WWE Royal Rumble Review 01/28/2018

Hello Misfits! It’s the Wrestling Classic here with my Royal Rumble review. I was 9-0 with my Royal Rumble predictions. One of the biggest and unpredictable events of the year and I got 100% on my predictions. Not too shabby if I say so myself. This had to be one of the better Royal Rumble events of this decade. It kind of felt like a new beginning for the company with the way the Rumble matches were booked. The show was filled with surprises and Royal Rumble moments that people will remember from years to come. The undercard might be forgotten but the two Battle Royals will be remembered for years to come. The 30-Man Royal Rumble was filled with memorable moments and winner that the hardcore fans could get behind. The WWE did not let us forget so it might sound repetitive when I say this right now, but it was a historic night with the first ever 30-Woman Royal Rumble. A match that took us on a ride of nostalgia and feeling like we were a part of something special. The show ended with a bang but we’ll get more into that with my review.

Image via WWE.com

Royal Rumble 2018 comes to us from the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia, PA.

– The kickoff featured three matches. The six-man cruiserweight match, a tag match and the United States Open Challenge match. Chalets, Lince Dorado defeated TJ Perkins, Jack Gallagher and Drew Gulak. The Revival got redemption for Raw 25 by defeating the Club who will remain to be over while they are still paired with Finn. Mojo Rawley answered Bobby Roode’s open challenge but fell short to the Glorious one. Unfortunately, none of the guys on the kick off appeared in the Royal Rumble. I was hoping Bobby Roode would have.

– The opening video package aired. It was solid.

– The announce team is a combination of the Raw and Smackdown Live team as its Michael Cole, Booker T and Corey Graves for Raw and Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves for Smackdown Live. Jerry Lawler came out as the guest commentator for the 30-Man Royal Rumble.

Handicap Match
WWE Championship
AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
in 15:55 via pinfall
This was a solid opening match. I was expecting them to open up with one of the Royal Rumble’s to keep them separated but by the end of the show, I fully understand why they had it laid out the way they did. This match was decent but the stipulation held it back from being great. I still think if this was triple threat or a one on one match with one of the guys playing manager or something, it could have instantly been a classic. The match was way better than I expected it to be but then again my expectations weren’t that high. These guys did their best to work out the stipulation. I’m a big fan of three guys and so was the crowd. The crowd being invested in this match and excited for this show really helped. It started slow but when it broke down it ended with Styles pinning Owens who wasn’t the legal guy at the time. I expected Styles to retrain so that wasn’t a surprise but I expected more drama. For example, Owens and Zayn winning by cheating only to have the match restarted with Styles picking up the win, even if it was the same way he did. Instead, it sort of felt like Owens and Zayn didn’t take advantage of the stipulation as much as they could have. Styles sold the beat down perfectly and its always great seeing him work from under because it gets you excited when he comes back. It wasn’t a bad match but I don’t think it’s going to be a Royal Rumble match people will be talking about 5 years from now. Its unfortunate because all three guys are super talented and favourites of mine. The story going forward is going to be the fact Styles pinned the illegal guy for the win.
Rating – ***

– There was a backstage segment of Owens and Zayn talking to Shane McMahon again. They whined about how they didn’t make the legal tag. Owens told Shane he has to make this right. They asked Shane if he saw it. Shane just said “yep” and left.

– The Usos cut one of their “Uso Penitentiary” promos on the way to the ring.

2-Out-Of-3-Falls
Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (C) def. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
in 13:55 with a clean sweep of 2-0
I might have got my prediction right of who walked out the winners but I was completely wrong about this going to the third fall as it ended as a clean sweep for The Usos. They took some time until they got to the first fall and it was during that time you really figured this was going a competitive clinic. I thought they were going to have a longer match with some more cool spots and nearfalls, but that didn’t happen. Ending the match on two falls in a row instead of the usual three falls was a surprising finish. It also hurt the finish because the crowd was dead for it thinking that there was no way it was going to end the match. I definitely didn’t. It ended before I think it ever really got to start. This was Gable and Benjamin’s opportunity to really showcase themselves as possible future champions but that just didn’t happen here. There weren’t those many moments where you thought either guy was going to take the win because of the stipulation and the way the WWE chose to capitalize on it. Rather than making it a back and fourth competitive match, they went with the shocking finish that kind of left you underwhelmed. There was nothing wrong with the match and it was entertaining. I was just a little thrown off by the finish personally. That is just my opinion.
Rating – ***

30-Man Royal Rumble
Shinsuke Nakamura Wins
in 01:05:27 by last eliminating Roman Reigns
This was definitely one of my favourite Royal Rumble’s in the last ten years. I feel like they did really good booking these matches the past three years but this year might have even better than the last two. They didn’t have so many surprise entrants but just enough to get us excited. They told great stories during the match and did so many little things to make this Royal Rumble memorable. I think if youre going to overbook any match of the year it might as well be this one. Whether it was Baron Corbin snapping, Tye Dillinger getting jumped by KO and Zayn to lose his spot to Sami or Heath Slater continuously getting messed with before he could make it to the ring it all added to the match. There was also another Kofi Kingston moment where saved himself from elimination when Jinder Mahal tossed him out and he landed on his New Day comrades, then put his foot on the plate of pancakes, hopped around on one foot and got a boost from Woods and Big E to fly over Jinder back into the ring.  The quick elimination to Sheamus was fine because I predicted he was going to go over in the tag match later in the night to win the tag championships with Cesaro so this was his opportunity to get a Royal Rumble moment as well. Finn Balor got to play the iron-man role during this match, entering in as number 2 and going all the way to the final four. It was a great showing for Balor and it was his first Royal Rumble.
There was a moment where Elias got to sing too only to be greeted by the first surprise entrant, NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas. The other three surprise entrants were The Hurricane, Adam Cole and Rey Mysterio who all got great ovations when they appeared. Hurricane only lasted briefly before being eliminated by Cena. Adam Cole came out with his ribs taped from the battle he had the night before and the crowd was loud to chant “ADAM COLE BAY BAY” with him. The final surprise was Rey Mysterio. I think that was the biggest shocker and boy was he in shape. Shoutout to Chris Cavallini. Mysterio looked like a young Rey Mysterio Jr. He no longer had to wear baggy pants or shirt because he felt like he was out of shape. Hell this might have been the best shape he’s been in since 2006-2007. Mysterio was one of the final six in the match as well. Roman Reigns and Cena felt the most heel they’ve ever felt before which was amazing. Reigns eliminated Rollins after Rollins helped him get rid of The Miz, which was when we first saw that heelish Reigns in this match. Ziggler made his return at number 30 but it was pretty irrelevant.
The booking for the final six was amazing. The final six were John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Roman Reigns, Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura. There was an awesome moment for us older and long time fans where the three stars of the previous Ruthless Aggression era facing off against the three New Era stars. When it broke down into a brawl somehow, Rey Mysterio was suckered into taking on Reigns while Cena went for Balor and Orton went for Shinsuke. You’d think Rey would have got someone more his size compared to the biggest guy. All three of the Ruthless Aggression guys got to hit their finishers and stand tall. There was a double 619 on Reigns and Cena from Mysterio before he got eliminated by Balor and Reigns got redemption from last years Royal Rumble by eliminating Randy Orton. The final four were Balor, Nakamura, Reign and Cena. The fans were heavily rooting for Balor and Nakamura while booing Reigns and Cena. Balor got eliminated by Cena after being in the match for 57 minutes. When it came down to the final three with Reigns, Cena and Nakamura, this was when Reigns and Cena really felt like the bad guys. There was a moment we got the feel of what it would feel like if a heel Reigns and Cena worked together. Talk about feeling like you were in the Twilight Zone. When it broke down and all three guys were fighting each other, Nakamura was able to eliminate Cena, leaving it to Roman Reigns and himself. This had everyone on the edge of their seat because these were the two guys most people predicted to win and the idea of Reigns winning by eliminating the fan-favourite is something the fans wouldn’t have been shocked by. They made it really seem as if either one of these guys could pick up the victory but when he tossed Reigns out  after a kinshasa.
This match was tremendous. Consider how much I just wrote about it can tell you how special this was. The crowd was wild for the Nakamura victory and it felt like the first time in seven years that a person the fans wanted to win actually picked up the victory and it was satisfying. No offence to the previous winners but it never ever really felt like the fans choice of a winner since Edge won in 2010. I’m not saying people weren’t excited for Sheamus, Triple H, Batista, Reigns, Orton or Cena who have all won in this decade but it never felt like the peoples choice but rather the companies choice or the most logical choice considering the current storylines. When Shinsuke won, it felt like we all won.
Rating – ****

– Following the match Shinsuke Nakamura made it clear that he wanted to challenge AJ Styles at Wrestlemania. The match we all wanted and they teased all year is finally going to happen at Wrestlemania.

– The powers that be met in the office with Smackdown’s Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan celebrating the Nakamura Rumble win. Raw’s Stephanie McMahon and Kurt Angle were there. Steph said it’s about making history and Steph said we will be “pleasantly surprised.”

Raw Tag Team Championship
The Bar def. Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (C)
in 12:49 via pinfall
Three out of four of the guys involved in this match were in the Royal Rumble yet it was the one guy who wasn’t that was dazed in this match from a post bump outside of the ring. This match told a solid story with Jordan pretty much leaving Rollins to defend the tag titles by himself allowing The Bar to basically double team Rollins the entire time until they finished him to become four time tag team champions. This might have been because Jordan legitimately was working with a hurt back and they had to find a way to get through this match without him having to take too many bumps. The crowd just seemed drained from the Royal Rumble. Rollins put up a good fight and it would have been nice if the crowd got into it more, but they didn’t get into it. The story should lead to Jordan fully turning heel as he blames Rollins for the loss. I’m fine with Sheamus & Cesaro as champs again, but they need to build up some face teams on Raw for them to face. The entire Bar vs. The Shield rivalry has really run its course. The Bar could possibly turn baby and work with guys like The Revival or The Club or maybe both. I’m also ready for Rollins to go back to being a singles wrestlers. It’s been enough tag team wrestling for him. Rollins kind of lost all his appeal to me once the Shield got back together because he just became a happy to be there type of character, and I miss the Rollins who wanted to be and was “THE MAN.” The only concern here is that we’re just heading into a Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins rivalry. I have no interest in that right now but hopefully they change my mind as we head closer to Mania.
Rating – ***

Triple Threat
Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (C) w/ Paul Heyman def. Kane & Braun Strowman
in 10:55 via pinfall
Is it that we’ve seen too many of these demolition derby style matches for the Universal Title since last Summer that it just doesn’t get feel as exciting as the first 4 times? The suspense of Brock Lesnar losing the championship wasn’t there either because I dont think anyone expected that to happen. I think we all expected Kane to be the one to take the fall which he did when Lesnar pinned him for the three count to retain his Universal Championship. The crowd seemed to try to get into the match but was still mostly drained from the super entertaining Royal Rumble and the last match didn’t really do much to pick them back up. It was really physical match filled with a lot spots. Early in the match Strowman hit Lesnar with a stiff knee and it was muted but I’m pretty sure Lesnar told Braun to “slow the fuck down” before hitting his with two stiff punches as a receipt. I think my favourite part of the match was when Lesnar put Strowman through the table and then flipped another table over him, only for Strowman to get back up to Lesnar’s surprise. Kane basically broke up things when he needed too and got some offence before being taken out again. It was his role throughout the entire match. Near the end it looked like Strowman could have won but decided not to cover Brock after a running bodyslam but instead goes to hit a second one. Then before Strowman could go for the win, he got attacked by Kane who had a chair and Kane ate an F5 for the L. Thus protecting Strowman while Lesnar retains. The crowd definitely wanted Strowman to win although I think they knew what was going to happen because it was pretty obvious. Kane was there to get beat and that’s what happened. Lesnar holding the title until WrestleMania where he will probably face Roman Reigns. This wasn’t bad at all but I just felt like we’ve been here before.
Rating – ***

– To make this a bigger deal they had Maria Menounos does the ring announcing and she’s cool, so that was cool I guess, Stephanie McMahon came out to join the commentary team to remind us how historic this night is and to let us know who’s about go over the top rope throughout the night. Both of the Women’s Champions in Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair came out to watch the match from ringside as well. I would have loved for both of them to be commentary rather than Stephanie but thats just me.

30-Woman Royal Rumble
Asuka Wins
in 58:57 by last eliminating Nikki Bella
This was exciting for a handful of reasons. A few being it was a first time ever so we’ve never seen a match like this so it was intriguing to see how it would play out and there was only 18 girls who were confirmed so there was a ton spots left for surprise entrants. Therefore we got the return appearances from Lita, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Vickie Guerrero, Kelly Kelly, Jacqueline, Beth Phoenix, Kairi Sane, Ember Moon, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Trish Stratus. Thats 13 women that we had no idea were going to be in the match. The women had a lot to overcome here since they were placed in the main event spot to close the show, having to live up the excitement that the mens Royal Rumble brought and live up the all media hype about this being a historic match. I felt that they delivered a great match, and again, the layout was a big part of that. Banks working the iron woman role and Lynch getting a ton of time helped. This match was also filled with awesome moments. Lita coming out and hitting a moonsault on Sasha and Becky. The appearance of Kairi Sane was cool and she got one of her flying elbows in as well. Torrie Wilson got an elimination by getting Dana Brooke out and competed better in this match than she did when she originally was on the roster. Plus, she aged like a fine wine and is just as attractive as she used to be. Torrie Wilson will always have a special place in my heart. Molly Holly looked great and could still hang with the younger girls. Michelle McCool also didnt lose a step and got a solid amount of time in the ring and five eliminations. McCool had the most amount of eliminations in the match. The Vickie Guerrero moment was hilarious and for someone who never liked Vickie Guerrero when she was the GM of Friday Night Smackdown, I really get excited when she makes appearances these days. Who else gets that big of a pop for just screaming “EXCUSE ME!” over and over again? It’s still over as fuck. Vickie taking out Carmella with her own briefcase after being taken out from the group of girls in the ring was funny. I forgot how much of sneaky little cougar Vickie could be. Why do I like her more when she’s a novelty act over being there every week? Kelly Kelly is still as gorgeous as ever and her smile still makes up for whatever she lacks in wrestling ability and I couldnt be more happy that she was involved in this match because she’s fucking Kelly fn’ Kelly. I like her and she’s cool. Jacqueline was still knocking suckas out and I wish she spent more time in the match.
The Beth Phoenix and Nia Jax stare down left me wanting more and her brief reunion with Natalya as the Divas of Doom was awesome before Nattie tossed her out. Ember Moon and Asuka revisited their NXT rivalry with Asuka once again getting the best of Moon and eliminating her. I wasn’t so shocked that Nikki made an appearance in the match as a surprise but more surprised that Brie Bella made a special appearance. This was Bries first match back since being a mom and she looked great. The fans chanted Cena sucks for Nikki and embraced Brie Bella with “Yes Chants.” The Bellas were booked strong for this match and stronger than I think most people would have expected.
Talking about a mom who was looking great and booked perfectly, number 30 was Trish Stratus. Trish can still go! Holy smokes! A lot of these girls must have been excited to share the ring with these legendary ladies who paved the way for them but Trish looked like she could have shockingly won this thing. There were more rivalries revisited for example the Carmella and Nikki rivalry had a moment. Trish and Mickie had a moment that got the crowd excited which led to Trish eliminating Mickie James. Jax got her monster ROAR spot where she broke out of being jumped on by a group of girls but still got eliminated by the group. Naomi played the Kofi Kingston role were she saved herself from elimination in a creative way. Naomi walked across the barricade and went onto a chair that Menounos was sitting in then used her hands to move across the floor until she could climb up the steps back into the ring. When she jumped into Jax’s arms getting back into the ring and Jax tossed Naomi over the top to the floor. It was a fun spot for the first Women’s Royal Rumble.
The longer the match went on, the longer Banks was in there and the longer she was in there, the more she started showing signs of the old heel selfish Sasha. A few of my own personal favourite moments were when Banks eliminated Bayley and when she had a staredown with Trish Stratus only to eliminate her too which got the pro-Stratus crowd hot. The final four ended up being The Bella Twins, Sasha Banks and Asuka. It was great to see Sasha Banks and The Bella Twins work together to try to get rid of Asuka. However the Twins ultimately eliminated Sasha in the midst of their three on one beat down when she went for her double knee-stop in the corner on Asuka. Sasha Banks was in the match from number one for 54 minutes and racked up 3 eliminations. In my mind Sasha was the MVP of the first ever women’s Royal Rumble. Nikki Bella ended up eliminating her own sister hitting her with forearm reminiscent of Summerslam 2014 to knock her off the apron and eliminate her. This left Nikki and Asuka as our final two. There was some back and fourth until Asuka eliminated Nikki. The elimination came when they both were on the apron and Asuka followed a forearm from Nikki with a kick to the knee to knock Nikki off the apron to win the match. I feel like this might have been a bigger deal if the final two were Asuka and Sasha or Asuka and Nia or something. It’s not that the Bella Twins arent big stars, they really but I just don’t think anybody believed Nikki was going to win over Asuka at this point of her career. It was still good though and worked perfectly fine though. It did add more drama for the finish with Nikki turning on Brie after working together to get to the final three.
Overall, I felt like this match was very well layed out and paced perfectly. They had the surprise entrants at the right moments and the crowd kept getting more into it as the match went on. Whether you liked it or disliked you. it left you with moments for your wrestling highlight reel and memories that will last forever. It was historic and it was special.
Rating – ****

– Asuka celebrated the victory with no pyro around the sign unfortunately. Asuka was joined in the ring by Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss with each woman holding up their titles while a excited Asuka looked at both titles. “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett started to blare throughout the arena and the crowd popped. Ronda Rousey walked out wearing a leather jacket which actually use to belong to “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and had a white t-shirt with lettering like Roddy Piper’s classic shirt since she’s got the “Rowdy” nickname from him as well. The crowd is hot for Rousey. The announcers had no idea what was going on and Maria Menounos introduced Rousey. Stephanie said she had no idea what Rousey was doing there. Rousey got in the ring and pointed at the WrestleMania sign while in front of Asuka, Flair and Bliss. Rousey extended her hand to try to shake Asuka’s hand, but Asuka slapped her hand away. Rousey pointed at the WrestleMania sign. Rousey left the ring. Rousey walked over to Stephanie McMahon at ringside and Rousey extended her hand. Stephanie shook her hand. They had a bit of a stare down while shaking it, but also nodding their heads in mutual respect for each other. Rousey went up the ramp, pointed at the sign again and headed to the back as the show went off the air.
This was great and I thought she wasn’t going to show. There is an argument that she stole the thunder from Asuka and her victory and that her debut may have overshadowed the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble because the WWE played that as the moment everyone was talking about the next night on Raw. I understand her being excited and not being able to control it but she smiled more than she really needed too and I kind of wish she came in more of a badass. However, I understand if she couldnt contain her excitement. Ronda Rousey has been a wrestling fan her entire life and she always knew she wanted to end up here so its great to see her finally arrive. Rousey still has drawing power and unlike a guy like Brock Lesnar, she signed a full time deal. I don’t know how well she’ll do but I’m not one to pass judgement until we see some more. I love the fact that she made her WWE debut in Pipers jacket. We miss you Hot Rod.

Final Thoughts
I think this was a fairly good show. Both Royal Rumble matches were fun to watch and memorable. They are not easy matches to book, but WWE got it right this time around. The right talent went over with Nakamura and Asuka winning.  Plus, the nice surprise at the end with Ronda Rousey appearing was the cherry on top for this event. It will get people talking, which is always a good thing. The undercard wasn’t the greatest but it definitely wasn’t the worst. A couple of the matches on the card suffered because they were smushed between the two Royal Rumble matches. I really dont know how else they could have laid out this show, unless they open the show with one of the Royal Rumble’s and had all the mid card stuff in the middle. It may age better when coming back to watch it years later because of nostalgia and looking back at it with hindsight being 20/20 but right now the Royal Rumble matches defined this event. I’m not sure if the Women’s Royal Rumble will become a tradition like the mens but I’m not against it because of the success of the historic first ever one tonight. This was a fun show and I can definitely see myself watching the Rumble matches again. Check them out if you haven’t because they are filled with great moments.
Final Rating – 8/10

What were your final thoughts on Royal Rumble? What final grade would you give the event? Where would you rate it on a scale of ten? Do you agree with my review? Leave your comments, opinions and thoughts below in the comments section.