WWE Royal Rumble 2019 results: Highlights, takeaways, WrestleMania projections

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match

Asuka (c) def. Becky Lynch

I thought this was a fantastic choice to open the show. Becky Lynch is so incredibly over right now so getting the crowd involved early on with having her out to open the night was a smart move. This matchup started out a little slower than I thought it would but these two were just saving their energy for what was to come.

This was a great back-and-forth battle throughout. The crowd was heavily invested once things got going and the multiple, believable nearfalls as the match went along played a big part in that. Both the champion and challenger got some solid offense in and there were plenty of big spots to go around. The use of the ropes for some submission holds and then some big suplexes, including one off the top and one off the apron brought all the “oohs” and “aahs” from the Phoenix crowd, leading to the furious finish.

Both Lynch and Asuka were able to put each other in their finishing submission holds, which is always fun, and then they just went back and forth trying to get the other to tap out and Asuka was able to make “The Man” do just that with a bridged version of the Asuka Lock. Excellent opening match.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1089680451130683392

What’s next: This finish actually wasn’t a surprise to me and the placement on the card makes that much more sense. Being in the opening match gave Becky Lynch some time to rest before she made her way back out to the ring a little later for the Women’s Royal Rumble Match. More on that in a bit.

As for Asuka, this was a very nice win for her. She had been an afterthought in the women’s division for far too long and her title win followed up with this title defense makes her look very strong heading into WrestleMania season and she’ll need a big challenger to step up in the coming months. Again, more on that in a bit.