WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Match Grades for the 30 Battle Royal Entrants
WWE.com
29. The Undertaker
At No. 29, the gong went off and the WWE fans flipped out with good reason—they were about to see the Undertaker enter the ring and go to work in the Royal Rumble. It would be his first appearance in this match since the tail-end of his run as a full-time star.
He may not have been in for long, but the future WWE Hall of Famer had the second most eliminations with four. The most significant one came when he knocked out Goldberg just minutes after their staredown.
The main takeaway here is who tossed Undertaker over the ropes. From the moment Roman Reigns entered at No. 30, these two had eyes on each other and seemed ready to fight. They ended up having a back and forth before the former Shield man turned around and knocked him over the ropes. A brief verbal exchange would ensure along with another staredown. So they’re pretty much guaranteed to be going head-to-head at WrestleMania 33.
Grade: B+
30. Roman Reigns
When Roman Reigns entered the Royal Rumble match at No. 30, you could sense that most of the 50,000 in attendance at the Alamodome rolled their eyes. They had seen him plenty during the 22-minute Universal Championship match against Kevin Owens, which saw Reigns lose after Braun Strowman interfered. So for him to be going for another title opportunity disgruntled plenty, especially by coming out at the last spot.
Reigns ended up playing an important role. He eliminated the Undertaker, signaling that these two are likely bound for a WrestleMania 33 match. Then for the fourth consecutive Royal Rumble he survived until the final three. He tossed out Bray Wyatt and stood head-to-head with Randy Orton. WWE obviously knew that the fans would want Orton since Reigns gets booed everywhere, so they used the latter as a heel in this scenario by getting RKO’d and dumped over the ropes. This allowed the Apex Predator to celebrate his win to a crowd very pleased with the result.
Grade: B+
Next: WrestleMania 33 Card Projections 6.0; Post-Rumble
Who holds your top grade of the Royal Rumble match? How about the worst? Let us know below.