WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Match Card, Potential Spoilers, Predictions and More

An air of unpredictability hangs over WWE Royal Rumble 2017.

After recent years, when the winner was clear from miles away, the latest edition of the annual 30-man Battle Royal is thankfully harder to get a handle on. The presence of megastars like Brock Lesnar and Undertaker points to a potential repeat winner. Emerging stars like Braun Strowman head into the bout among the favorites, too. And a number of NXT stars could shake things up. 

Sunday's dual-brand pay-per-view will kick off the Road to WrestleMania.

Predicting what will happen inside the Alamodome in San Antonio requires one to foresee what the card for The Show of Shows will look like. The Royal Rumble match won't just be a means to force friends and foes to collide in chaotic fashion; it will be the precursor for a number of WrestleMania stories.

Who will show up in the Alamo City? Who will keep hold of their championship gold? Let's dive into WWE's first PPV of the year, looking at the title bouts and the directions the signature Battle Royal could go.

News, Potential Spoilers

The Rumble is sure to feature a few surprise entrants, but don't count on Kurt Angle being among them.

The soon-to-be Hall of Famer told TMZ Sports that he hasn't talked to WWE about anything beyond getting inducted. He also said that "Royal Rumble is not gonna happen."

Kenny Omega isn't showing up in San Antonio, either. The Cleaner revealed on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Ringside News' Steve Carrier) that he would not be entering the Royal Rumble match but that he will be negotiating a new deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Finn Balor, who has been out of action for months with a shoulder injury, could be on his way back, though.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported that "Balor is slated to undergo medical testing this week that could clear him to return to the ring."

The former NXT champ had a bit of fun with the idea of entering the Rumble when he gave a fan the odds of him appearing:

Balor's old rival, Samoa Joe, could follow him into that fray. The powerhouse's absence from Saturday's NXT TakeOver special could be a sign of his move to the main roster.

Plus, Johnson also noted, "The entire WWE NXT roster is slated to be backstage at the Royal Rumble PPV, so anyone from that roster could conceivably be tapped for a Rumble surprise."

Match Card

• Cesaro and Sheamus vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (Raw Tag Team Championship)
• Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
• Becky Lynch, Naomi and Nikki Bella vs. Alexa Bliss, Mickie James and Natalya 
• Rich Swann vs. Neville (Cruiserweight Championship)
• Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley (Raw Women's Championship)
• AJ Styles vs. John Cena (WWE Championship)
• Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns (No Disqualification, Universal Championship)
• 30-man Royal Rumble match

Predictions

• Cesaro and Sheamus over Gallows and Anderson.
• Jax over Banks.
• No-contest in six-woman tag team match.
• Swann over Neville.
• Flair over Bayley.
• Cena over Styles.
• Reigns over Owens.
• Undertaker wins the Royal Rumble match.

Top Match Previews

Raw Women's Championship

After emerging from her saga with Sasha Banks as champion, Charlotte Flair soon found another popular challenger standing before her in Bayley.

Bayley is the dreamer, the underdog and the likable, gutsy babyface in this story. Flair has belittled her and claimed genetic superiority. In many ways, it's a lot like Bayley's NXT feud with Banks.

It's too early for this version of the narrative to climax.

The most engaging route would be for Bayley to fight for months, climbing her way to the gold. That shouldn't happen until WrestleMania. For now, she will push Flair to her limits but fall. It's a Flair tradition to narrowly escape big title matches with wit and underhanded techniques. 

WWE Championship

John Cena and AJ Styles composed two PPV classics last year. Surprisingly, The Phenomenal One came out of those battles with a 2-0 record. 

After Cena took a long absence to film the reality series American Grit, he's back in search of his 16th world title. That would tie him with Ric Flair for the most ever.

It's hard to imagine Cena not achieving that goal. With WrestleMania around the corner, WWE is likely to crown him in time to defend the gold at that marquee event.

Regardless of the result, though, this match is bound to be tremendous. The first two editions of Cena vs. Styles were works of art. Except another one in the Alamodome on Sunday.

Universal Championship

It'll be interesting to see how WWE maneuvers all the moving parts of this matchup.

Owens' best friend, Chris Jericho, will be suspended inside a shark cage to prevent him from interfering. The No Disqualification stipulation, however, opens the door for Jeri-KO to pull off something shady.

WWE's persistence with making Reigns a top-tier star will continue here. Despite the uneven response he's received as a headliner, he's headed toward a top-level WrestleMania match.

Owens is likely on a collision course with Jericho. The chaos Sunday's match promises to create is an easy way to start marching in that direction.

Royal Rumble

The subplots for this year's match will be plentiful.

As payback for cheating him out of the Universal Championship last year and, more recently, out of a Royal Rumble spot, Seth Rollins is going to appear and eliminate Triple H. That will lay the groundwork for their WrestleMania showdown.

Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will eliminate each other to further their rivalry. Finn Balor will arrive in search for the title he never lost.

Repeating recent history, Undertaker is going to walk out of the Royal Rumble as the winner. Having a repeat victor is a recent trend, as Triple H, John Cena and Batista have all won the match for a second time in the past four years.

In addition, Undertaker emerging as the last man standing on Sunday would set up a massive Cena vs. Undertaker match for WrestleMania.

Sami Zayn, The Miz and Braun Strowman would be better choices to bolster the stars of the New Era. But this Royal Rumble looks as if it will be a celebration of nostalgia and made men, The Phenom included.