WWE Royal Rumble 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

30-Woman Over-The-Top Women’s Royal Rumble Match

What we learned: We learned here that the women’s division is in phenomenal shape, even if the end of the show upset me.

There had to be a ton of pressure on the 30 women competing in the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match. Not only had it never been done before, they had to deal with the fact that the men went out and put on one of the best Royal Rumbles in years. But I had a very good time with this match. I won’t go into the full formula again but it had all the elements you needed, including some fantastic returns that the Philly crowd was really into.

With Charlotte Flair not in the match, the call to put Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch in the ring to kick things off was perfect. The call-up of those three from NXT is what really took the women’s division to the next level, and they both had a good run. Becky clocked in at 30:54 and had a couple of eliminations, and Sasha, who has the distinction of being the first-ever entrant in a Women’s Rumble, made it all the way to the final four, eliminating four women in 54:46. I think it was very important to keep these two in the match for as long as they did because it created a lot of matchups with the returning women that we never thought we’d see. Excellent booking.

Since I’m talking about the returns, let’s run down that list. Lita was the first surprise at No. 5 and she was awesome. I would have liked to see something with her and Trish Stratus but they couldn’t give us everything, I guess. But she looked awesome, hitting some Twist of Fate finishers and the double moonsault. Very cool stuff there and the crowd was hot for it.

Torrie Wilson was the next surprise at No. 9 and she was followed by Molly Holly at No. 12 and Michelle McCool at No. 14. McCool looked especially strong and walks away from the event as the all-time leader in eliminations with five. Vickie Guerrero and her microphone came in at No. 16 and provided some of the comedy with the “EXCUSE ME” stuff, which I thought was awesome. I always thought she was great at her job, and including her in this historic event was the right thing to do.

Kelly Kelly was next at No. 19 and was almost out in a heartbeat but she hung around for a few minutes. WWE Hall of Famer Jacqueline entered at No. 21, and she looked like she could still go on a full-time basis. Beth Phoenix came in at No. 2,4 and the quick battle between she and Nia Jax was awesome. The Bella Twins were in at No. 27 and No. 28, and Trish rounded out the night as the 30th and final entrant. It was so fun to see all of these women back in the ring as each and every one of them played a big part in getting to this point. It also created some fun matchups that we’d never seen and even some that we had, specifically the bit with Trish and Mickie James, who had an amazing rivalry all those years ago.

As for the stars of today, I think just about everyone looked pretty good. Tamina didn’t get a lot of time, and outside of Vickie, she was actually the quickest out of the match. But Natalya looked great while picking up four eliminations in more than 25 minutes of ring time, and some of the newer stars from Absolution and The Riott Squad got some time to shine as well.

Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane is going to be an absolute star whenever she gets to the main roster, and NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon had a nice run in the match as well. Nia Jax, obviously one of the favorites coming in, had four eliminations but she spent a lot of time on the outside. It took a crowd to get her out, which is always fun, but I was actually expecting a little more with her. Yes, the Beth Phoenix showdown was great, but she didn’t have as much of an impact as I expected.

The final four were Sasha Banks, who in a great moment threw Bayley out of the match — that could set something up — Asuka and Nikki and Brie Bella. The Bella Twins were a big attraction here and got a lot of attention. Brie went with the cheap pop playing off her husband Daniel Bryan’s “YES!” chant, but I will say that both looked better than I expected. They disposed of Sasha and went to work on Asuka, but The Empress of Tomorrow fought them both off and made history by becoming the first-ever winner of the Women’s Royal Rumble.

Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, both of whom were sitting at ringside with their respective titles the entire match, joined Asuka in the ring, and I thought maybe we were going to get a decision on whom she would face at WrestleMania 34 right then and there but then it happened. Some new music hit and there was Ronda Rousey. She made her way down the ramp and into the ring, and after a brief staredown with Charlotte, she went to shake Asuka’s hand, who simply slapped it away, which brought the funny “OHHHH” noise from the crowd. She pointed a couple of times at the WrestleMania sign (photo op) and we were out.

I’m going to get into the Ronda thing on its own but I wanted to first say how much I enjoyed the Women’s Royal Rumble. I thought the match flowed very nicely, and although I can’t truly say that it was as good as the men’s bout, this was an awesome debut. They earned that spot at the end of the night (even it was just to set up Ronda), the returns were well-timed and they got the winner right. Well done, ladies.

What’s next: It’s pretty easy to see what’s coming next. Ronda is just going to go away to finish up her movie and she’ll come back and get that “dream match” with Charlotte that so many people seem to want for WrestleMania. Asuka, who should have been the star and the talk of the night, will end up taking on Alexa Bliss, assuming she hangs onto the title (which she should) on the way to New Orleans. This isn’t what I want at all, as I think Asuka vs. Charlotte could be fantastic. We’ll get that match at some point but I think we’ll have to wait on that.

I’m going to get into it in a separate article because it warrants more than just a quick paragraph here, but I did not like the Ronda Rousey segment at all. I think the timing was off and it took away from what we had just gotten from the Women’s Rumble. So I’ll stop before I get rambling here.

Overall, I had a good time with the 2018 Royal Rumble. While some of the finishes were a little off, just about everyone put in great work for the night and from top to bottom, this was a good show. It set up plenty for the next couple of months as we look ahead to Elimination Chamber and Fastlane on the road to WrestleMania 34.

Next: Ranking every WWE Royal Rumble PPV in history

Did you enjoy the 2018 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view? What was your favorite match? Feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.