WWE News: Goldberg Falls, Shawn Michaels Rises On ‘Royal Rumble’ 2017 Match Winner Odds?
The latest WWE news involving Goldberg arrives just one night after he returned to Monday Night Raw to discuss the upcoming Royal Rumble match. Goldberg was the first superstar to officially enter the match, announcing he’d partake in the 30-man bout just one night after his Survivor Series win against Brock Lesnar. Brock was next to make his entry known (via Paul Heyman), but now there are at least five guys in the match. One guy who isn’t in the match is Shawn Michaels, but his odds to win the 30-man contest in several weeks have oddly improved.
In a recent report by the Inquisitr, WWE rumors for Royal Rumble’s surprise entrants were mentioned. They included NXT stars Samoa Joe and Tye Dillinger as well as Kurt Angle, all of whom are considered favorites on betting odds to actually participate in the match. Another name on the short list of nine possibilities at the sports book is Shawn Michaels. “The Heartbreak Kid” was a longshot in terms of his possibility to compete in the match. However, his betting odds to actually win the match have jumped at one sports book.
Shawn Michaels is scheduled to appear in an upcoming episode of Raw, as is The Undertaker. Ironically, these two were featured in the famous Royal Rumble 2007, where they were the final two competitors. Taker ultimately won the matchup and moved on to headline WrestleMania. Now, according to WWE Leaks, Shawn Michaels’ odds to win the match have jumped at the Ladbrokes website. With Michaels appearing on the January 9 episode of Raw and the Rumble being held in his home city of San Antonio, it seems at least a bettor or two were swayed to make a wager.
However, it’s also important to remember that Shawn Michaels is “retired,” as he lost a famous retirement match at WrestleMania to none other than Undertaker. As of this report, The Undertaker leads all potential Royal Rumble competitors with 13 to eight odds at Paddy Power, with Chris Jericho next on the favorites list, followed by Braun Strowman, John Cena, and Finn Balor.
In another interesting note reported by WWE Leaks, Goldberg has gone from the overall favorite to win the Royal Rumble to much lower on the listing for odds to win. On Monday’s episode of Raw, a confrontation involving Roman Reigns and Goldberg was teased heavily. The two engaged in a staredown in the ring before performing a double spear to take out Braun Strowman. Strowman is among the favorites to win the Rumble, with four to one odds right now, while Goldberg has gone from first to fifth now.
There were other scenarios teased in the ring during Raw including Goldberg coming face-to-face with Universal Champion Kevin Owens, and Paul Heyman reminding everyone that Brock Lesnar is in the match. If Reigns is the Universal Champion as of the Royal Rumble match against Owens, it could point towards either Strowman or Goldberg winning the Rumble to challenge Reigns at Mania. Undertaker seems like another candidate if Reigns wins the title, although he may go after John Cena somehow too.
Basically, WWE has done a great job of creating intrigue heading into their annual Rumble match. With last year’s Royal Rumble, many fans could see based on the stipulation that Reigns was going to lose the title to Triple H. With the Royal Rumble 2017, there’s much more mystery surrounding who will be holding onto the big titles after the pay-per-view and which superstars will actually enter the 30-man match.
The Royal Rumble 2017 arrives on Sunday, January 29 from San Antonio, Texas. Which superstar will be this year’s big winner and who will they face at WrestleMania 33?
[Featured Image by WWE]
