WWE News: Two huge SmackDown stars announce their participation in the 2018 Royal Rumble 

What's the story?

Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura have been on the same team over the past few weeks as they looked to defend WWE SmackDown Live against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. But in less than five weeks time at the 2018 Royal Rumble, the two men will be opponents as part of the 31st annual battle royale.

In case you didn't know...

Randy Orton is already a two-time Royal Rumble winner and was the most recent winner earlier this year when he went on to defeat his former tag team partner Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 for the WWE Championship.

Meanwhile, this would be Shinsuke Nakamura's first Royal Rumble match after being called up to the main roster following WrestleMania back in April. Despite this, Nakamura is the third favourite to win the match currently behind Roman Reigns and John Cena as per the latest odds, which means he is the favourite when it comes to superstars who have never won the match before.

The heart of the matter

Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura were part of a backstage segment with Renee Young this week on SmackDown Live ahead of Kevin Owens' match with AJ Styles and the duo thought it was the perfect time to unveil their involvement in the match.

Orton claimed that he was once again going to win it and become the first man to win three Rumble matches since Stone Cold Steve Austin back in 2001, whilst Nakamura simply stated: "Let's get ready to Rumble."

#TheViper @RandyOrton has plans for the 2018 #RoyalRumble Match... and it looks like @ShinsukeN does, too! #SDLive pic.twitter.com/pwjYF6Fb8j

— WWE (@WWE) December 27, 2017

So far, Elias, Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura are the only men who have announced that they will be part of next months' over-the-top-rope battle royale.

What's next?

Kevin Owens has moved on to a feud with AJ Styles it seems, so it is unknown what will happen with Orton and Nakamura moving forward since the duo only appeared on SmackDown Live this week to reveal that they would be part of the match.

Authors take

Shinsuke Nakamura is the fans favourite to win the Rumble this year and go on to have a fantasy match with AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. It seems that The Artist will definitely be part of proceedings on January 28th and could go on to win the match in his debut.