Asuka wins first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Full video highlights

On a history-making night in Philadelphia, Asuks outlasted 29 others to win the first-ever WWE Women’s Royal Rumble Match. Here are the full highlights.

It took three decades to get to Sunday night but the women of WWE made history in Philadelphia as the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match not only took place but main-evented the evening at the Wells Fargo Center.

Longtime WWE fan Maria Menounos announced the first two entries, Stephanie McMahon helped call the action and RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair sat ringside

The first-ever entry into the Women’s Royal Rumble was Sasha Banks.

And Becky Lynch joined Sasha Banks.

Banks and Lynch worked at a very fast pace to get things moving, much to the delight of the Philadelphia crowd. They would soon be joined by No. 3 entrant Sarah Logan, who pounced on both Lynch and Banks until No. 4 Mandy Rose joined the party as the elimination attempts began.

Our first HUGE return came at No. 5 as former WWE Women’s Champion Lita rocked the Philly crowd. She was double-teamed by Sasha and Becky but fought back and took them down with a double clothesline. She also made history with the first elimination of the night as she took out Mandy Rose.

Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane was out at No. 6 and was fast and furious upon entering the match, hitting a number of great spots on her opponents, including a phenomenal Macho Man-type elbow. She’d only last a few more minutes but certainly got some attention.

Tamina was in at No. 7 and immediately ran into a DDT from Lita (and didn’t last long after that), who then hit some Twist of Fate on both Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks before heading up top for a double Litasault. WHAT YEAR IS THIS? However, the party was soon over as Becky was able to recover and dump Lita over the top.

Dana Brooke was in at No. 8 but the big pop came at No. 9 with the return of Torrie Wilson, who looked great after years away from the ring and was able to take out Dana.

Sonya Deville was the tenth entrant and went right to work, hitting some hard kicks and eliminated Torrie Wilson from the match just before No. 11 Liv Morgan hit the ring. The blasts from the past kept on coming as Holly Molly entered at No. 12.

Lana was in at No. 13 and four-time WWE Women’s Champion Michelle McCool made her return to the ring at No. 14. Naturally, a big Undertaker chant broke out from the Philly crowd and with Becky and Banks on the floor, McCool cleared the ring by tossing four women from the match in a matter of 30 seconds.

Becky and Sasha reentered the match and would soon be joined by No. 15 Ruby Riott but No. 16 made a lot of noise –literally–as Vickie Guerrero came to the ring with a microphone and yelled at the four women in the ring. A huge “VICKIE” chant broke out until she was quickly eliminated. Very fun moment there.

Money in the Bank briefcase holder Carmella entered at No. 17 but didn’t quite make it to the ring initially as Vickie blasted her with the case on her way out. Natalya entered at No. 18 and was soon followed by No. 19 Kelly Kelly, who almost was eliminated immediately by Nattie but was able to stay in. Natalya was able to eliminate McCool, ending a fun run by the former champ.

Naomi was in at No. 20 and hit some of her high-impact maneuvers very quickly and then hit Sasha with a devastating kick to the face that echoed throughout the Wells Fargo Center. Jacqueline was in at No. 21 and looked absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, she didn’t last long as No. 22 Nia Jax came in and cleaned house, eliminating her, Kelly Kelly and Ruby Riott in quick and dominating fashion. She nearly eliminated Naomi but the women on the outside caught her, setting up a Kofi Kingston-type return.

NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon entered at No. 23 and she and Nia had a fun exchange until Moon was thrown through the middle rope to the floor as Naomi was doing her thing. Unfortunately, Naomi wasted her time as she was quickly eliminated by Jax upon her return.

However, that set up a huge faceoff as Nia Jax waited for her next challenger, which turned out to be none other than Beth Phoenix.

The crowd went nuts for this. Nattie, who had been resting on the floor, jumped back in the mix and after she and Beth sent Nia through the middle rope to the floor, the two hugged it out before Nattie turned and eliminated The Glamazon.

Asuka came out to a huge pop at No. 25, knocked out the majority of her competitors to set up a quick showdown with Ember Moon, with whom she’d had a great feud within NXT.

Mickie James was out at No. 26 as the elimination attempts continued, which was essentially a time to slow things down for about a minute to set up the return of Nikki Bella, who entered at No. 27 and would be joined by her sister Brie at No. 28. Brie did the “YES!” chants to get some cheap pops but did look good back in the ring.

Bayley was in at No. 29 and she and Asuka had a nice exchange as we awaited the arrival of No. 30 as the Ronda Rousey chants got going. WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus was the final competitor into the match and didn’t get booed, which would have been hard to do after she destroyed everyone in her way to set up an awesome confrontation with former rival Mickie James. Great moment there that the crowd popped nicely for. Trish got the better of it and eliminated Mickie.

Nia Jax would then come back into the ring and began another run of brute force before the entire ring ganged up on her to throw her from the ring, which actually did bring a chorus of boos.

But things got even a little more interesting when Sasha Banks snuck up and eliminated Bayley. Fun two minutes there. Sasha would then get into with Trish, creating a dream matchup, even if only for a moment as The Boss threw the seven-time champ out of the ring, leaving herself, Asuka and The Bellas as the final four. Banks would go out first, however, and Nikki and Brie attempted to throw out Asuka but The Empress of Tomorrow fought back and hit both with some very hard kicks.

Brie was nearly thrown out but hung on and stayed on the apron for a moment as Nikki and Asuka fought in the ring. Nikki got the upper hand and then quickly turned around to eliminate her sister.

Nikki continued her attack and got Asuka over the top onto the apron but the former NXT Women’s Champion was able to turn the tide with some awesome creativity before finally getting rid of Nikki to make history as the first-ever winner of the Women’s Royal Rumble.

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair joined Asuka in the ring as the winner tried to decide which title she would like to challenge for at WrestleMania 34. However, things took a turn as new music hit and Ronda Rousey hit the ring, pointed at the WrestleMania sign, had a quick confrontation with Asuka and got out of there.

It was certainly a wild night but definitely one that we’ll be talking about for a long time.

Next: Ranking every WWE Royal Rumble PPV in history

What was your opinion on the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match? Feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.