The 2017 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 30th annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 29, 2017, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This was the third Royal Rumble in San Antonio, after 1997 at the same venue and 2007 at the AT&T Center, and the fourth overall in the U.S. state of Texas, with 1989 in Houston.

The event was based around the men's Royal Rumble match, a modified 30-man battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. After the 2016 event deviated from the match's annual tradition of awarding a world championship match at WrestleMania, as the 2016 match itself was for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (truncated to WWE Championship later that year), the 2017 event returned the match to its annual tradition. Due to the reintroduction of the brand split in July 2016, which added a second world championship to give each brand its own top title, the winner of the 2017 match received a match for their respective brand's world championship at WrestleMania 33, either Raw's WWE Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship. This was the first time since 2013 in which there were two eligible championships for the winner to challenge for. The main event was the 2017 Royal Rumble match, which was won by SmackDown's Randy Orton, who last eliminated Raw's Roman Reigns. This was Orton's second win, after 2009, which made him the seventh multi-time winner. This was also the last time that only a men's Royal Rumble match took place as a women's version was introduced the following year.

Seven other matches were contested at the event, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. One of the more notable matches saw John Cena defeat AJ Styles to capture his record 13th WWE Championship and his 16th overall world championship, tying Ric Flair's officially recognized record. Also on the undercard, Kevin Owens retained the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in a no disqualification match, Charlotte Flair retained the Raw Women's Championship against Bayley, and Neville defeated Rich Swann to win Raw's WWE Cruiserweight Championship. This was the first Royal Rumble to feature the Universal Championship, the Raw Women's Championship, and the Cruiserweight Championship.

Production Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling event, produced every January by WWE since 1988; that first event was a television special before it became a pay-per-view (PPV) event beginning in 1989 and then also available via livestreaming on the WWE Network since 2015. It is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It is named after and centered on the men's Royal Rumble match. Announced on September 30, 2016, the 30th Royal Rumble event was scheduled to be held on January 29, 2017, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This marked the second Royal Rumble to be held at this venue, after 1997, the third in San Antonio along with 2007 at the city's AT&T Center, and the fourth overall to be held in the U.S. state of Texas, as the 1989 event was in Houston. Tickets went on sale on October 14, 2016, through Ticketmaster.

The Royal Rumble match is a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time, and the match generally features 30 wrestlers. Since 1993, the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. After the 2016 event deviated from the match's annual tradition, as the 2016 match itself was for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (truncated to WWE Championship later that year), the 2017 event returned the match to its annual tradition. Due to the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, which again split the main roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform, a second world championship was added to give each brand its own top championship. As a result, the winner of the 2017 Royal Rumble match earned a match for their respective brand's world championship at WrestleMania 33: Raw's WWE Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship. This made it the first Royal Rumble to feature the Universal Championship, following its introduction on Raw in July 2016 after the WWE Championship became exclusive to SmackDown. This was subsequently also the first time in which two world championships were eligible to be challenged for by the winner of the titular match since the 2013 event.

Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.

After defeating Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in his first match in 12 years, Goldberg declared himself the first entrant in the Royal Rumble match on the November 21, 2016, episode of Raw. The next week, Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman stated that Lesnar would also compete in the Royal Rumble as he "has something to prove", having been "humiliated" by Goldberg. Over the following weeks, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods), Chris Jericho, Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, The Undertaker, Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, and Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus announced their participation in the match. On the January 16, 2017, episode of Raw, Titus O'Neil challenged The New Day for one of their spots. Big E accepted the challenge and defeated O'Neil. Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Luke Harper, and Big Show also announced themselves as participants in the Royal Rumble. Seth Rollins had confirmed his entry via Twitter on January 9, but lost his spot to Sami Zayn on the January 23 episode of Raw, after a distraction by Triple H's music. Later in the night, Big Cass and Rusev announced their participation in the match. On the January 24 episode of SmackDown, Mojo Rawley won a 10-man battle royal to qualify for the match. The remaining eight spots were revealed at the event during the match.

At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, 2016, Kevin Owens retained the WWE Universal Championship against United States Champion Roman Reigns after Chris Jericho attacked Owens with a Codebreaker, giving Owens the win by disqualification. After the match, Jericho, who lost to Seth Rollins earlier that night, revealed he planned the disqualification so that Owens would win and retain the title. Reigns and Rollins attacked both Owens and Jericho by performing Double Powerbombs on both men through broadcast tables. The next night on Raw, Raw General Manager Mick Foley interrupted Jericho and Owens celebrating, announcing that Reigns would get a rematch against Owens for the Universal Championship at Royal Rumble, and Jericho would be suspended above the ring inside of a shark cage to ensure that he would not interfere in the match. Foley threatened that if Jericho does not enter the cage, he would be fired. Both were then put into a tag team match against Reigns and Rollins. The latter two won by disqualification after Braun Strowman came out and attacked them. The following week, Reigns retained the United States Championship against Owens after Rollins attacked an interfering Jericho. The following week, Reigns again retained the United States Championship, this time against Jericho. Owens was banned from ringside during the match as a result of losing to Rollins earlier that night. The following week, Reigns again defended the United States Title, this time in a handicap match against both Jericho and Owens. After Jericho and Owens double-teamed Reigns, Jericho scored the pinfall to become the United States Champion. The next week, after the opening segment involving Owens, Jericho, Reigns, Rollins, Strowman (who had faced Rollins in previous weeks), Sami Zayn (who attacked Strowman during his recent matches), and Brock Lesnar ended in a brawl, a six-man tag team match was scheduled for the main event, with Owens, Jericho, and Strowman winning against Reigns, Rollins, and Zayn. After the match, Owens powerbombed Reigns through a broadcast table. On the final Raw before Royal Rumble, Reigns faced Jericho in a rematch for the United States Championship, but Jericho was disqualified when Owens interfered, attacking Reigns. Owens and Jericho attempted to put Reigns in the shark cage, but Reigns retaliated and locked Owens in it, had it lifted above the ring, and then performed a "Superman Punch" and a spear on Jericho. Afterwards, it was announced that the match at Royal Rumble would be a no disqualification match.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 4, 2016, AJ Styles retained the then-WWE World Championship against Dean Ambrose in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. On the December 13 episode of SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler defeated Ambrose, The Miz, and Luke Harper in a four-way elimination match to earn a match for the renamed WWE Championship on the December 27 episode. On the December 20 episode, however, Baron Corbin confronted Ziggler, calling him undeserving of a title shot and stated that Ziggler only won because he was not there. The two then had a match with Ziggler's title shot on the line, but it ended in a double count-out. Styles then attacked both Ziggler and Corbin with a chair. SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan then scheduled a triple threat for the WWE Championship between the three for the December 27 episode. That episode, John Cena returned from a near three-month hiatus and challenged the winner for the title at Royal Rumble. After Styles retained the WWE Championship, Cena came out, looking ready to fight, but instead congratulated him with a handshake.

At Roadblock: End of the Line, Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks in overtime of a 30-minute Iron Man match to win her fourth Raw Women's Championship, as well as ending their long feud. On the following Raw, Banks, in a knee brace and on a crutch, came to the ring to congratulate Flair but instead was attacked by Nia Jax. Later, Flair came out and declared herself to be the greatest female wrestler of all time, but Bayley interrupted Flair, reminding her that Bayley had beaten her twice on previous occasions. Bayley then pinned Flair in an impromptu non-title match. However, as replays showed that Flair had her shoulder up before the three count, Flair faced Bayley in another non-title match the following week, but this time with Dana Brooke as guest referee, who gave a fast three count to give Flair the victory. On the January 2, 2017, episode of Raw, Bayley defeated Jax due to a distraction by Banks to become the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship at Royal Rumble. Backstage the following week, Flair and Jax attacked Bayley and Banks and later defeated them in a tag team match. On January 23, after a confrontation between the two, Banks was scheduled to face Jax on the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show.