Greatest Rumble in Years!

The Royal Rumble has always been one of my favorite PPVs . It is full of surprises. And as Micheal Cole says like a million times “The Road to Wrestlemania starts at the Royal Rumble.” Although in recent years I have been disappointed in the show. But this year was amazing. It was a great show. The Best Rumble in over 10 years! First off the was the first ever Women's Royal Rumble. As a long time fan of women's wrestling this is something I have wanted to see for years and it was the ACTUAL MAIN EVENT!

During his infamous shoot interview with Colt Cabana, CM Punk criticized the WWE claiming that any highly promoted match being a “main event” Punk said the main event is always the match that closes the show. And technically he is correct. As a fan, the main event is whatever match excites me the most. This may be the last match on the card but often times it comes much earlier. For me it was the women's rumble that excited me the most and for once the WWE agreed with me and it was the final match of the night!

While on paper the under card was was...well underwhelming it was surprisingly fun. WWE decided to open the show with AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicap match. Odd choice for the curtain jerker . Styles is one of the best in the world and made it exiting. Rumour had it that Owens was working hurt but it didn't show. Good match with a possible bad call by ref that will have wrestlemania implications. “Yep”

Next, The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin in a 2-out-of-3-falls match. This was a clean sweep for the Usos, This I found surprising. Usually this type of match starts with one team wining the 1rst fall, then the 2^nd fall goes to the other team and excitement build as we need the rubber match to determine the win. Real life doesn't always work out that way... Part of me found this refreshing....part of me was angry that they buried Gable and Benjamin and most of me wondered if they were pressed for time. Either way 2 matches ...two interesting choices.

Next up (odd choice number 3 for the night) The Men's Royal Rumble! While there wasn't many surprise entries in this rumble, it was very entertaining. There was this great running gag where poor Heath Slater gets knocked out before he gets into the ring and every time he starts to get up the next entry knocks him out again. The payoff is when Sheamus decides not to attack Heath and instead throws him into the ring, that Heath then eliminates Sheamus. Now my only complaint is I feel if you have a championship match that night, you shouldn't be in the rumble. So as funny as for Sheamus to get eliminated immediately, his spot and spots filled by Cesaro and Seth could have been given to someone else, maybe one of those surprise entries that this rumble was lacking in. There were a couple of surprises though....the biggest being the return of Rey Mysterio! Going into the rumble I wanted Shinsuke Nakamura to win as I want to see Styles vs Nakamura at Mania and It happened! There was a great bit where the final four was Cena, Reigns, Fin Balor and Nakamura. 2 members of the oldguard and 2 fresh faces. It made those final eliminations very exciting

Seth and Jordan then had to defend the Raw Tag Team Championships against the Bar. The was the weakest match of the night. The outcome was obvious... I know Jordan was hurt and couldn't wrestle and they needed to get the strap off them and they also needed to progress the Jason Jordan vs Seth Rollins angle but I still thought it could have been better.

The 5^th match was much like the 1rst as in I know what the outcome was going to be but it was still entertaining. Brock, Braun and Kane destroyed every table around and just 

about everything else. If you like to see big guys breaking stuff this was the match for you.

Now it was time for the Main Event ! The woman's rumble! As much as I enjoyed the men's rumblle, I enjoyed this one more. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch started it off. NXT superstar and former World of Stardom Champion, three-time Goddess of Stardom Champion and a four-time Artist of Stardom Champion, Kairi Sane entered the rumble at number six. I was hoping she would last long enough to wrestle Asuka. I have been wanted to see them fight ever since Kairi signed with WWE as Sane and Asuka never shared a ring while in Japan. The Onna Kaizoku did the Insane Elbow several times ! 

Ember Moon the current NXT champ also appeared in the rumble. The Nostalgia factor was in full swing with Lita, Torrie Wilson, Kelly Kelly, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Vickie Guerrero, the Bella Twins, and Jackie Moore all making returns at the rumble. Lots of fun spots. Asuka came in at number 25 and was dominate. Asuka reignited her feud with Moon and took the NXT champ out. WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus had the number 30 spot. Like Asuka, Trish also went after an old rival and it was wonderful see Trish wrestle Mickie James again. The final 2 women left in the ring was Nikki Bella and Asuka. Nikki Bella personifies the “WWE Diva” vs Asuka the new face of the “Women's Evolution” What was WWE going to do... would they bask in the past or live in the future? For the 2^nd time that night WWE made me ecstatic. Asuka won the royal rumble. There was no other outcome I wanted to see more that Asuka pointing to the WrestleMania sign and I got it.

The evening also saw the debut of Ronda Rousey. While this is exciting and did make the news and even though I think Rousey vs Asuka will be an incredible match, I didn't like how it was handeled. Asuka was in the ring celebrating her historic victory and and was about to announce if she was going to challenge the RAW Champion or the Smackdown Champ when Ronda's music hits... She comes into the ring points at the Mania sign... As I said I don't mid Ronda in the WWE but being a huge Asuka fan I can't help but feel that Ronda's debut stole some of Asuka's thunder and it should have been done differently.

Still ASUKA and SHINSUKE NAKAMURA are going to Wrestlemania! This was the greatest Royal Rumble in years and it will also be the greatest Wrestlemania ever.