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WWE Rumors: ‘Royal Rumble 2018’ Championship Match Could Feature Swerve Angle With Surprising Title Change

By Matt Couden
Published on: 08:48 PST, Jan 24, 2018

This coming Sunday, WWE may decide to throw an interesting twist into one of the WWE Royal Rumble 2018 matches to cause chaos over a title. At the big pay-per-view on Sunday, almost every title will be decided. For the top level championships, Raw superstar Brock Lesnar will defend the WWE Universal title, and SmackDown Live’s AJ Styles will defend the WWE Championship. Both matches featured three competitors, although they are different types of matches. In the Universal title match, Brock is defending in a Triple Threat situation against Kane and Braun Strowman. Styles will have to defend his title in a 2-on-1 handicap match.

According to WWE Leaks, betting odds were released via Paddy Power for the WWE Championship match and show AJ Styles is the current favorite to win his match. Styles is a 4 to 7 favorite against his two opponents in the handicap match, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who are at 5 to 4 odds right now via Paddy Power. To break down how that works, Styles is at -175 odds, which means it would take a bet of $175 just to win $100, should he win the match. On the other hand, Zayn and Owens are at +125, meaning a fan could wager $100 on them, and if they win, the bet pays out $125.

The underdog price is low at the moment, and the fact they are competing as a team could set up an interesting scenario going forward too. One rumor that is being suggested is that Zayn and Owens will win the WWE Championship from Styles on Sunday, leading to a Fatal 5-Way at the WWE Fastlane 2018 pay-per-view. That event will be a SmackDown Live exclusive event and takes place on March 11 in Columbus, Ohio. That could mean there are two superstars claiming they are the champion at the same time for well over a month, giving more to the angle on episodes of SmackDown.

Heading into the match, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens have racked up several victories over the champion in non-title matches. However, based on the betting odds, it looks like oddsmakers believe Styles will leave the Royal Rumble as the WWE Champion. There’s also a case to be made for not burying the heel duo and allowing them to win in confusing fashion. This could all lead to an eventual match between Zayn and Owens at WrestleMania 34 and Styles having to win or defend the WWE title at Mania in a different match.

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Pro Wrestling royal rumble aj styles sami zayn kevin owens
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