WWE Royal Rumble 2020 highlights, takeaways and projections

Drew McIntyre wins Men’s Royal Rumble Match

1. Brock Lesnar
2. Elias
3. Erick Rowan
4. Robert Roode
5. John Morrison
6. Kofi Kingston
7. Rey Mysterio
8. Big E
9. Cesaro
10. Shelton Benjamin
11. Shinsuke Nakamura
12. MVP
13. Keith Lee
14. Braun Strowman
15. Ricochet
16. Drew McIntyre
17. The Miz
18. AJ Styles
19. Dolph Ziggler
20. Karl Anderson
21. Edge
22. King Corbin
23. Matt Riddle
24. Luke Gallows
25. Randy Orton
26. Roman Reigns
27. Kevin Owens
28. Aleister Black
29. Samoa Joe
30. Seth Rollins

I’ve got zero problems saying that this was one of my favorite Men’s Royal Rumble matches in recent memory. The storytelling was done beautifully, it featured one of the biggest and best returns in Rumble history and the finish was just about perfect.

So I’m sure there were plenty of folks out there who had a problem with the first half of the match…you know, Brock Lesnar tossing out the first 13 entrants that followed him into the match…but I thought it was great. For one, he actually had to work for more than five minutes, which was fun to see, and it all made sense with the story they’re trying to tell. Okay, so we didn’t get to see Kofi avoid elimination in a fun way but it was all done nicely. Kofi actually gave him a fight and then the Keith Lee and Braun Strowman portion were great as well. You could tell Brock was getting winded there towards the end of his run but it all worked. I predicted that Drew McIntyre would be the one to eliminate Brock Lesnar and that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t think it would be done as quickly as it was when it actually happened but it was perfect. The looks on the faces of Lesnar and Heyman were superb (as usual) and it was a big moment.

The second half was more like the Rumble matches that we’re used to but everything was done just right. McIntyre established his own dominance with a few eliminations of his own and then it happened. No. 21…”YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME”…and then Edge is actually there and actually there to compete. What an amazing moment for wrestling fans. After being told he’d never wrestle again, he looked like he hadn’t missed a day. The reunion with Randy Orton was excellent and only helped build the strong story that was being told, a story that also included the drama with Seth Rollins and his crew tangling with Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens. Rollins also had an interesting encounter with Roman Reigns, who entered at No. 26 and found himself in the final four with Edge, Orton and McIntyre.

After teasing an RKO on his former partner, Orton was thrown out after Edge turned the tables with a surprise elimination. The Rated-R Superstar was the next to go, being taken out by Reigns as the crowd just ate everything up. You could tell that there might be a mini-riot if Roman had won but it wasn’t to be. I was hoping it would happen and it actually did. After hitting a devastating Claymore, Drew McIntyre picked up Reigns and tossed him to become the 2020 Royal Rumble winner, punching his ticket to WrestleMania 36. From start to finish, this was wildly entertaining.

What’s next: Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar. That’s what’s next and it’s going to be fantastic. McIntyre really has earned this opportunity and I’m so glad creative got this right. The build should be phenomenal and that’s going to be a physical matchup. And let’s not worry about Roman Reigns. There’s another title out there for him to chase and he’s on that collision course with Bray Wyatt. With so much history between those two, it’s the perfect way to go for WrestleMania and over the next 10 weeks, we’ll have so much to look forward to. What a great night this was.

What did you think of the 2020 edition of WWE Royal Rumble? What was your favorite match?