Top 5 WWE Rumors of the Week - January 22nd, 2018

The last week or so of WWE related hearsay and speculation has centred around the historic RAW 25th Anniversary show and the upcoming Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View, both of which have been the cause of an avalanche of speculation. But have no fear, we're here to guide you through the best and most noteworthy rumors over the last seven days.

Before we get started though, let's have a brief recap of the rumors that set the WWE Universe alight last week with the Top 5 Rumors of the Week - January 15th, 2018. Highlights include Stephanie McMahon preparing to wrestle at Wrestlemania and Paige's in-ring career ended amongst others.

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#5 Ethan Carter III back to WWE

Ethan Carter seems set to rejoin WWE

At this point, this almost doesn't seem like a rumor when you consider all of the evidence and insider knowledge that suggests that it's pretty much a done deal, but we'll start off with the rumblings that EC3 is WWE bound after leaving Impact Wrestling.

The evidence is fairly overwhelming as well, we've already seen that he's dropped out of an indy date on the same day as the Royal Rumble, meaning there's a chance he'll be a surprise entrant in the event

The NXT Twitter page has also started following EC3, which is always a surefire sign that a wrestler is about to join the company, especially as EC3 was even spotted at the WWE Performance Center recently.

#4 War Machine almost weren't signed

WWE signing War Machine almost didn't happen

One of the big recent additions to the WWE roster this week were the tag-team War Machine, who'd made quite the name for themselves on the independent circuit and are set to become stars in a WWE ring.

However, it has been revealed that the popular tag-team almost didn't make it into the WWE because there were fears over Raymond Rowe passing the company's extensive medical test, as he'd received a previous neck injury that could have disqualified him.

#3 Pete Dunne to be at the Royal Rumble?

Pete Dunne also cancels an indy show during Royal Rumble weekend

While we're on the subject of wrestlers linked with the WWE pulling out of independent obligations on Royal Rumble weekend, there's a strong chance that Pete Dunne will be appearing in the Royal Rumble, or NXT TakeOver, the day before.

However, this one seems a little less covert than EC3's pulling out, as the promotion that Dunne was scheduled to appear for, Britannia Wrestling Promotion, outright stated he couldn't make the show because WWE had called Dunne back to America ahead of the Royal Rumble weekend.

So, will Dunne be defending his title at NXT TakeOver, or appearing as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble, or both?

#2. Who will be Universal Champion after Wrestlemania?

Roman Reigns is currently favourite to walk out of Wrestlemania 34 as Universal Champion

This is the first of two betting odds stories, and believe it or not, this is the most likely of the two, despite being for an event that's several months away, with a match card that hasn't been finalised yet.

But don't let a little thing like announced matches get in the way of the bookmakers predicting who will be Universal Champion at Wrestlemania, with the odds currently overwhelmingly in the favour of 'The Big Dog' Roman Reigns.

#1 Daniel Bryan will return to the ring - and might win the Royal Rumble

Daniel Bryan could be the biggest surprise of Royal Rumble weekend

Whether you put stock in betting odds or not, you cannot argue that when it comes to predicting outcome in WWE matches, they have been fairly accurate in the past. However, when those same odds skyrocket someone like Daniel Bryan to the third favourite spot for winning the Royal Rumble, I don't blame people for being cautious.

But that's exactly what happened. Bryan went from 66/1 to 4/1 to win the Royal Rumble, with only Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman Reigns ahead of him as more likely Superstars, this is despite him 'not being cleared to compete'

To make things more interesting, one of the betting sites that is tracking the odds for the Royal Rumble confirmed that they had in fact received information from a source that Daniel Bryan was returning to the ring as a result of his current storyline with Shane McMahon and that's why the odds had changed.