5 reasons to be excited about Royal Rumble 2017
When looking through the WWE PPV calendar fans tend to glance straight towards the period between January and April, because they know that WrestleMania season is near.
There's something about those few months that feels even more special than the rest of the year, and it tends to bring with it a surge of casual fans who want to see what's going down heading into the showcase of the immortals.
But where does that road begin? The Royal Rumble, of course. The extravaganza that is the Rumble emanates from the Alamodome in San Antonio this year, proving just how big the event has become in the last few decades.
Many people are divided on the event this time round given the contrasting fortunes of both Raw and SmackDown, but WWE always seem to pull a few surprises out of the hat when it comes to the 30-man over the top battle royal itself.
You see, negativity is a big problem within the WWE Universe and when that attitude rolls over into one of the big four pay-per-views, it can create something of a ripple effect. A large portion of the fanbase can begin to turn on the company due to something they've read online or because it's 'cooler' to do so, but we're here to stop all that.
There's plenty of reasons to be positive heading into the 2017 edition of the Royal Rumble, and these are five of the big ones.
#5 Cena vs. Styles outcome
The much-anticipated rematch between John Cena and AJ Styles for the WWE Championship has been in the pipeline for months now. Ever since their absolute classic at SummerSlam, fans have been clamouring to see another entry in the rivalry, and in San Antonio, they'll get just that.
Now whilst some people will look directly towards the match quality itself as a reason to buy the WWE Network, there's much more at stake here. First off, the fate of the WWE Championship heading into WrestleMania 33 is on the line and the winner of this match could well find themselves in the main event in Orlando.
Also read: WWE News: WWE have contacted Kurt Angle to appear in the Royal Rumble 2017
Secondly, there's a Deadman looming. It seems to be common knowledge at this point that Cena vs Undertaker is the match that WWE are most interested in for WM33, and it seems likely that we'll see the seeds get planted either during or straight after this match.
Who knows, perhaps we'll hear the famous gong which will cost Big Match John the match.
From one potential surprise to a whole load of them.