In a series of ongoing WWE rumors, there has been speculation over Finn Balor making his return at the WWE Royal Rumble 2017 match in January. However, recent reports have seemed to indicate that Balor won’t be ready for a return to the ring by January 29, and will instead be making his comeback around the time of WrestleMania 33 in April. Despite the conflicting information, it appears that “The Demon” is still one of the top favorites to win the Royal Rumble match when it arrives next month.
According to WWE Leaks in their December 6 report, Balor is listed as the second favorite in betting odds to win the big 30-man match next month in San Antonio, Texas. As of this report, Balor has moved from 6/1 odds up to 4/1 odds to win at Ladbrokes and only trails Bill Goldberg (5/4) on their listing. There’s been plenty of WWE rumors regarding Goldberg’s participation in the match as he was the first superstar to officially enter following his quick victory over Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series .
The speculation with Goldberg is that he and Lesnar will somehow take one another out of the Rumble match, eliminating them from possible title contention at Mania . This would go on to set up a matchup for the third time between these two icons of the wrestling ring. That leaves the door open for another superstar to pick up the victory in the elimination match and go on to headline WrestleMania 33 .
If Goldberg doesn’t win the match, it brings three other superstars quickly into the conversation. In a previous set of WWE rumors about the Rumble , it is speculated that either John Cena or Chris Jericho are going to win the match. There have been rumors of the SmackDown Live star John Cena challenging either AJ Styles or The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 for the championship. A win by Cena over either star would be huge as it would tie Ric Flair’s 16 championship reigns for most in wrestling history.
In terms of Chris Jericho, he’s been involved in the entertaining story about him and his best friend, the WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens. For weeks the two palled around on WWE Raw , but just recently the friendship seems to have come to a halt. Jericho walked off on Owens during one episode, only to get attacked in the parking lot by Seth Rollins. Just this past Monday, Jericho was involved in a match against Roman Reigns, but lost due to Owens thinking he was helping out. That would seem to indicate these two former friends are on a collision course, possibly over the championship at WrestleMania 33 .
That brings up the concept of Finn Balor winning the Royal Rumble . According to Wrestling Inc , Balor recently said his hard target to return to the ring is closer to WrestleMania . However, there’s been smoke screens thrown out by WWE and its personalities before in order to prevent surprises from being leaked. It’s possible that Balor may still enter the Rumble match late and somehow win it. That would set up some sort of championship clash for The Demon at WrestleMania 33 . Some of the early speculation has been Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens in a Triple Threat or Balor challenging Roman Reigns for the title.
A lot will come down to what happens at the WWE Roadblock: End of the Line pay-per-view in less than two weeks. Kevin Owens will defend the WWE Universal Championship against United States Champion Roman Reigns. There have been some rumors that Reigns will defeat Owens to become a dual champion and then he’d go on to main event WrestleMania .
Basically, there’s a major surprise element right now and fans will get a clearer picture as to what the big WrestleMania 33 card holds after the Royal Rumble dust has settled. Right now, it seems the smart money on a Rumble winner goes with John Cena, Chris Jericho, and yes, even Finn Balor.
WWE fans, which superstar do you think will leave as the 2017 Royal Rumble winner: Goldberg, Finn Balor, John Cena, Chris Jericho, or someone else?
[Featured Image by WWE]
