5 surprise entrants you won't see in the 2017 Royal Rumble match

#2 Shinsuke Nakamura

He won’t be coming to the main roster quite yet

He may end up losing his title to Bobby Roode this weekend at Takeover: San Antonio, but that doesn’t free up Nakamura for a spot in the Royal Rumble match.

I expect that the current NXT Champion will be making his way up to the main WWE roster this year, likely sometime right after WrestleMania, but the Royal Rumble match won’t be his first taste of the true WWE spotlight.

Nakamura is one of those guys, unlike Tye Dillinger, that if he makes an appearance in the Royal Rumble match, people are going to expect him to stick around.

Another guy like that is Samoa Joe, who is actually rumoured to make his main roster debut in the Rumble match and not only stay on the main WWE roster but has also been touted to actually win the entire match.

Another reason Shinsuke Nakamura won’t show up at the Rumble is because it would actually be detrimental to Joe’s entrance, as it would weaken the surprise. One big-time NXT superstar is enough for the Rumble for now.