There was a lot of discussion over the past week as to what exactly could end up taking place during Monday Night Raw in New Orleans. Everyone was wondering who would be the next from Team Red to enter the big 30-superstar battle royal at the Royal Rumble in three weeks. Everyone else was wondering why The Undertaker, a member of the SmackDown LIVE roster, was appearing on a Monday evening. Little did they know that those two things would be related.
Earlier in the afternoon on Monday, Inquisitr reported that former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins was officially entering the Royal Rumble . His entry into the match brought the total to nine, but it would be upped to 10 by the end of the night.
All night, Stephanie McMahon chastised Mick Foley for telling the fans that The Undertaker would be on Monday Night Raw , and it didn’t seem like he was going to show up. Foley went out to the ring and asked for The Undertaker to head out into the arena, and as recapped by the official website of WWE , his request was granted.
Interestingly enough, The Undertaker was back in New Orleans, the location where his win streak ended at the hands of Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX . Instead of speaking about being on the grandest stage of them all, Taker wanted to talk about the fact that he had “dug 29 holes for 29 souls.”
With those cryptic words, The Undertaker officially entered the 2017 Royal Rumble match.
Now, the interesting thing here is that WWE usually gives all of their attention and camera time to The Undertaker when the legend makes an appearance. Tonight on Raw , the camera actually cut to backstage where Braun Strowman stood watching The Undertaker give his promo out in the ring.
With that, WWE did officially hint that there will be a showdown between the two behemoths at some point. It may be at the Royal Rumble or maybe, it will take place later at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, but something is going to happen.
As pointed out by the Internet Wrestling Database , The Undertaker last appeared at a Royal Rumble event in 2010 when he defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the World Title. He last entered the battle royal in 2009 and he was eliminated by Big Show. In 2007, he entered the battle royal at number 30 and won the whole thing.
Along with the big 30-superstar, over-the-top-rope battle royal, there are three other matches currently confirmed for the pay-per-view (PPV). One is a huge bout for the WWE Championship from SmackDown LIVE which will see AJ Styles attempt to keep John Cena from breaking a record for world titles won.
As of this writing, the current card for the 2017 Royal Rumble is as follows.
- WWE Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. John Cena
- WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns
- Raw Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Bayley
- 30-superstar Royal Rumble – 10 entrants confirmed as of Jan. 9, 2017
The Undertaker did make the tenth superstar to officially enter the Royal Rumble match, but only the second from SmackDown LIVE . The only other superstar from Team Blue is Baron Corbin who just entered the match on last Tuesday’s episode.
From Monday Night Raw , Goldberg and Brock Lesnar were the first two superstars to enter the match overall. Last week, they were joined by The New Day, Braun Strowman, and the newly crowned Untied States Champion Chris Jericho. Earlier on Monday, Rollins had also officially put his name in.
The Royal Rumble was already looking to be huge this year with a few title matches confirmed and nine superstars who would make the 30-superstar bout exciting. Now, the addition of Seth Rollins and then the legend known as The Undertaker on the same day, and things just took a different turn. Many think that WrestleMania 33 could be the last one for “The Deadman,” and having him in the main event could make it one of the biggest ever.
[Featured Image by WWE]