After all these years, he's proved himself trustworthy enough for a main-roster role, hasn't he?

The Royal Rumble could be a great means to bring him onto the main roster. Even though he would probably come up short of winning, he could simply cut a promo about how the packed crowd revitalized him.

Dillinger could be a great midcarder going forward for whichever brand needs him most, so if it doesn't happen here, he should be brought up onto Raw or SmackDown around WrestleMania.

The cherry on top of all this would be if he entered as the No. 10 competitor, if not just for the reference to his gimmick as The Perfect 10. Little jokes like that can go a long way to make the WWE Universe light up with joy.

2. Shinsuke Nakamura

Credit: WWE.com

Shinsuke Nakamura's promo skills are still iffy, but he's captivated the WWE Universe in an impressive way after only being in the company for roughly a year.

Under one scenario, Nakamura may lose the NXT Championship to Bobby Roode Saturday night at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. In that case, having him appear in the Royal Rumble match could be a great way to keep him from losing steam.

On the other hand, even if Nakamura doesn't lose the title, that may not kill off his chances to be in the match.

There's nothing in WWE's ever-flexible rules that states the current NXT champion cannot participate in the Royal Rumble match, even if it's never been done before.

In 2008, Chavo Guerrero entered the Royal Rumble despite holding the ECW Championship, so there is at least a precedent for something similar.

When it comes to star power, Nakamura is one of the top choices to liven things up.

And if he loses the championship before appearing in the Royal Rumble, fans will be wondering if he has a chance to win the match, as a potential fight against AJ Styles would be in the cards somewhere down the line, if not at WrestleMania.

Nakamura is a far more likely choice to make an appearance than almost everybody else on this list due to him being the top guy on that particular roster at the moment, but there's still one more person who outclasses him in more ways than one.

1. Samoa Joe

Above all others, Samoa Joe is the one person from the NXT roster on whom you can feel safe betting some money to show up at this event.

There are two matches that have strong chances of happening at this year's WrestleMania when it comes to Joe, and both storylines have massive potential to start at this pay-per-view.

When looking at the roster, there aren't too many people with enough star power to face The Undertaker where it wouldn't feel like a retread of what we've seen before. Joe is one of the few Superstars who could be in that position.

If that match is scheduled to happen, tension between the two could kick off with one of them eliminating the other in the Royal Rumble match.

Alternatively, John Cena has mentioned over the years that he would like to face Joe at some point in his career, even during times when they were in opposite companies.

The video above may be a coincidence, or it may be part of WWE's strategy to familiarize fans with a potential feud between the two before the ball starts rolling.

In that situation, there are two options WWE could take that both involve Joe making an appearance in San Antonio.

First off, he could interfere in the WWE Championship match, preventing Cena from winning the title. This would likely result in The Undertaker winning the Royal Rumble to face AJ Styles, leaving Cena and Joe to a standard match at WrestleMania.

On the other hand, if WWE's plan is to have Cena win his 16th world title from Styles, Joe could win the Royal Rumble to earn the right to challenge him for the belt at WrestleMania.

To cement these possibilities as more than just fantasy booking, take note that Joe is conspicuously absent from the scheduled card for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.

Why would the first two-time NXT champion be left without something to do unless he was being saved for the following night?

All of this remains to be seen, but given the many options available, at least one of these Superstars from NXT should be making an appearance as an entrant in this year's Royal Rumble, and if you're looking for the safest bet of them all, put your money on Samoa Joe. 

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.