WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Predicting the Full Match Card

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WWE Universal Championship Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns

This is starting off with the only confirmed match outside of the Royal Rumble to close the show. We got the announcement of Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns on Monday’s episode of Raw after the disqualification finish at WWE Roadblock. Given Chris Jericho’s role in the match, he’s going to be suspended above the ring in a shark cage at the Rumble. So, he won’t be able to impact the finish.

Owens defending the Universal Championship more than likely takes him out of the Royal Rumble match, unless he loses the belt to Reigns. WWE don’t often make Superstars do double-duty if they’re in a world title match earlier in the night, but that could always change since KO wanting to win the over-the-top-rope match after losing his belt would make sense. Why wouldn’t he want another opportunity?

As for Reigns, this potentially takes him out of the Royal Rumble match for the first time since 2013. It would come as an interesting change since he has been a focal point of each of the past three of these bouts for the WrestleMania main event spot. 2014 was about him and Batista, 2015 saw Reigns win, and in 2016, he defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against 29 other Superstars.