Two days ago, WWE hosted its second-biggest Pay-Per-View of the year, the Royal Rumble. Including the Kickoff Show, it spanned over six hours, giving fans their money’s worth. Most of the show was great, from the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match to the 31st Men’s Royal Rumble match. Some, however, was not so great. Let’s take a look at what went well at the huge event and what didn’t.
The Best
The First-Ever Women’s Royal Rumble
Of course, the first Women’s Royal Rumble ever is the best thing to have happened all night. Not only was it history in the making, but it was the main event of the whole show. An exciting (if predictable) winner was chosen, there were a ton of entertaining surprises, and all thirty women put on a hell of a show.
First, let’s address the winner: Asuka. The Empress of Tomorrow debuted for WWE in NXT over two years ago and she has never lost a match. Somehow unlike the likes of Brock Lesnar and John Cena, it is not stale when Asuka continues to win. It is only fitting that the incredibly successful former NXT Women’s Champion should be guaranteed a title match at WrestleMania.
Next, we must address all of the surprise entrants. WWE did a wonderful job bringing in women from every possible era to create for a night full of dream clashes and nostalgia. Here are all of the surprises from the Women’s Royal Rumble in chronological order:
- Lita, Kairi Sane, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Vickie Guerrero, Kelly Kelly, Jacqueline, Ember Moon, Beth Phoenix, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, & Trish Stratus
In that pool of wrestlers alone, there are two NXT Superstars in Ember Moon (the NXT Women’s Champion) and Kairi Sane (Japanese sensation and Mae Young Classic winner). The Attitude Era is represented in Lita, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Jacqueline, and Trish Stratus. Women from the mid-late 2000s were also featured: Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Vickie Guerrero, and Michelle McCool (who had a record five eliminations). Of course, the Bellas are a bridge between yesterday and today and as always, it is great to see them back.
This match not only gave today’s female Superstars a chance to push the Women’s Evolution further, but it gave the women of yesteryear a chance to be taken seriously in a WWE ring for the first time.
The Men’s Royal Rumble
With how monumental the women’s match was, it is easy to overlook the Men’s Royal Rumble match. However, this was one of the most enjoyable men’s Rumble matches since Edge returned from injury to win on the same night (almost a decade ago).
First and foremost, the winner here was the King of Strong Style, Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura spent over half the match in the ring before having a tense battle with Roman Reigns in the final two. After winning, Nakamura pleased all of the hardcore (and perhaps casual at this point) fans by announcing that he wants to face WWE Champion AJ Styles at WrestleMania.
While there weren’t as many surprises as the women’s Rumble, the ones that were there were very exciting:
- Andrade “Cien” Almas, Sami Zayn, The Hurricane, Adam Cole, Rey Mysterio, Dolph Ziggler
The Hurricane was great for his comedy moment of trying to chokeslam John Cena (a throwback from when he tried to chokeslam Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H at the same time). Sami Zayn stole Tye Dillinger’s spot and made it seem like he could sneak his way back into the WWE Championship picture after losing the handicap match earlier in the night. Adam Cole was a huge shock considering that the night before, he lost a brutal Extreme Rules match to Aleister Black.
The two best surprises, however, were Andrade “Cien” Almas and Rey Mysterio. Almas, the current NXT Champion, lasted for about 50 minutes before getting eliminated by Randy Orton and held his own against the best that WWE has to offer today. Mysterio is a guaranteed Hall of Famer who has not been in WWE for a few years, so when he came back looking better than ever, the crowd ate it up.
The Worst
Everything Involving Ronda Rousey
It’s the main event. Thirty women make history by competing in a Royal Rumble match and Asuka has just won by eliminating Nikki Bella. With SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte and Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss in the ring, Asuka is about to make her choice for who to face at WrestleMania. Instead, “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett starts blaring throughout the arena.
Ronda Rousey comes out in one of Roddy Piper’s jackets, smiles at the crowd, and walks towards the ring. She looks at the women in the ring before (oddly) pointing at the WrestleMania sign.
Is this a huge moment for WWE and the women’s division? Yes. Should Rousey have entered and completely overshadowed Asuka’s big celebration? Definitely not. All thirty women who had just made history worked tirelessly for years just to try and get a match on television and now that Rousey left UFC, she can walk right in and be handed a spot on a silver platter. What makes this even worse is that even though she is supposed to be full-time, she didn’t bother showing up on Raw the following night.
Bobby Roode’s US Open Challenge
On the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show, Bobby Roode defended his United States Championship against anyone who answered the call. This time, it was Mojo Rawley. While the match itself was fine, this (especially compared to the rest of the night) was a bit of a low point for the show. Roode defeated Rawley just two weeks ago and nothing Rawley has done has made it any more interesting for him to fight the Glorious One yet again.
The Universal Championship Triple Threat Match
Once it was announced that Brock Lesnar would be defending the Universal Championship against both Braun Strowman and Kane, it was pretty obvious how it was going to go down. Kane was essentially in the match just to take the pinfall, making Strowman and Lesnar look strong while one of them had to obviously lose the match. This is exactly what happened, too, as Lesnar pinned Kane to retain the championship. Now, Lesnar gets to just hold onto the title for two months until WrestleMania.
