Early betting odds for one key match at the Royal Rumble has been released.

WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar will defend the title against Kane and Braun Strowman at the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV event.

According to Bet Wrestling, Lesnar is a favorite at -500 while Strowman is an underdog at +300 and same goes for Kane, who is at +1000. If WWE wanted to go with an upset winner, Strowman will likely be that guy.

The WWE Universal Champion is truly a special talent and a very smart businessman. When Lesnar signed with WWE and later made his main roster debut in 2002, he was a young prospect, who was pushed heavily.

He was an amateur wrestler and made the transition into pro wrestling very quickly. There are only a handful of guys that have made the transition and had major success. Lesnar is one and WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle is another.

Although he was pushed to the moon by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and the WWE creative team, Lesnar was not one who liked to be on the road. In WWE, you are on the road for at least 300 days a year if not more.

That is taxing on someone’s body as well as the mind. Thus, Lesnar saw the exit door and took it following his match with Bill Goldberg at WrestleMania 20 in 2004. After briefly competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling and having a successful run in the UFC, the current WWE champion decided to return home.

Lesnar returned to WWE on April 2, 2012, on Raw, as a villain, by confronting and delivering an F-5 to John Cena. This move made sense for both sides. WWE needed star power, and Lesnar got paid extremely well for working a limited schedule.

Since he returned to the company, Lesnar has slowly but surely started working more events that include TV, PPV (pay-per-view) and house shows.

Although it’s been rumored that Lesnar will take a leave from the company when his contract expires after WrestleMania 34 next year, WWE has stepped up how many dates he works per year. This was an agreement that the two sides made when Lesnar signed his latest contract in 2016 before WrestleMania 32 in Dallas, Texas.

The Royal Rumble pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, January 28, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Wells Fargo Center and will air on the WWE Network and some traditional pay-per-view outlets. Both Raw and SmackDown brands will be featured.