5 early favourites to win the 2018 Royal Rumble
Clash of Champions wrapped up a rather interesting year for WWE pay-per-views and now we look to January and the start of Wrestlemania season: the Royal Rumble.
With AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar atop Smackdown Live and Raw respectively, who could overcome the odds and beat out 29 other competitors to headline Wrestlemania 34?
#5 Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura has had an up and down debut year on the main roster, primarily bouncing around from feuds with Dolph Ziggler, NXT's welcoming committee, Baron Corbin and a rather disappointing feud with Jinder Mahal.
Now that Mahal is no longer WWE Champion and AJ Styles is holding down the house that he built on Tuesday nights, many are hoping to potentially see a rematch from their IWGP Intercontinental Championship bout at Wrestle Kingdom 10.
Styles himself has also advocated for a match against Nakamura for the WWE Championship, avidly stating his excitement to get back into the ring. Earlier in the year at Money in the Bank, we saw a glimpse of what a potential Styles/Nakamura bout could hold inside a WWE ring.
Nakamura is sure to be one of the heavy favourites on SmackDown Live to win the Royal Rumble, and it would make a great bout for the blue brand's top prize as their main event.