WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

No Disqualification Match for the WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (c)

What we learned: I think we learned here that both of these guys can take a beating and keep on going. What a fun match this was to watch.

Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens played their heel roles perfectly at the start by attacking Roman Reigns before the bell sounded — and before Jericho had to get into the shark cage, which I really thought was an interesting addition to this match during the buildup. It really didn’t come into play here outside of the brass knuckles but we still got more Jericho and that’s never a bad thing these days. I will admit that I was a bit skeptical going into this one but the No DQ stipulation turned that around. These guys got really physical and the big crowd was really into this one; Owens and Reigns gave them something to get into with a lot of big spots.

The action moved to the outside of the ring pretty quickly and when Owens starting setting up that big stack of chairs, we knew that somebody was in for a rough time. And not having anyone go through them immediately was great. As the match progressed, you just knew that they were still just sitting there waiting to be destroyed and just wondered which guy it was going to be. And we got so much during the wait. The frog splash from Owens to Reigns on the table outside was fantastic and Reigns was able to get a little payback with that Samoan Drop onto the chair back in the ring. While all the physical stuff was great, it wasn’t quite as great as Owens paying homage to Stone Cold Steve Austin. Seriously, how awesome was that Stunner and the stomping and all of it? So fun.

But we finally did get back to the chairs on the outside and it looked extremely painful when Owens went crashing through them. The couple of seconds leading up to it looked a little awkward but I’m gonna let it slide. The ending was a bit of shock with Braun Strowman coming out to get his revenge on Roman for spearing him but it was a nice surprise. There weren’t a lot of people that expected Owens to retain, and he still might not be the champ at WrestleMania, but he came out on top once again in what’s easily been the best encounter in his rivalry with Roman Reigns.

What’s next: It’s inevitable that Owens and Jericho will split at some point –which will be devastating because the two are so great together– which will likely lead to a match between the two at WrestleMania 33. Whether or not the title will be on the line is still up in the air at this point with Owens likely having to defend it at Fastlane but it will be good nonetheless. As for Reigns, it’s hard to tell exactly which direction he’s headed given what happened with him at the end of the night. A program with Strowman seems likely for now but I think he’s headed for a big match at WrestleMania, which I’ll get into that a little later.