By Steve Ward
This year’s incarnation of the Royal Rumble emanated from Lucas Oil Field, home of the Indianapolis Colts in front of a capacity crowd. Tonight’s card would feature a slim four matches with two title bouts and two Royal Rumble matches with the Men’s battle royal headlining the show.
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
Winner: Charlotte Flair
The show kicked off in full force with the first of two 30-participant Royal Rumble matches.
The order of entry was as follows:
- Iyo Sky
- Liv Morgan
- Roxanne Perez
- Lyra Valkyria
- Chelsea Green
- B-Fab
- Ivy Nile
- Zoey Stark
- Lash Legend
- Bianca Belair
- Shayna Baszler
- Bayley
- Sonya Deville
- Maxxine Dupri
- Naomi
- Jaida Parker
- Piper Niven
- Natalya
- Jordynne Grace
- Michin
- Alexa Bliss
- Zelina Vega
- Candice Lerae
- Stephanie Vaquer
- Trish Stratus
- Raquel Rodriguez
- Charlotte Flair
- Giulia
- Nia Jax
- Nikki Bella
Final Four:
Nikki Bella, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, and Roxanne Perez.
Once the field was narrowed down to the final four women, Nikki Bella was the first eliminated by Nia Jax. Jax was eliminated next by Charlotte as she battled with Perez on the ring apron. Charlotte then made quick work of Perez by kicking her off the ring apron meaning Charlotte had punched her ticket to WrestleMania in her first appearance in over a year. The women put on an entertaining match and WWE delivered with four surprise entries in the form of Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, Nikki Bella, and WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus! It was also interesting to note that they mentioned Bella as the returning Nikki Bella so she may have elected to come out of retirement - WWE programming will nonetheless be interesting this week.
WWE Tag Team Championship 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match
# DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa) (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
Winners: # DIY
We arrived at this bout tonight after Gargano led everyone to believe late last year that # DIY were on the outs until a nefarious low blow helped them to steal the tag team gold on an episode of Smackdown. Tonight, MCMG will seek retribution in a 2 out of 3 falls match. # DIY scored a quick fall as they feigned a tag, unbeknownst to MCMG, allowing Ciampa the opportunity to blindside Shelley with a knee to the face. MCMG then rallied in a big way as they turned momentum in their favor and utilized some tandem offense as they hit the Skull and Bones on Gargano to claim the second fall. The final moments of the match saw # DIY in dire straits as Gargano was being propped up by Shelley while Sabin ascended to the top rope. Two hooded assailants then emerged as one struck Sabin with a crutch allowing Gargano to steal the pinfall and retain their titles. Following the match, the men revealed themselves as The Street Profits who then proceeded to also lay waste to # DIY.
Undisputed WWE Championship Ladder Match
Cody Rhodes ( c ) vs. Kevin Owens
Winner: Cody Rhodes
Kevin Owens felt betrayed by Cody Rhodes when he sided with Roman Reigns upon his return which lead to Owens carrying out a heinous attack on Cody at Badd Blood. This sparked a bitter rivalry that would culminate in a ladder match tonight. After breaking several ladders and beating each other thoroughly, Cody Rhodes finally incapacitated Owens by putting him through a ladder propped up between the ring and announce table with an Alabama Slam. This allowed Cody the opportunity to easily scale the ladder in the ring and retrieve both belts.
Men’s Royal Rumble Match
Winner: Jey Uso
The show would conclude with the Men’s Royal Rumble Match to determine the one man who would punch his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania 41.
The order of entry was as follows:
- Rey Mysterio
- Penta
- Chad Gable
- Carmelo Hayes
- Santos Escobar
- Otis
- Bron Breakker
- Akira Tozawa (replaced by YouTuber ISHOWSPEED after Tozawa was knocked out by Carmelo Hayes in the entryway)
- Sheamus
- Jimmy Uso
- Andrade
- Jacob Fatu
- Ludwig Kaiser
- The Miz
- Joe Hendry (TNA World Champion)
- Roman Reigns
- Drew McIntyre
- Finn Balor
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Jey Uso
- AJ Styles
- Braun Strowman
- John Cena
- CM Punk
- Seth Rollins
- Dominik Mysterio
- Sami Zayn
- Damian Priest
- LA Knight
- Logan Paul
Final Four:
John Cena, Logan Paul, Jey Uso, and CM Punk.
Once the field was trimmed down to the final four, Punk was the first to be eliminated by Logan Paul after he dumped Reigns and Rollins out simultaneously. Logan Paul was then clotheslined out of the ring by John Cena just moments later. After a brief back and forth exchange on the ring apron, Uso found himself hoisted onto Cena’s shoulders seemingly seconds from elimination. Instead of falling victim to the Attitude Adjustment, Uso slickly slipped off his shoulders back into the ring and casually pushed Cena to the floor booking his spot in the main event of WrestleMania. While this match had no lack of main event talent, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of surprise entries (I don’t consider Joe Hendry a real surprise as he was a regular on NXT last year during a brief talent swap between WWE and TNA). It was nice, however, to see WWE remembered that they have “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles on their roster as he had been banished to Live Event duty since his last televised appearance in October. This week should be interesting as Jey Uso will likely decide whether he will challenge Gunther or Cody Rhodes for their respective championships at Wrestlemania 41.
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