WWE rarely gives its fans exactly what they want. If the Royal Rumble is any indication, they may b♑e finally listening.
Fan favorite Shinsuke Nakamura eliminated the loathed Roman Reigns to win the men’s Royal Rumble on 🌊Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The victory set up the dream match with A.J. Styles at WrestleMania.
Asuka’s amazing run continued with a win in the women’s rumble — giving the historic moment to a woman, unlike when James Ellsworth delivered the first women’s Money in the Bank brief case to Carmella. Oh, and Ronda Rousey debuted and is now a full-time member of WWE.
Yep, that kind of night.
It wasn’t a perfect road, but the men’s rumble gave us a final four (Finn Balor, Reigns, Nakamura and John Cena) that not only set up Nakamura’s victory well, but pitted two of the most over guys against the wrestlers fans are tired of seeing go over.
Reigns and Cena teaming up against Balor and Nakamura was as close to a heal t💮urn as you are going to see from those two. The crowd chanted, “You both suck” in the proc𝐆ess.
Nakamura eventually eliminated both of them — with help from his signature Kinshasa — and received a defining pop from the Philly crowd as Reigns hit the floor. It got louder when he chose to face Styles for the WWE title.
The match’s entrants were solid — highlighted by the return of Rey Mysterio and Dolph Ziggler — but Hurricane Helms can’t be your second-best legend coming back. Getting three 619s from Mysterio was awesome, however.
There were plenty of interesting side shenan♐igans in the match. Baron Corbin leveled Balor, Rusev and Heath Slater in a temper tantrum after his elimination. Slater was attacked again and ate Big E’s pancakes before finally being thrown into the ring by Sheamus, whom he quickly eliminated.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attac🧔ked Tye Dillinger backstage, and Zayn took his spot. Four participants, much to the joy of the crowd, immediately attacked Cena.
Of course, there was the annual Kofi Kingston near elimination. This year, he landed with one foot on Xavie𝓀r Woods, before Big E put down a plate of pancakes for him t♔o rest his one foot on. Kingston got a boost into the ring from his tag partners on his way to eliminating Jinder Mahal.
There was less silliness in the women’s rumble, which was a well-scripted homage to the past, present and future women of the division. (Yes, even. … Excuse me, Vickie Guerrero.) The list of legends who participated was long and star-studded (Lita, Molly Holly, Jacqueline, Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, Brie Bella and Nikki Bella, Torrie Wilson), fittingly en♋ding with Trish Stratus at No. 30. Nikki even eliminated Brie.
Lita, who hit her signat🌜ure moonsault, entering at No. 5 and staring down Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch was something to see. So was watching former partners Phoenix and Natalya teaming up to eliminate Kelly Kelly before exchangi🍬ng a hug.
The current talent was not overshadowed in the process. Banks, the No. 1 entrant, lasted 54:46 minutes. Nia Jax 🌃eliminated four people and Naomi had her Kingston moment. She was saved by falling on a group of the women and then made her way back to the ring with help from an office chair.
Dressed in “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s black leather jacket and a shirt with her name in his signature lettering and colors, she walked into the ring. (Rousey inherited the Rowdy nickname from Piper.) The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion stared down all three before pointing to the WrestleMania sign – saying “I’ll see you there.”
A handshake with Stephanie McMahon (who added little on commentary) and one last point to end a segment that gave WWEꦯ the big moment it wanted, without taking away from the match itself. Rousey, who is making the movie “Mile 22” in Colombia, will save getting physical for later.
Styles will be joining her on the WrestleMania card after defeating Zayn and Owens in a handicap match for the WWE title. This one likely won’t be on Styles’ DVD of greatest matches, buꦺt it ♓was good enough to get the pay-per-view started.
Zayn and Owens did a fine job using their numbers to their advantage in an irritating way early before Styles was able to divide and conquer late. He chucked Zayn out of the ring after a near tag and rolled up Owens — who was going for a pop-up power bomb — for the 1-2-3.
In the other singles title match, Brock Lesner versus Kane and Braun Strowman for the Universal tit🌊le was the car-wreck, hoss fight we expected. There was a funky drop kick from Strowman, four broken tables and Kane taking the pin from Lesnar so he could retain his belt in the tripe-threat match. Strowman could only yell, “You didn’t beat me,” as Lesnar walked away.
Well, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin’s moment in the sun appears to be over. The duo was unable to manage a fall against the SmackDown tag champ🙈ion Usos. The Usos, who are the premiꦕer team in the company right now, used super kicks after a blind tag to earn the first fall and a roll up quickly after for the second.
Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins didn’t have the same luck. They dropped their Raw tag teams titles to The Bar in a workman-like match. Jordan, who according to Wresting Observer , was hurt💜 after smashing his head into the ring post and was pretty much absent from the ඣmatch.
It will further the rift between him and his partner and was another example of the undercard matches failing to distinguish 𓄧themselves.
Thankfull𒅌y WWE hit the big notes that mattered, giving its fans th🐽e moments they’ve been craving.
Biggest winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
Biggest loser: Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin
Match of the night: Men’s Royal Rumble
Predictions: 6-3
Grade: B+