Final 2017 WWE Royal Rumble Rankings

After weeks of readjusting and reshuffling, I have now locked in my top four favourites to win this year's WWE Royal Rumble.

It has been a difficult few days trying to work out who I should place in my final four. I outweighed the pros and cons of each selection at the top of the bookmakers' markets and have arrived at the names I am comfortable to stick with.

Samoa Joe tops the list. As soon as I read that there was plan in place for him to be in 'one of the top few' matches at WrestleMania, I started entertaining the idea of him walking out of the Royal Rumble with a title opportunity against either the Univeral or World Champion.

Joe being a free agent from a storyline perspective was one of the deciding factors in my choice to have him at the peak as the company could spend the weeks after the Rumble with him deciding which title he chooses to challenge for at WrestleMania. 

Joe selecting Smackdown over Raw could lead to the firing of Mick Foley as Raw general manager, so this result not only furthers a Smackdown storyline, it also helps further something that has been going on the other show.

To counter - there's also a chance of Joe winning the title in the Elimination Chamber in a little over two weeks. This could then set up John Cena chasing the strap into WrestleMania. As we know, WWE likes to have the babyface on the title hunt for Mania season. I carefully considered having John Cena on the list of possible Rumble winners because of this. However, I couldn't let go of the opinion that the entire Rumble has been set up for an 'outsider' to overcome all the favourites that have been set up and an out of nowhere victory by an unannounced winner is what I think they'll do. 

In second place is The Undertaker. He has had a spot on this list ever since it became clear that AJ Styles would defend the WWE Championship against John Cena at the Rumble. He has promised to win the Royal Rumble and be in the main event of WrestleMania. Top-tier babyfaces are not booked to promise things and not deliver. It's one of the things I look out for in major programs, so that comment did not go amiss a couple of weeks ago when he returned to Raw. The counter to Undertaker winning the Rumble are the reports that  - as of a few weeks ago - he doesn't factor in any plans for the title matches at Mania. It's because of this that I couldn't move him up to first place.

Chris Jericho returns to the top four in third place. Kevin Owens is still Universal Champion and there was something that was said on Raw that made me question whether The Undertaker's opponent for WrestleMania will end up being Roman Reigns. It was a throwaway line where Owens was naming all the people that The Shield powerbombed onto tables and he seemed to draw on one of the people being The Undertaker. It was a subtle reminder that caused me to consider that the member of the Raw roster who is set to tangle with Undertaker at Mania is Reigns and not Finn Balor. Remember, it has been reported that Taker was not in the plans for a title match at WrestleMania. If I'm calling this right and Taker .vs. Reigns is the plan, this would mean Reigns isn't winning the Universal Championship on Sunday (Braun Strowman interference is my guess because everyone is expecting it to come from Chris Jericho) and that would surely make Jericho a top prospect to get the Rumble win. The counter to this is the reason why I moved Jericho from the top of the list a number of weeks ago - WWE has already had Owens and Jericho talk about Jericho possibly winning the Rumble and having to meet at WrestleMania. It should have just happened as a surprise, in my opinion.

The fourth spot goes to Braun Strowman. He has fallen two places because of the subtle Undertaker/Reigns hint that I took from the segment with Reigns and JeriKO. I also found it quite telling that Strowman was pushed down to being involved with the New Day, Enzo, Big Cass and the rest after being in the mix with the top guys lately. Granted, they teased something for him and Big Show at the Rumble. With that said, he's still eyeing Roman Reigns and if my idea of Reigns .vs. Undertaker is poor guesswork, then this should still make Strowman one of the top favourites to win on Sunday. To counter - If Strowman costs Reigns the Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble, I could also see Reigns messing up Strowman's chance of winning the battle royal later in the night.

This has not been the easiest Rumble to work out. I know it's an easy out to say 'I would not be surprised if none of these win', but I really am in that mindset this year. This has been the toughest Rumbles I have ever had to work out. I guess that's good for fans, right?

To close this out, here are the top four locked in selections:

1. Samoa Joe (6/1 Coral)

2. The Undertaker (4/1 Coral, Paddy Power, Betfair, William Hill)

3. Chris Jericho (16/1 SunBets.co.uk)

4. Braun Strowman (4/1 Coral)