This is your 2022 Royal Rumble Review-ish. WWE's first Premium Live Event of the year, as we start our travels on the road to WrestleMania. Six matches were scheduled on the night, now it's time to talk about some of the the key moments, beginning with the Universal Championship Match.
Universal Championship Match
Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns by Disqualification - Roman remains Universal Champion.
It was noted on social media Roman and Seth would be opening the show, which proved to be correct, there was somewhat of a prospect by people online, the championship could be changing hands at the end of the match, the best parts of this contest were, Seth walking out to The Shield's music, which was met by a great reaction by the thousands in attendance, Roman's reaction to it was fantastic and you could tell Seth was in his head, an aspect that continued throughout, till the end which ended in no disqualification, the creative backed themselves into a corner that they couldn't get out of, Roman hitting Seth with the chair was a way of the Shield breakup coming full circle years later, with The Tribal Chief finally getting some revenge and retribution.
Women's Royal Rumble Match
Order of Entry
1. Sasha Banks
2. Melina
3. Tamina
4. Kelly Kelly
5. Aliyah
6. Liv Morgan
7. Queen Zelina - WWE Women's Tag Team Champion
8. Bianca Belair
9. Dana Brooke
10. Michelle McCool
11. Sonya Deville
12. Natalya
13. Cameron
14. Naomi
15. Carmella - WWE Women's Tag Team Champion
16. Rhea Ripley
17. Charlotte Flair
18. Ivory
19. Brie Bella
20. Mickie James - Impact Wrestling Women's Champion
21. Alicia Fox
22. Nikki A.S.H
23. Summer Rae
24. Nikki Bella
25. Sarah Logan
26. Lita
27. Molly Holly
28. Ronda Rousey
29. Shotzi
30. Shayna Baszler
Winner of the Match: Ronda Rousey, lastly eliminating Charlotte Flair.
The Royal Rumble match is perhaps one of, if not, THE best stipulation in all of wrestling, yes it was great to see superstars from years gone by, Sasha entering the match first and getting eliminated quickly was very surprising, it felt like Daniel Bryan's elimination from 2015, it was nice to see Mickie James walkout to her current theme from Impact Wrestling, along with the championship belt from said promotion, no disrespect to the participants involved, everyone knew Ronda was going to be returning, it seemed as though the crowd weren't really interested fully until Bad Reputation hit after the countdown buzzer, the so called "fantasy" booking had Ronda challenging Becky at 'Mania, however, since Ronda eliminated Charlotte at the end, there is a very good case for Ronda challenging Charlotte instead, subject to change of course.
RAW Women's Championship Match
Becky Lynch defeated Doudop to remain RAW Women's Champion.
Becky and Doudrop put on a damn good match, they worked very hard to entertain the crowd, who, unfortunately didn't respond, they were very quiet throughout, there was a moment where the WrestleMania sign caught fire, thankfully there wasn't any disaster, back to the match, especially the close, Becky hit the finish for the win, it would be cool to see these two face each other again in the very near future.
WWE Championship Match
Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar to become the NEW WWE Champion.
The video package for this clash was absolutley fantastic, elevating the hype for the match, we knew going into this Brock didn't take Bobby seriously at all, there was a sense of Paul Heyman turning against his client, an aspect which materialised, Bobby felt like an afterthought throughout, even after he won the championship following Roman's interference.
Beth Phoenix & Edge defeated Maryse & The Miz.
There was a belief, from myself in particular, this tag team match was going to open the show, it felt like a main event match we would possibly see on an episode of RAW, hopefully this story is now over, with all due respect to all involved.
Men's Royal Rumble Match
Order of Entry
1. AJ Styles
2. Shunsuke Nakamura - Intercontinental Champion
3. Austin Theory
4. Robert Roode
5. Ridge Holland
6. Montez Ford
7. Damian Priest - United States Champion
8. Sami Zayn
9. Johnny Knoxville
10. Angelo Dawkins
11. Omos
12. Ricochet
13. Chad Gable - RAW Tag Team Champion
14. Dominik Mysterio
15. Happy Corbin
16. Dolph Ziggler
17. Sheamus
18. Rick Boogs
19. Madcap Moss
20. Riddle
21. Drew Mcintyre
22. Kevin Owens
23. Rey Mysterio
24. Kofi Kingston
25. Otis - RAW Tag Team Champion
26. Big E
27. Bad Bunny
28. Shane McMahon
29. Randy Orton
30. Brock Lesnar
Winner of the Match: Brock Lesnar, lastly eliminating Drew Mcintyre.
The Men's Royal Rumble match followed a similar pattern to the Women's, in terms of the winner, when Brock lost his championship, it seemed inevitable he would enter and win, which dampened the competitiveness of the hour or so long match, other talking points of this match were, AJ getting eliminated by Madcap Moss of all people and Big E not going the distance, him being moved back to SmackDown without anyone else going the other way tells us he will not be involved in the title picture as time goes on.
Thank you very much for reading, be sure to check back here for the Elimination Chamber predictions in three weeks time.