The principle occasion scene on the lads’s facet simply acquired a complete lot extra crowded after WWE’s beautiful Jey Uso resolution.
Uso eliminating John Cena to win the lads’s Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday in concept secures him a foremost occasion spot at WrestleMania 41. However it additionally means both he, Roman Reigns, Cena or CM Punk may very well be out of a coveted foremost occasion spot of the two-night occasion.
How that shakes out might be determined quickly, however for now, we all know Uso, girls’s Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Aptitude and Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes are heading to Las Vegas after an excellent table-setting night time for WWE.
Listed below are 4 takeaways from the Royal Rumble:
He’s the One
WWE quietly set it up and we didn’t see it coming.
Hidden beneath all the celebs within the males’s Royal Rumble was the story to arrange the long-overdue ascension of former Intercontinental champion Jey Uso to true foremost eventer after he misplaced to world heavyweight champion Gunther for a 3rd time at “Saturday Night time’s Primary Occasion” per week earlier.
Uso eliminating Cena provides him the proper WrestleMania story for a pop that might rival a few of the loudest we’ve heard. His win exhibits WWE is rewarding Uso’s unquestionable reference to its viewers, his work ethic and merch gross sales.
The shock on Cena’s face as he hit the ground was completely priceless and he introduced he might be within the Elimination Chamber within the post-show press convention. So it leaves the potential for Cena going for a report seventeenth world championship in opposition to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania alive.
The occasions that occurred between the proper ultimate six individuals of Uso, Cena, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Logan Paul and Seth Rollins have been so wealthy with tales.
Reigns and Rollins’ longstanding hatred for each other induced them to work collectively for a short while to clear the ring and their concentrate on beating one another up led to them getting eradicated by CM Punk. Punk was then shortly eradicated by Paul.
It led to Rollins going ballistic as he and Punk brawled on the skin. Rollins additionally delivered a brutal-looking stomp to Reigns on the ground after which on the metal steps. It leaves loads of paths for a way these three males’s WrestleMania journeys performs out.
The match was a little bit in need of surprises, however wanted much less with the quantity of star energy. A.J. Types, who has been out since October with a Lisfranc damage returned at No. 21, and TNA world champion Joe Hendry took half in his first Royal Rumble at No. 15 and acquired to work together with Reigns.
YouTuber and rapper IShowSpeed changed Tozawa — who was taken out by an eradicated Carmelo Hayes. Pace helped Bron Breakker eradicate Otis earlier than consuming a monster spear from the Intercontinental champion and getting eradicated.
The match was a robust night time for Breaker and Jacob Fatu, who was eradicated by Braun Strowman to possible advance their feud. There was a robust lucha really feel early with Rey Mysterio and Penta beginning at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, with Santos Escobar and Andrade additionally each being early entrants. We additionally acquired a cool second with simply Reigns and Fatu within the ring and Cena, Punk and Reigns collectively at one level.
Return to Glory
There was no messing round when it got here to Charlotte Aptitude’s anticipated and proper girls’s Royal Rumble win. The 14-time girls’s world champion was again in WWE for the primary time in additional than a 12 months after struggling a critical knee damage. She can be again the place she belongs within the WrestleMania 41 foremost occasion — possible within the extremely anticipated match with girls’s World champion Tiffany Stratton.
The Queen entered at No. 27 and soaked within the loud crowd response with a gradual stroll to the ring. She acquired off to a scorching begin, even reversing a stalling double suplex from former TNA star and latest WWE signee Jordynne Grace and Stephane Vaquer right into a double DDT.
The Queen, Nikki Bella, Nia Jax and Roxanne Perez have been the ultimate 4 girls within the match, mixture of current, previous and future. Jax knocked Bella to the skin and Aptitude eradicated Jax. Aptitude then hit an enormous boot to ship Perez to the ground to win the match. The NXT star, who ought to be on the principle roster quickly sufficient, now holds the report for the longest time in a girls’s Royal Rumble match at greater than 67 minutes after beginning at No. 3.
The largest shock was Alexa Bliss, wearing her gear from her time with Bray Wyatt with “F(r)iend 4 Ever” on the again and creepy doll Lilly, making her return since leaving WWE in January of 2023 to have a child with husband Ryan Cabrera. It acquired the most important response of the night time in what was a reasonably ho-hum and uneventful match to that time.
Bliss’ run felt fairly quick, however might not less than result in one thing as she was eradicated by a mixture of Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
Trish Stratus was additionally again together with Bella’s return after three years.
There have been a couple of essential story notes that performed out, however you may make the case with out offering a real Royal Rumble second.
NXT Ladies’s champion Giuila’s elimination of Grace might have implications. Ivy Nile eliminating Lyra Valkyria performs into the Intercontinental championship scene and Piper Niven eliminating Chelsea Inexperienced accidentally ought to elevate the warmth between the 2 companions.
Probably the most head-scratching second got here late within the match with about 15 girls within the ring on the similar time and Jax simply pushed a pile of our bodies hanging on the ropes to eradicate 5 folks directly, together with unceremonious exits for Bianca Beliar, Naomi and Iyo Sky.
Dwelling on the Edge
Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens put their our bodies on the road and introduced the extent of violence wanted to complete off their trilogy round their shattered friendship.
Given what Owens put him via, this may increasingly not have been an enormous step ahead in Rhodes’ gradual potential heel flip. However it did enable him to make good on exhibiting he’s prepared to go to all lengths, even maiming a former buddy to maintain the Undisputed WWE championship.
These two took some loopy ladder bumps to take action. Owens took a again bodydrop onto a ladder sitting up on its facet within the ring. The Prize Fighter, who bled later within the match, delivered an avalanche fisherman’s buster to Rhodes onto a ladder propped up by the center rope and one other ladder. That introduced Sami Zayn out to test on each of his mates.
The end noticed Rhodes counter Owens’ try at a bundle piledriver on the announce desk right into a viscous Alabama slam just about via a ladder sitting up between the ring and the announce desk. It put Owens out for good as Rhodes climbed the ladder to retain.
WWE gave a improbable digicam shot of Rhodes — not caring one bit about Owens’ well-being as Zayn held his bloody buddy in his arms. Owens will nonetheless possible blame Zayn, who performed a smaller position than anticipated the entire night time, for the loss. It took lower than a 12 months for Rhodes to probably alienate two of his greatest allies on the previous two WrestleManias.
New Perspective
The Road Income re-announced themselves to the SmackDown tag division with a imply streak whereas serving to DIY retain the WWE tag workforce championships. This was their revenge after being attacked backstage on the Dec. 6 SmackDown.
Motor Metropolis Machine Weapons gave the impression to be on the point of win the match with their Cranium and Bones finisher, however Angelo Dawkins, wearing a black hoodie, struck Alex Shelley within the again with a crutch whereas Montez Ford distracted the referee. It opened the door for DIY, who the Income additionally attacked with the crutch after the match, to win.
This was the imply streak we wished to see from Ford and Dawkins once they paired with Bobby Lashley. They should push the envelope with it even additional and perhaps we get a deadly four-way for the titles with DIY, MCMG, The Road Income and Fairly Lethal.
This match opened with what felt like two lightning fast falls. Alex Shelley thought Johnny Gargano had legally tagged, nevertheless it opened the door for Tommaso Ciampa to hit his leaping knee to the face and pinning for the primary fall. MCMG then picked up the tempo of the match and shortly after delivered their Cranium and Bones finisher to Gargano to issues up.
Whereas it was a step ahead for the WWE to let its males’s tag workforce championships on a Premium Reside Occasion, making an attempt to jam a two-out-of-three falls match on this present was pointless as there actually isn’t sufficient time to allow them to prepare dinner.
Greatest Winner: Jey Uso
Greatest Loser: Sami Zayn
Finest Match: Males’s Royal Rumble
Predictions: 3-1
Grade: A-