Rumble Rankings For January 12th

If you've been following along for the past few weeks, I'm sure you've read a number of posts where I've ranked wrestlers based on how I rated their chances of winning the 2017 WWE Royal Rumble.

Chris Jericho was at the top of this list for weeks. That's why I thought it funny to name this ranking 'The List'. However, I was forced to move him down to third on the table over a week ago after Jericho announced that he would be an entrant in the Royal Rumble match and Kevin Owens didn't like the prospect of having to face him.

Then, after Monday's Raw, I was confident that it would end up being The Undertaker. He was already top of the list following Jericho's announcement, but promising he would win the Royal Rumble was enough for me to believe that this was the direction.

Until this morning. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that The Undertaker is not in the plans for either of the major title matches on the WrestleMania card.

In the comment section of this morning's post, a frequent visitor told me that 'Meltzer is forcing you to take Undertaker off your list' and to find someone else to replace him with. I had already moved Braun Strowman up, but I will honour the request.

By the way, prepare for some wild assumptions and fantasy booking.,,

Here are a few notes as to why these names are in the order they're in. The list is split into two categories. The top four are the names that I have strongly backed. The rest are names that I may not have backed, but I play devil's advocate with a few of them.

Top Of The List

Braun Strowman

Strowman moves up because The Undertaker has been knocked off the top spot following today's story. Another thing that was reported today is that, as of right now, there are no plans for The Undertaker to wrestle Braun Strowman at WrestleMania. This frees Strowman up.

The Undertaker

Okay, so The Undertaker is not going to be in the title match at WrestleMania 33. What about this one then - he wins the Royal Rumble, but loses the title shot at Fast Lane? He could even lose it to Strowman. I came to this conclusion after reading the following line in the Observer - 'Both the Rumble and Fast Lane will be impacting the matches and stipulations on the show'. 

Finn Balor

Balor has been in the top of the list ever since the summer. He remains in the mix because he's due to return soon. The Rumble might be too soon, or could it?

Chris Jericho

With Kevin Owens still Universal Champion, for the time being at least, I cannot remove Chris Jericho. There's still a chance - albeit slim - that Jericho wins the Rumble. Owens could cost him the title shot later on if he is no longer Universal Champ.

In The Hunt?

Randy Orton

Even though I am not completely sold on all the money that came in on Randy Orton last week meaning anything, it would be wrong not to have him in this section, I had backed him months ago when I guessed that it would be Orton versus AJ Styles for the WWE Championship.

Seth Rollins

What if Seth Rollins wins the Royal Rumble and that thing about 'Both the Rumble and Fast Lane will be impacting the matches and stipulations on the show' comes into play? What if Rollins wins, but Triple H doesn't do anything until a few weeks later? After all, everyone is expecting Triple H to cost Rollins in the Rumble match. The story would reach its destination. This isn't an idea I came up with. I sort of got part of it from a regular visitor to this blog who is from Russia. 

Samoa Joe

I published a post earlier today where I went through a few ideas for Samoa Joe and the Royal Rumble. It would actually be an incredible story for him to make his main roster debut and win the Rumble to set up a match against either one of the possible titleholders. There might be some who'll argue that he shouldn't win the Rumble on his first night in, but this doesn't apply here. Joe has been with the company for almost two years.

The bottom two are close to being scrubbed, but...

Brock Lesnar

The only reason why I have Brock Lesnar on this part of the list is because Goldberg will wrestle at FastLane. We don't know who Goldberg's opponent will be just yet, but what if he is in the Universal Championship match and he ends up winning the title? This would easily set up the match that the company already has lined up for WrestleMania - Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar. One major roadblock to this idea is that Brock is due the win at Mania. With Lesnar's limited schedule, I do not think they'll put the belt on him. Therefore, I doubt their match will be for the Universal title.

Goldberg

Just like with other ideas I've thrashed out above - what if Goldberg wins the Royal Rumble, but loses the title shot at FastLane? I cannot see it happening because it would mean having Goldberg lose a match before he's set to do the honours to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.

I guarantee there will be more changes up and down this list as we head closer to the Royal Rumble. As of right now, it's Braun Strowman's match to lose.