With 17 superstars now declared for the men's Royal Rumble match, eyes are now directed to Raw, SmackDown AND NXT to see how those places are filled.

As they're now a fully-established third brand, it would be no surprise to see NXT get a couple of men in the Rumble pre-announced, and if they don't they're still likely to have some 'surprise' entrants in Houston.

There's been stronger rumours than ever about potential returns in the match, with retired superstar Edge being the name that stands out most.

Whether it happens remains to be seen, but the fact of the matter is that 13 places need to be filled in the next 10 days.

And a certain superstar who has been advertised to appear on SmackDown this week could very well be one of those 13 unannounced stars.

As advertised by WWE, the Big Red Machine - Kane - will be live on SmackDown from Greensboro, North Carolina.

We last saw Kane on Raw in September, portraying his real-life self as Glenn Jacobs, the Mayor of Knox County, where he gave R-Truth a tour of the University of Tennessee - then defeated Truth for his 24/7 Championship.

His last actual match in WWE was at Crown Jewel in November 2018, with his political career obviously the priority right now.

It's a very random time to make your return to WWE television unless you're going to compete, and a spot in the Royal Rumble match would be the obvious explanation, where he could potentially put over a younger superstar.

But the fact that WWE have hinted at the fact that he may declare could be a sign that they're about to swerve the fans, and he may interject himself instead in his former tag team partner Daniel Bryan's feud with Bray Wyatt.

Whatever happens, it will be nice to see Kane on our screens once again - he definitely has a couple of Chokeslams left in his locker!