What we took away, what we learned and what the future holds for WWE following the 30th annual Royal Rumble in San Antonio on Sunday night.
In front of more than 50,000 people, WWE held its 30th annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view on Sunday night and what a night it was at the Alamodome in San Antonio. With nearly six hours of coverage, there’s a lot to discuss so let’s skip the big intro and just get right into the action with the three matches that took place on the kickoff show.
Royal Rumble Kickoff Show
Six-Woman Tag Team Match
Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss, Natalya, Mickie James
What we learned: The opening match of the night didn’t have a ton of substance but it was a good way to get the main six women of SmackDown Live onto the show and it was a decent opener. The six-way suplex spot was fun and the feuds that have been building over the past few weeks on Tuesday nights all got their play here. Naomi looked very strong at the end with some good spots and picked up a clean win over Alexa Bliss.
What’s next: While it looks as if Naomi is next in line for a title shot with Becky Lynch moving onto her program with Mickie James, I really hope that these six get a chance to all lock horns in the first-ever women’s Elimination Chamber match in two weeks. It was proven at last year’s Six-Pack Challenge to crown the first women’s champ on the blue brand that these ladies can put on a great multi-person match and adding the chamber to the mix would once again make history. Make it happen.
RAW Tag Team Championship Match
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Cesaro & Sheamus (c)
What we learned: Seeing as how we’ve seen these four guys battle for weeks on Monday nights, whether in tag action or in singles mode, I wasn’t sure if we’d really see anything new from these four on Sunday night (and we really didn’t), but the two referees added a little something extra and these four guys do have a nice chemistry with one another. I’m still not a fan of titles being defended on the kickoff show and this match was solid enough. It was great to see Gallows and Anderson finally get their first tag titles in WWE but again, it was a shame that it had to happen on the kickoff show. And seriously, stop putting commercials for your own network during these matches. There’s plenty of time for that during the commentary part of the show.
What’s next: I expect this feud to keep going for a little while longer as we build towards WrestleMania. The friction between Cesaro and Sheamus later in the night should play into this whole thing nicely. I’m not sure if they’ll drag out the rematch until Fastlane or just get it done with in the next couple of weeks but that’s sure to come. My hope is that some other teams will get involved in the title picture and we get some sort of multi-team match at WrestleMania.
Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
What we learned: The real push for Nia Jax has arrived. I expected her to get the win here but I didn’t really think it would be that dominant. Despite the loss, Sasha really doesn’t lose anything here as they can just play off the fact that perhaps she was still suffering from the injury and wasn’t really up to the challenge. This gave Nia a big win over a big name and while it wasn’t anything special, it did what it set out to do.
What’s next: These two will meet again and the next nine weeks will be spent watching these two, Bayley and Charlotte all mixing it up as we head towards WrestleMania, where we’ll likely get a Fatal 4-Way match for the title. And speaking of Bayley and Charlotte, let’s get to the main show.