WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Latest Odds, Superstars Who Will Surprise in Battle Royal

Will it be the dark horses or the mammoths who surprise fans at the 2017 WWE Royal Rumble?

The annual 30-man Battle Royal has long delivered unexpected moments and unforeseen rises. At this Sunday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view, it will be New Era Superstars who provide many of those elements. 

Big Cass is set to overpower the competition. Sami Zayn is poised to showcase his endurance and grit. Braun Strowman may well just win the whole thing.

Who among the NXT brand will enter the Rumble? Who will be the match's Iron Man and elimination king? 

Read on for a breakdown of the Superstars who are most likely to shock in San Antonio, Texas, and a look at the betting favorites for the bout.

Royal Rumble Betting Odds

The beastly Strowman is one of the favorites to be the last man standing come Sunday.

WWE has prominently featured the giant in its road to the Rumble. Strowman had a staredown with Brock Lesnar and a collision with Goldberg, and cameras caught him watching Undertaker on a monitor backstage. Is all that foreshadowing a Strowman Royal Rumble win?

That seems unlikely, but OddsShark lists him as the fourth-likeliest wrestler to emerge victorious at the PPV.

Wrestler	Odds	Moneyline Odds	Previous Rumble Win?
Bill Goldberg	5-2	+250	No
Randy Orton	3-1	+300	Yes
Undertaker	3-1	+300	Yes
Braun Strowman	7-2	+350	No
Finn Balor	5-1	+500	No
Samoa Joe	6-1	+600	No
Chris Jericho	12-1	+1200	No
Brock Lesnar	16-1	+1600	Yes
The Miz	18-1	+1800	No
Baron Corbin	20-1	+2000	No
John Cena	20-1	+2000	Yes

Finn Balor is among the favorites too, despite potentially not being cleared to compete. He suffered a shoulder injury in August and isn't guaranteed to be ready to go when the Rumble arrives.

A Undertaker win to set up a WrestleMania match with John Cena is a plausible scenario. 

As for Strowman, he is the top pick for the wrestler who eliminates the most men from the match, courtesy of OddsShark. A quartet of hosses join him in the top five on that list:

• Braun Strowman (-350)
• Samoa Joe (+250)
• Baron Corbin (+400)
• Brock Lesnar (+600)
• Bill Goldberg (+800)

Lesnar and Goldberg are no surprises there, as they have been booked to be overwhelming forces of nature. Joe's name sticks out, though.

He is currently part of the NXT brand. WWE has used him as a means to bring star power to the developmental system, but is the company now ready to call him up?

The Perfect 10

NXT's invasion of the annual Battle Royal has become a tradition. Bo Dallas, Rusev and others have arrived on this stage in recent years.

The time is right for Tye Dillinger to join them.

The Perfect 10 has been one of the most popular NXT stars over the past year. The crowd regularly gets energized when he steps onto the entrance ramp.

Plus, he's proved in matches against Bobby Roode and The Samoan Submission Machine that he can thrive against top talent.

At this point, as Miami Herald columnist Scott Fishman pointed out, it would be a letdown if he didn't show up at the PPV:

A Rumble appearance doesn't necessarily equal a call-up, either. He can head back to NXT afterward to finish out his current storyline with Sanity before making his way to the main roster post-WrestleMania.

More History Made

Nia Jax will join the fray, ready to dish out destruction.

The Royal Rumble has welcomed only three women in the past—Chyna, Beth Phoenix and Kharma. The common thread between those women is that they are all powerhouses who were dominant within their division. Jax is in the same category.

Her size and strength make her a good fit as the next woman to appear in the Rumble.

In addition, WWE has made a concerted effort in the last year-and-a-half to blaze trails with its women's division. Women have fought in cage matches, main-evented PPVs and been more prominent overall.

Jax will be the latest beneficiary of that ongoing movement. She will storm into the Rumble to fling a number of midcarders out of the mix. 

Big Man Rising

The Royal Rumble is poised to showcase Big Cass in a major way.

He's unlikely to win the whole thing. In fact, OddsShark gives him the same odds to be the last man standing on Sunday (50-1) as the retired Shawn Michaels.

Cass, though, will garner a ton of momentum in defeat.

WWE has teased his rise up the ladder a few times in 2016. To accentuate the company's move into the New Era, he'll get a big boost come Rumble time.

In much the way Roman Reigns made a loud statement in 2014 by breaking Kane's record for eliminations, The Big Bambino will announce his arrival by ousting Superstar after Superstar. 

In August, the guys at the Mat Men podcast foresaw huge success for Big Cass in the Rumble:

The Battle Royal is the perfect opportunity to make a name for Enzo Amore's best bud. He's bound to take out his rivals Jinder Mahal and Rusev. After adding several other victims to his list, Big Cass will end up as one of the Rumble competitors with the most eliminations.

Sami Zayn, Iron Man

The underdog has a long history of success at the Royal Rumble, with grapplers like Rey Mysterio and Chris Benoit lasting for impressive stretches in the match. In 2017, it will be Zayn's turn to be the Rumble's Iron Man.

He's a babyface with an elite talent for garnering sympathy through his facial expressions. He thrives as the never-say-die hero who fights until he can't stand any longer.

Those traits will inspire WWE to showcase Zayn as the Rumble's valiant warrior.

Along the way, he's bound to meet his rival, and current betting favorite, Strowman. Zayn upending the beast would be a tremendous moment.

Denny Burkholder of CBSSports.com believes that visual is on the way:

WWE isn't bold enough to crown Zayn the actual winner, but he will be one of the Rumble's stars. He will serve as the bout's dark horse who refuses to go down, while Big Cass is its force of nature. Dillinger, meanwhile, will provide one of the match's resonating moments.

Goldberg, Lesnar and Undertaker will churn up hype heading into the Rumble, but it will be men like Zayn who steal the show.