WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Review

The first match on the Pre Show was Becky Lynch, Naomi and Nikki Bella taking on Mickie James, Alexa Bliss and Natalya. Mickie throws Becky into the barrier to get her team the advantage. Eventually Becky gets the hot tag to Naomi and gets the win after hitting Alexa with a split legged moonsault. I was surprised that Naomi got the win as I thought that she would take the pin. Anyway this was quite a decent match.
Winners: Becky Lynch, Naomi and Nikki Bella (0 for 1)

Next was the match for the RAW Tag Team Championships as Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson challenge Cesaro and Sheamus. The match had two referees for some reason (sorry, I don't regularly watch RAW). Gallows and Anderson focus their attacks on Cesaro before Sheamus gets the hot tag. Sheamus goes to hit Anderson with a Brogue Kick but he hits referee John Cone instead. The second referee then gets involved. Anderson then rolls up Cesaro after hitting the Magic Killer on Sheamus to get the win and become Champions. This was another decent match and I wonder if they will continue the Cesaro/Shemaus partnership

The last match on the Pre Show was Sasha Banks taking on Nia Jax. Jax soon gets the advantage, focusing on Sasha's injured knee. However, despite Sasha's best efforts, Jax hits her with a pop up Samoan drop to get the win. The match was a bit short but it was pretty decent.
Winner: Nia Jax (2 for 3)

The first match was for the RAW Women's Championship as Bayley challenges Charlotte Flair. Charlotte gets to wear down Bayley after sending into the steel steps. Bayley starts to make her comeback and comes close to winning after hitting a Macho Man elbow drop. In the end, Charlotee hits Natural Selection to get the win and become 16-0 in PPV matches. This was quite a decent match between the two.
Winner: Charlotte (3 for 4)

Next is Roman Reigns challenging Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship with the Gift of Jericho in a shark cage above the ring. Owens and Jericho beat up Reigns before Jericho is thrown into the cage and the match gets underway. They fight all over the crowd and they use tables and chairs in this no disqualification match. Reigns gets inspired by Super Cena as he gets frog splashed through a table, thrown head first into a chair and punched by brass knuckles and he still kicks out. Reigns goes on to Superman punch Owens onto a pile of chairs then powerbombs him through an announce table. Reigns goes on to finish it with a spear however, Bruan Stroman comes in and destroys him, culminating in putting him through a table with a running powerslam. Owens then rolls over and pins Reigns to win the match. I quite enjoyed the match although I got pissed off with Reigns getting hit with everything but the ktichen sink and still cam close to winning. As for Stroman getting involved, it made no sense until you find out the next night that it was because Owens promised him a title shot.
Winner: Kevin Owens (4 for 5)

We now get Neville challenging Rich Swann for the Cruiserwieght Championship. Neville proceeds to brutalise Swann before Swann goes on to hit a Phoenix splash and a roundhouse kick. However, Neville manages to get through it and after a superplex, gets Swann to submit with the Rings of Saturn. This was a good match although the crowd didn't seem really into it.
Winner: Neville (5 for 6)

The last match before the Rumble is for the WWE Championshup as John Cena challenges AJ Styles.The match goes back and forth with both guys countering each other's moves. Cena does avoid a phenomenal forearm to hit the AA but Styles kicks out. Styles goes on to apply the calf killer but Cena manages to get out of it and put on the STF. They then go through a load of submission moves before Cena powerbombs his way out of a cross armbreaker. Styles does go on to hit the Styles Clash but Cena kicks out. Styles then kicks out of a Super AA, which surprised me as I thought that would end the match. In the end, Styles hit another Styles Clash then goes for the phenomenal forearm. However, Cena grabs from the ropes then hits 2 consecutive AAs to win the match. This was definitely the best match of the night and congratulations to John Cena in tying Ric Flair, becoming a 16-time World Champion.
Winner: John Cena (6 for 7)

We now get the Royal Rumble match. Understandably, a lot happens so here are some highlights of the match:

• Big Cass comes in at number 1 and The Gift of Jericho comes in at number 2
• Jack Gallagher comes in at number 5 with his umbrella William III. He goes on to be the first wrestler to be eliminated by Mark Henry, who came in at number 6.
• Braun Stroman comes in at number 7 and goes on to eliminate 7 other wrestlers. He eventually gets eliminated by Baron Corbin
• Tye Dillinger makes his main roster debut at number 10 (obviously)
• James Ellsworth comes in at number 11 (for fuck's sake). When he eventually gets into the ring, he gets eliminated almost immediately by Stroman
• Cesaro comes in at number 19 and does the swing on almost everyone in the ring, including almost his partner Sheamus.
• Randy Orton comes in at number 23 and later on, Brock Lesnar enters at number 26
• Goldberg comes in at number 28 and eliminates Brock Lesnar
• The Undertaker enters at number 29 and eliminates Goldberg.
• Roman Reigns enters at number 30 (fuck you WWE) and eliminates The Undertaker (seriously, fuck you WWE) 
• The final 4 end up being Roman Reigns, The Gift of Jericho, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton.
• Reigns goes on to eliminate Jericho and then Wyatt but Orton eliminates Reigns to win the match

I thought that this was a decent Rumble. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of surprises but that was it really. As for Reigns coming in, that really annoyed me. I don't hate him as much as other people do. However, him coming in after already having a title shot earlier in the night is another example of WWE shoving him down our throat. As for Orton winning, it's an interesting choice. It looked like we're going to Cena vs Orton at Wrestlemania, which we've seen a million times. However, after finding out at Elimination Chamber, I guess that isn't happening.
 Winner: Randy Orton (6 for 8)

I thought that the Royal Rumble was a decent event. Except for the Styles vs Cena match, none of the matches were anything special. We have two more PPVs before Wrestlemania, so hopefully it will get better.