John Cena was the highest earner in the WWE back in 2016, raking in $9.5 million. Brock Lesnar came a not so close second with $6 million, whilst Dean Ambrose came in at the bottom of the list with $1.2 million in earnings. However, none of the WWE's 10 best-paid wrestlers are women.
This could more than likely change this year though, as female competitors are now given more exposure and high profile matches to try and shake off their "Divas" moniker. Female wrestlers in the WWE have now begun to headline pay-per-views in addition to duking it out in "Hell in a Cell" matches. It could even be argued that it was high time that these women were allowed to participate as regular fixtures in the annual Royal Rumble.
Aside from placing female wrestlers on arguably equal footing with their male counterparts, allowing them to regularly enter the Royal Rumble would do the WWE much good as well. When Charlotte and Sasha Banks were placed on the main event on Raw, it drew one of the highest ratings of any show the promotion put up with 3.039 million viewers, according to Forbes. These are impressive numbers especially considering that that show had to go up against Monday Night Football, which is undoubtedly popular in the United States.
If this does go through, then it would not be the first time that women were allowed to participate in the Royal Rumble. Beth Phoenix, Chyna, and Kharma have all made past appearances in the competition. However, their build was above and beyond those of other female professional wrestlers.
Placing women in the Royal Rumble would also improve their chances of headlining WrestleMania. This could also mean that a woman could finally become one of the WWE's best-paid athletes.
In other news, Seth Rollins has claimed that he would gladly welcome a bout against his former mentor Triple H, the Mirror reported. Rollins lost out on the WWE Universal Championship because of Triple H, when the latter decided to blindside him and side with Kevin Owens instead.
Adding fuel to fire was Rollins' recent loss to Sami Zayn due to being distracted by Triple H's theme music. This cost Rollins his spot in the upcoming Royal Rumble and subsequently the chance to headline WrestleMania 33.
Watch the match between Rollins and Zayn here: