5 Surprise Entrants That Would’ve Made WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Awesome

This year’s Royal Rumble was supposed to be one to remember. It ended up being decidedly average, partly due to a lack of surprise entrants.

The tagline for the 2017 Royal Rumble PPV was ‘remember the Rumble’. WWE was hyping this Rumble event as one for the history books. It was supposed to be so grandiose and spectacular that fans would be talking about it for years to come.

Given what actually happened, fans will be talking about the 2017 Rumble for years, though not for the reasons WWE would want them to.

The best thing about the 2017 Royal Rumble PPV was the match between John Cena and A.J. Styles. That was a truly spectacular contest that was a true Match of the Year contender that showed why both men get such praise from fans and commentators alike. But the 2017 Rumble match itself left a lot to be desired.

A major part of the Rumble match being disappointing was its genuine lack of surprises or intrigue. Of the 30 men to participate in it, 22 had announced their participation beforehand. That left only eight spots to be filled out by surprise entrants, and needless to say, WWE didn’t do a good job in this respect.

The only ‘surprise’ entrant was Tye Dillinger, who entered at No. 10 (because that number is his entire gimmick, you see). It’s likely that decision was made solely because WWE were afraid the audience would revolt if he didn’t appear with that number.

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But apart from Dillinger, there weren’t any major surprises. The actual remaining entrants were either lower-card guys no one cared about or veterans in the twilight of their respective careers. This was one of the few Royal Rumble matches that didn’t feature any one-time appearances or genuine shocks.

Had they introduced some true surprise entrants, it would’ve been a vastly superior Rumble match. Here are five people that WWE should’ve tried to get into the 2017 Royal Rumble match.