The first match on the Kick Off Show was a six-man tag match with Kalisto, Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik taking on Drew Gulak, TJP and Gentleman Jack Gallagher. TJP manages to take down Dorado, giving his team the advantage. Gallagher misses a splash, after getting distracted by Gulak, and this gives Dorado the chance to tag in Metalik. In the end, TJP tags himself in and goes for the Detonation Kick on Kalisto. However, Kalisto avoids it and hits the Salida Del Sol to get the win. This was a fun way to start the event.
Winners: Kalisto, Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik (1 for 1)
The next match was Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson taking on The Revival. Dawson and Wilder focus on Anderson's knee to get the advantage. Eventually Gallows tags tagged in and they go for the Magic Killer on Wilder but Dawson stops it. In the end, Anderson is punching Dawson in the corner but Wilder chop blocks him then covers him to get the win. This was quite a good match and it was nice to see The Revival get the win after getting fucked over at the 25th Anniversary RAW.
Winners: The Revival (1 for 2)
The final match on the Kick Off Show was an open challenge for Bobby Roode's United States Championship. Mojo Rawley takes on the challenge. Roode goes for the Glorious DDT early on but Rawley avoids it and sends Roode to the outside to get the advantage. After some back and forth, Roode manages to hit a DDT to get the win. This match was pretty good, although I do wonder if Rawley's heel run has stalled.
Winner: Bobby Roode (2 for 3)
The first match of the Rumble event is for the WWE Championship with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens challenging AJ Styles in a handicap match. After some mind games, Zayn and Owens ge the advantage and keep Styles down. In the end, Styles takes out Zayn and Owesn goes for the pop up powerbomb. Even though Zayn was the legal man, Styles rolls up Owens to get the win. Owens and Zayn complain to Shane McMahon, who gives a grand total of zero fucks about it. Whilst it would have been interesting to see Zayn and Owens as Co-Champions, I feel that Styles winning is the best decision and that match itself was pretty good.
Winner: AJ Styles (3 for 4)
The second match is a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship as Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin challenge The Usos. Both teams come close to getting the first fall but The Usos avoid Chaos Theory and superkick Gable to death to take the lead. A couple of minutes later, Jey rolls up Gable to get the second fall and the win. Even though I was surprised at the 2-0 win, this match was a lot fo fun. However, the finish fell a little flat for me.
Winners: The Usos (4 for 5)
We now get the Men's Royal Rumble Match. Highlights of the match include:
- Rhyno who came in at number 3, being the 1st to be eliminated thanks to Baron Corbin. Corbin gets eliminated seconds later by Finn Balor. Corbin doesn't take well and after, beating up Balor and Rusev, brutally destroys Heath Slater as he makes his entrance.
- Seeing NXT Superstars Andrade "Cien" Almas come in at number 7 and Adam Cole at number 23.
- Tye Dillinger was scheduled to come in at number 10. However, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens beat him up and Zayn's takes his place.
- Slater's day doesn't get any better. He gets attacked by Elias, Almas, Bray Wyatt and Sami Zayn as he makes their entrances. Sheamus shows sympathy and throws Slater in the ring and Slater returns the favour by throwing him out. Slater is eliminated by Wyatt seconds later.
- Kofi's spot this year was one of the best that he's done. Jinder Mahal throws him over thr top rope but he lands one foot on Xavier Woods. After getting a plate of pancakes to keep his foot off the floor, Big E and Woods vault Kofi over Mahal back into the ring.
- We saw the return of The Hurricane at number 21 and Rey Mysterio at number 27.
The final four ended up being Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamua, John Cena and Roman Reigns. Cena eliminates Balor, who lasted 57 minutes and Nakamura eliminates Cena. In the end, Nakamuura eliminates Reigns to win the Rumble.
I really enjoyed this Rumble and it had some really cool spots. I'm quite surprised that Nakamura won but I think it's the right choice. That means that we will have AJ Styles taking on Nakamura at Wrestlemania and that is a match that I'm really looking forward to seeing. Well, unless WWE find a way to ruin it for us.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura (4 for 6)
Our 3rd Championship match was Cesaro and Sheamus challenging Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan for the RAW Tag Team Championship. During the match, Cesaro sends Jordan into the ring post. Because of that, Rollins does 99.9% of the match. Jordan does tag in but it's for less then 20 seconds before Rollins is tagged back in. Cesaro and Sheamus go on to get the win and become the new Champions. I thought this was an interesting match and it wasn't known at the time but Jordan has a neck injury that led to what happened during the match. Here's hoping Jordan makes a full
recovery and goes on to cement the heel turn that has brewing for a while.
Winners: Cesaro and Sheamus (5 for 7)
The penultimate match is Bruan Strowman and Demon Kane challenging Brock Lesnar in a triple threat match for the Universal Championship. The match starts at a fast pace and everyone gets fucked up. Strowman powerslams Lesnar through a table but he gets F-5'd through the German announce table by Lesnar. After tipping the English announce table on top of Strowman, Lesnar then sends Kane through the Spanish announce table with a F-5. In the end, Lesnar sends Kane into Strowman then hits him with a F-5 to get the win. This was a fun match to watch.
Winner: Brock Lesnar (6 for 8)
The main is the first ever Women's Royal Rumble Match. During the match, we saw NXT Superstars Kairi Sane and Ember Moon; plus the return of Lita, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Vickie Guerrero, Kelly Kelly, Jaqueline, Beth Phoenix, Brie Bella and Trish Stratus. One of the highlights is Nia Jax, who almost eliminated Naomi but she landed on a group of wrestlers then ends up on the barrier. She manages to get back into the ring thanks to a chair but Nia eliminates her anyway.
The final four end up being the Bellas, Asuka and Sasha Banks. The Bellas eliminate Sasha than Nikki betrays Brie and eliminates her. In the end, Asuka and Nikki fight on the ring apron and Asuka kicks her off to get the win.
Even though there wasn't much that really stood out, I quite enjoyed this match. It was nice to see people such as Beth Phoenix, Molly Holly and Brie Bella make an appearance. Asuka winning was no surprise but it means she will go on to destroy Alexa Bliss at Wresrtlemania.
Winner: Asuka (7 for 9)
I thought that the Royal Rumble was a pretty good event and a good way to start the year. We are now officially on the Road to Wrestlemania and at the minute, I'm quite looking forward to it.
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