Well, I've done it! Today I write about the 2017 Royal Rumble event and I've done 30 Rumbles in 30 days! It's kept me busy, to say the least! History was made at 2017's event and it's time to talk about how I felt. John Cena tied Ric Flair's World Championship record of 16, we got to see Chris Jericho in a Shark Cage, and a Rumble featuring the likes of Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and the Undertaker in the same ring. It also took place in San Antonio, TX at the Alamo-Done on the 20-year Anniversary of hometown hero Shawn Michaels winning his second WWE Championship.
ROYAL RUMBLE KICK-OFF
Becky Lynch, Naomi, & Nikki Bella vs. Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, & Natalya
This year's Rumble had three Kick-Off matches before the event officially began. The women's divisions on Raw and Smackdown were finally given the time they deserved. There were other feuds between the women along with programs for each brand's Women's Titles. This was a great way to start the Kick-Off, with what the Smackdown women had to offer. It combined two feuds together, Becky Lynch's issue with Smackdown Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and Mickie James, as well as Nikki Bella's feud with Natalya. Naomi won the match for her team after a split-legged moonsault on Alexa Bliss, earning herself a shot at the Smackdown Women's Title at the next Pay-Per-View.
Raw Tag Team Titles - Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows
The unlikely duo of Sheamus and Cesaro came together in the Summer of 2016 when Raw General Manager at the time, Mick Foley, ordered them to team up when their best of seven series ended in a draw. Though they hated each other at first, they bonded during a bar fight and ended The New Day's record-breaking Tag Team Title reign. The former Bullet Club members Anderson and Gallows and their pal AJ Styles were drafted to separate brands in 2016. However, they found success on Raw. Due to a match with Sheamus and Cesaro weeks earlier that ended in controversy, involving two referees, two referees were assigned to this match. This time around, the Good Brothers became the new Raw Tag Team Champions.
Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
In my opinion, Sasha Banks was booked horribly in 2016 and 2017. After trading the Raw Women's Championship back and forth with Charlotte in a short period of time, it diminished the value of the Title. Banks won her Titles on non-PPV times, while Charlotte had a Pay-Per-View winning streak that WWE wanted preserved. My preferred scenario going into the "Road To WrestleMania" would have been a heel Sasha being chased by Bayley as the challenger. After losing the Title to Charlotte in the first ever women's Hell In a Cell match, Sasha got into a feud with Nia Jax. Since Nia's arrival on Raw, she ran roughshod over the women's division. Sasha was in for a heck of a night against the much larger Jax. Nia Jax dominated this match and won decisively.
MAIN CARD
Raw Women's Title - Charlotte vs. Bayley
After a long program with Sasha Banks, Charlotte was ready for a new challenger. This time, it was in the form of Bayley, the ultimate underdog. Though many assumed the outcome based on Charlotte's streak, it was a great match. While Charlotte had the size advantage and a Championship pedigree, you can never count Bayley out. Bayley gave it her all but in the end, the Queen reigned supreme. After brutally delivering Natural Selection to Bayley on the apron, it was all over for the girl that was all about the "Hug Life."
Universal Title No Disqualification Match - Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns
After Finn Balor's 24-hour reign as the first Universal Champion, he relinquished the Title due to injury. Not long after, Kevin Owens became the new Champion, with a little help from Triple H. At the same time, Owens gained a new best friend in Chris Jericho. With help from his best bud, Jericho defeated Roman Reigns for the US Title. Jericho was always around to interfere in Kevin's matches and did so during Owen's Title defense against Reigns at TLC. Because of this, Jericho was forced to be locked inside a shark cage hanging from the ceiling. However, it was a No Disqualification Match! It looked like Owens' days as Universal Champion were numbered as Reigns was closing in on a victory. Out of nowhere, Braun Strowman appeared and attacked Reigns. After the "Monster Among Men" drove Reigns through a table with a power slam in the corner of the ring, Owens capitalized and retained the Universal Title. Jericho was then let out of his shark cage and celebrated with Owens. Unrelated, this would not be the last time we'd see a shark cage involved in a WWE match in 2017.
Cruiserweight Title - Rich Swann vs. Neville
In the Fall of 2016, WWE created a 32-man tournament called the Cruiserweight Classic, containing the best Cruiserweights around the world. The winner's prize was huge, as that man would become the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Since it's inception, the Title went from TJ Perkins to The Brian Kendrick, to the charismatic Rich Swann. After Swann's win, a friendly face Neville returned from injury to seemingly congratulate his friend Swann. Neville turned on Swann and viciously attacked him. Neville angrily stated that he was neglected during the Cruiserweight Classic and said he should be the Cruiserweight Champion, staking his claim for the Title. In the closing moments of a very entertaining bout, Neville forced Swann to submit. Not only did he become the new Cruiserweight Champion, he declared himself "King of the Cruiserweights!"
WWE Title - AJ Styles vs. John Cena
AJ Styles had an incredible 2016. He debuted in a huge way at that year's Royal Rumble, wrestled Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, defeated John Cena, and won the WWE Title all by September, finishing out the year as Champion. With AJ having more wins over Cena than the other way around, many could claim AJ was on top of his game and ready to #beatupJohnCena! The other story was about John Cena's desire to tie Ric Flair's 16 World Championship record, as he was one Title reign away. AJ Styles is simply phenomenal and there's a reason why Cena has been nicknamed "Big Match John." Both gave their all in an incredible match but in the end, Cena rose to the occasion to become Champion for the 16th time. While the match was very good, I wasn't exactly fond of Cena tying such a record. Although, one could argue that Flair had more reigns, depending on research but 16 was WWE's mythical goal. In another blog, I mentioned that in my opinion, any "World Title" reign in WWE that wasn't the WWE Title, didn't count as a World Title reign. That would make Cena's real number 13. Another point I made was that Cena had all those runs in half the time of Flair's career, mainly because for most of Cena's career, there was more than one World Title in the company. I could go on and on about the semantics and my opinions but at the end of the day, I can't say anything bad about the actual match, as both men proved why they belong in the main event.
Royal Rumble Match
This Royal Rumble match, although not perfect, was miles ahead of the previous few. It was entertaining, there were some surprises, and big names were involved, setting up a few WrestleMania matches. There was only one thing that I didn't like, though it was more a general wondering of why we got the winner we did. It was just an odd choice but not exactly a bad choice necessarily. I'll get to that later! The first two entrants in this year's Rumble were Big Cass and Chris Jericho, respectively. The first surprise of the night came at number five in the form of Jack Gallagher. In what many call his "Mary Poppins" moment, "The Extraordinary Gentleman" floated from the top rope into the ring with his trusty umbrella, William the third!
The ring started to fill up once again with more superstars, such as Mark Henry, Dean Ambrose, and Baron Corbin. Corbin impressed many when he was able to eliminate Braun Strowman from the match. He then set his sights on Kofi Kingston! Yes folks, it's that time again! Kofi climbed to the top rope and then climbed even higher, to the very top of the ring post. With evil intentions, Corbin pushed Kofi off, with The New Day member almost getting impaled! Somehow, Kofi was able to use his legs to climb up and back into the ring. While not as impressive as other showings, Kofi escaping elimination is always fun. More superstars entered the chaos including The Miz, Sheamus, Rusev, and Apollo Crews. Bray Wyatt entered at number 21 and later found himself trying to keep peace in the Wyatt Family between members Randy Orton and Luke Harper. Since Orton's induction into the family, he and Harper didn't get along, and it was intensified when Erick Rowan went out with an injury. Despite Bray's efforts, Harper attacked both Orton and Wyatt himself, causing more divisiveness within the Wyatt Family.
Everyone waited with anticipation to see who number 30 would be. To the detriment of many, it ended up being Roman Reigns! Although I shared a collective groan with the fans, mine was for a different reason. For me, it wasn't because it was Roman Reigns. I disliked it because generally, wrestlers that already had their chance in World Title matches on the card, would not be able to enter the Rumble. However, since several have done it anyway in the last third of the Rumble's history, I guess it doesn't matter! Reigns eliminated the Undertaker, setting up their match at WrestleMania. The final four were Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and Roman Reigns. Reigns eliminated Jericho and Wyatt and targeted Orton next with a spear. Orton countered with a devastating RKO and eliminated Reigns to win his second Royal Rumble match.
With Cena having won the WWE Title earlier in the night, fans were not exactly delighted with the prospect of yet another Cena/Orton match. I just thought Orton winning was odd! It became a little more clear when Bray Wyatt won the WWE Title in the Elimination Chamber, however! Unfortunately, their match at WrestleMania disappointed and were overshadowed by the Universal Title match between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar anyway! Even so, the Rumble match was entertaining. We had confrontations such as Goldberg face to face with the Undertaker, Jack Gallagher's "Mary Poppins" moment, and the "Perfect 10" entrant! John Cena secured his 16th World Title in a hell of a match with AJ Styles, Charlotte's apron Natural Selection made everyone cringe, and Neville became the "King of the Cruiserweights." It was a solid event overall with very minor complaints. Now this Sunday we have the 2018 Royal Rumble, featuring both men's and women's Rumble matches, respectively. The Royal Rumble is always exciting and I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on the first 30. Stay tuned for my Royal Rumble predictions and my reviews of the events during Royal Rumble weekend, including NXT Takeover: Philadelphia.
If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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