The Royal Rumble is the official beginning of the road to WrestleMania and this is where most of the feuds are locked in for WrestleMania.
While WWE Hall of Famer and San Antonio’s own, Shawn Michaels has openly stated that he will not be returning to the WWE nor will he be participating in the Royal Rumble match, he has been added to the Kickoff show pre-show which airs on the WWE Network, which leads right into the Royal Rumble pay per view. HBK has been listed alongside WWE Hall of Famers, Booker T, Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler and Renee Young.
At last night’s SmackDown Live, a match was made pitting Mickie James, Natalya and the current SmackDown Live Women’s champion, Alexa Bliss against the team of Nikki Bella, Naomi and Becky Lynch. Mojo Rawley was officially added to the Royal Rumble match after winning the ten man battle royal. So, as of this writing, this is how the card looks like:
WWE Championship: AJ Styles vs John Cena
WWE Universal Championship: Kevin Owens vs Roman Reigns; this is a no disqualification match, with an added stipulation of Jericho being locked in a shark cage above the ring.
RAW Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair vs Bayley
WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Rich Swann vs Neville
Six-woman tag team match: Alexa Bliss, Mickie James and Natalya vs Becky Lynch, Naomi and Nikki Bella
Royal Rumble Match: Sami Zayn, Big Show, Brock Lesnar, Bill Goldberg, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Braun Strowman, Xavier Woods, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Baron Corbin, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Randy Orton, Cesaro, Sheamus and Mojo Rawley. Many spots left, will we see some returns?
Kickoff show match 1: Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax.
Kickoff show match 2: Cesaro and Sheamus vs Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson; this match will have two referees.
Also, expect to hear from Seth Rollins and a possible appearance from Triple H, building up their feud heading into WrestleMania especially after Triple H costed Seth Rollins his spot in the Rumble match.
- Updated card for the WWE Royal Rumble pay per view - January 28, 2017
- WWE SmackDown Results – 01/24/2017 - January 26, 2017
- WWE RAW Results – 01/23/2017 - January 24, 2017