As expected, the Universal Championship will be on the line in a triple threat match at the Royal Rumble.
After Braun Strowman and Kane went to a double countout in the main event of Raw last Monday, Kurt Angle opened this week’s show and said he would be determining Brock Lesnar’s match for the Rumble by the end of the night. He was then interrupted by Strowman, who wanted to face Lesnar after standing tall in his post-match brawl with Kane last week. That brought out Kane and eventually Lesnar and Paul Heyman, and Angle announced that it would be Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane at next month’s pay-per-view.
Following the announcement, Lesnar clotheslined Strowman over the top rope and gave Kane an F5, but Kane sat up as Lesnar was walking up the ramp.
Dave Meltzer had reported that Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane was WWE’s plan for the Royal Rumble on last week’s post-Raw edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. Aside from the Royal Rumble match, the triple threat is the first thing officially confirmed for the January 28th PPV.
WWE officially begins the build to WrestleMania tonight with the 2017 Royal Rumble taking place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match as well as the same for last night’s NXT show to [email protected]
This year’s Rumble match features one of the most star-studded fields in recent memory, including Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker.
In addition to the Rumble, both Raw and SmackDown’s top titles will be on the line. AJ Styles will defend his WWE Championship against John Cena, while Roman Reigns will challenge Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. Owens vs. Reigns will be a no disqualification match, with Chris Jericho also suspended above the ring in a shark cage.
Raw’s other titles will be up for grabs as well. Charlotte Flair will defend her Women’s Championship against Bayley, Neville will face off with Rich Swann for the Cruiserweight Championship, and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson will challenge Cesaro & Sheamus for their tag titles on the pre-show.
Our coverage of all of that and more begins with the pre-show before the main card kicks off at 7 p.m. ET.
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BECKY LYNCH & NIKKI BELLA & NAOMI VS. ALEXA BLISS & NATALYA & MICKIE JAMES
Good match that served a clean purpose. Nikki took out Natalya and Lynch took out James after Naomi made the hot tag and Naomi pinned Bliss after a split legged moounsault, so Naomi will be the new challenger for Bliss’ title for now. Most of the match was heat on Lynch.
CESARO & SHEAMUS VS. LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON FOR RAW TAG TITLES WITH TWO REFEREES
Gallows & Anderson won the titles. Sheamus took out one ref (John Cone) with the Brogue kick. Cesaro had the sharpshooter on Anderson but Gallows broke it up. Anderson & Gallows used the Magic killer on Sheamus.. Cesaro clotheslined Gallows over the top rope and then Anderson used a schoolboy on Cesaro and used the trunks for the pin. This was a good match as well and the crowd got into it pretty well.
NIA JAX VS. SASHA BANKS
This was pretty much booked like a squash match. Jax powered out of the bank statement like it was nothing. Jax took out Bank’s left knee and also kicked out of double knees. Jax then got the pin after a Samoan drop. This was not good at all. I mean, nothing terrible about it, just it was short and was flat.
They announced 52,020 as the attendance. We don’t have a real number yet.
CHARLOTTE VS. BAYLEY FOR WOMEN’S TITLE
The match was good but ended suddenly. Charlotte used Natural Selection on the apron and got the clean pin. There were a few near falls. Charlotte got her mouth busted up from a jumping downward spiral by Bayley. Bayley did a plancha and also did an elbow off the top for a near fall. Charlotte worked over the left leg to set up a figure four spot as well. The crowd was pretty hot for the match.
KEVIN OWENS VS. ROMAN REIGNS FOR THE UNIVERSAL TITLE IN A NO DQ MATCH WITH CHRIS JERICHO IN THE SHARK CAGE
That was an amazing. Owens retained the title when Reigns had the match won after giving him a power bomb through the American announcers table. He was ready to win when Braun Strowman threw Reigns into the post, choke slammed him on the German table, which didn’t break and then powerslammed Reigns into a table set up in the corner of the ring and Owens rolled over and pinned him. This was a very physical match. Reigns was cut from the bridge of he nose and Owens was cut over the left eye. At one point Reigns gave Owens a Superman punch knocking him off the ropes and he fell backwards onto seven chairs set up earlier in the match. Owens also did a frog splash off the top rope flying onto Reigns through a table on the floor. Jericho dropped Knux from the shark cage and Owens used them with a Superman punch for a near fall. So Reigns vs. Strowman looks likely for Fast Lane. And Reigns may screw Strowman later in the Rumble tonight.
RICH SWANN VS. NEVILLE FOR CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE
Neville won the title clean with a superplex off the top rope and the crossface submission. They had a hard time following he previous match even though they gave them a long break between matches. Very good match. Strong athleticism and timing. They did one big spot which was Swann doing a Phoenix splash off the middle rope outside the ring. This wasn’t as good as a lot of the bouts in the cruiserweight tournament, they still haven’t hit that level since the tourney.
We have two hours and 20 minutes left for two matches.
A.J. STYLES VS. JOHN CENA FOR THE WWE TITLE
Super match. They went 24:00 and this was clearly their attempt to do the match of the year. The finish saw Styles hit a second Styles clash but was selling so didn’t get the pin. He went for a springboard move but Cena got him on his shoulders and used an Attitude Adjustment and then rolled over and hit second one for the clean pin to tie the supposed Ric Flair record. The match was basically them doing every move in the world and kicking out. Styles kicked out of the first AA early and a second one off the middle rope. Styles used the forearm, the Styles clash, with Cena kicking out. Cena also did a Big ending, Styles used the calf crusher, Cena used the figure four. Cena of course did the STF as did Styles. With this match and the Owens-Reigns match it’s been a long time since WWE has had a show with two matches of this quality.
They announced that on Raw, Stephanie would confront Seth Rollins. I sure hope that doesn’t mean no Rollins angle on the show.
We have time for the longest Rumble in history.
ROYAL RUMBLE
Enzo is doing a super long promo before the Rumble since Cass is the first guy out. They put over that everything is bigger in Texas. Enzo is mentioning all the big guys in the Rumble, names he mentioned were Strowman, Undertaker, Lesnar, Goldberg, Show and Wyatt Family. Chris Jericho is No. 2.
Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble with an RKO and throwing out Roman Reigns.
This was one of the better Rumbles ever with lots of storylines, built around the key people. Final four were Orton, Reigns (No. 30 in), Wyatt and Jericho. Reigns used a Superman punch to knock Jericho out. Reigns threw Wyatt over the top leaving Reigns and Orton. The last three eliminations took about a minute.
Some notes:
1) No surprises at all as far as names from the past or debuting guys except for Tye Dillinger, who did come in at No. 10. It felt like it was just to placate fans as opposed to him debuting but no way to know. The crowd was more upset when he was eliminated than almost anyone. Fans were chanting for him once No. 9 came out,.
2) Braun Strowman destroyed everyone for a while until Baron Corbin threw him out. He dumped Show and Mark Henry
3) Cesaro was giving everyone giant swings for a while.
4) Jericho started No. 2, went just over one hour, but was knocked out by Big Show and sold on the floor for a long time. He also hit on the floor.
5) Rusev was wearing a noseguard so he must have broken his nose on Monday.
6) Nothing with Reigns getting revenge on Strowman and nothing with Lawler and Ziggler. Ziggler was just a guy
7) Luke Harper may have turned face as he attacked Wyatt & Orton.
8) Lesnar came in and destroyed everyone until Goldberg threw him out. He threw a few guys out, gave a bunch of suplexes and F5s including to Orton
9) Goldberg and Undertaker came face to face before people attacked them. Goldberg speared Undertaker but Undertaker came back to eliminate him.
10) Reigns was No. 30 in as a surprise and interacted with Undertaker including eliminating Taker. The crowd hated Reigns all night. Crowd chanted “bullsh*t” when Reigns eliminated Undertaker.
The Royal Rumble is probably my favorite WWE major event of the year. While WrestleMania has a lot of pomp and circumstance, the Royal Rumble is essentially a pro wrestling buffet that provides the casual fan with a primer of who to care about as the company heads into WrestleMania season.
However, the Rumble is a 60-minute marathon match that can sometimes fail to accomplish what it needs to. In the interest of providing a handy primer on the match’s good and bad, I’ve re-watched all 29 previous matches. The best Rumble matches have effective storytelling, few flat spots, and really don’t seem like they’re an hour long. The worst Rumble matches feature a bunch of guys standing around in the ring, clinging onto the ropes ineffectively while waiting for their turn to get thrown out.
If you’re looking to get your feet wet heading into tonight, here is a list of which Rumbles to watch and which to avoid. I’ve ranked all of the 29 previous matches from best to worst.
#1 — 1992
This is the cream of the crop. For months, Ric Flair (newly arrived from WCW) proclaimed himself the “Real World’s Champion.” After Flair got involved in a pair of title matches with Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker, WWF president Jack Tunney held up the title and ruled that the winner of the Royal Rumble would be undisputed champion.
With his advisor Bobby Heenan on commentary with Gorilla Monsoon, Flair entered third in the Rumble. What followed was a 60-minute classic, with Flair’s in-ring exploits perfectly accentuated by Heenan freaking out on commentary over how impressive the opposition was as they tried to eliminate Flair.
#2 — 2004
It’s definitely uncomfortable to watch at times given what followed, but the 2004 Rumble perfected the much-repeated trope of “babyface star is given early spot in the Rumble as punishment but overcomes obstacles anyway.”
In this case, SmackDown general manager Paul Heyman made Chris Benoit the first entrant in the Rumble only to see him go coast to coast. And unlike other examples of the trope, Benoit didn’t get removed from the match for large amounts of time and instead factored into the action for the entirety of the match.
2004 also gets bonus points for setting up a lot of WrestleMania matches through in-match angles that didn’t detract from the flow of things.
#3 — 1997
The most recent Rumble to take place in the Alamodome, the match is really helped by the crowd reactions and the sheer scale of the event. This was the event that saw Steve Austin emerge from the mid-card and become a major player.
He came in at number five and won by sneaking back in after being eliminated when the referees were distracted by Terry Funk brawling with Mankind on the outside. The structure of the match built off previous feuds Austin had with basically half of the roster and the disputed finish opened up a lot of stories for the rest of the year.
#4 — 2011
The 2011 Rumble is one of the best for a couple key reasons. First, it improves on the previous year’s performance from CM Punk — he anchored the 2010 Rumble’s early bits doing Straight Edge sermons and 2011’s first half featured the New Nexus helping Punk eliminate everyone.
Second, the latter half of the Rumble featured some great John Cena babyface Superman spots and subtly set up that summer’s feud between Cena and Punk. Oddly, considering the match featured 40 entrants, it had little filler — no announcers and few legends — and featured a nice mix between big stars and mid-card cannon fodder.
#5 — 2001
The 2001 match avoids a few issues other Rumbles have experienced with dragging by mixing things up with smoke, mirrors, and plunder. Drew Carey appeared and met Kane before running away (in one of multiple instances of a wimpy babyface facing off against monsters).
The middle of the match featured the guys from the hardcore division taking advantage of the no disqualification rule by bringing weapons in. And Kane established himself as a dominant force by tossing out most of the mid-card filler guys, only to be thrown out by a steel chair-wielding Steve Austin — subtly foreshadowing his eventual heel turn at WrestleMania via his sheer desperation to win the match by hook or crook.
#6 — 2003
The 2003 match served as a great showcase for Chris Jericho, who lasted half the match and really holds things together before the established stars arrived near the end. The final minutes of the match featured one of the most star-studded mixtures of talent that the match has ever seen.
Future directions were set up throughout the match — both at the beginning and the end — and the announcing helped it overcome a few issues with match flow, particularly as the ring filled up midway through.
#7 — 1994
I’m biased as a Canadian, but the 1994 Rumble is fun despite its rough spots. Diesel comes in and dominates guys before Shawn Michaels accidentally leads to his elimination. Bret Hart enters the match after getting his “leg kicked out of his leg” earlier in the night by his brother Owen, then sells the leg until the very end.
It’s odd that the company undercuts its own “the one guy that wins gets a title shot” stipulation one year into it, but the match sets the table for a great WrestleMania so it’s hard to criticize too much.
#8 — 1993
The only successful example of a gigantic human being (Yokozuna) winning the Rumble by simply being gigantic and getting a late number, the 1993 Rumble also saw a bunch of fun depth performances by guys like Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, and Bob Backlund.
Yokozuna’s dominance became part of continuity, with everyone swarming physically big entrants from then on to ensure they couldn’t achieve victory. The odd ending spot detracts a little bit, as Randy Savage tried to pin Yokozuna in a battle royal and got pressed over the top rope as Yokozuna kicked out of said pin.
#9 — 2007
The 2007 edition of the bout featured a surprisingly good supporting cast, which allowed for a lot of different things to happen during the match to keep things interesting. The final four featured a bunch of stars and good action, and the lengthy Undertaker/Shawn Michaels final sequences were excellent.
#10 — 2000
One of the more fun matches in terms of having a lot of flow to it, the 2000 Rumble was anchored by a lengthy fun sequence featuring Rikishi dominating before finally getting tossed out a third of the way through the match.
It suffers a bit from not having a single continuous storyline to anchor things, but the final stretch with The Rock overcoming Big Show (but not really) was fun to watch and kicked off a bunch of storylines.
#11 — 1989
Another fun Rumble, though one without much star power at the end. Demolition open the Rumble fighting each other. Andre the Giant comes in and dominates, then runs away because he’s afraid of Jake Roberts’ snake.
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage team up, but miscommunication leads to Hogan eliminating Savage (on the road to the Mega Powers exploding) and Hogan getting tossed out by the Twin Towers.
#12 — 2010
The good of 2010 involved a lengthy opening sequence with a Straight Edge Society-era CM Punk delivering sermons and trying to convert each entrant to his lifestyle. The match also had a great ending sequence and lots of star power.
Unfortunately, the middle of the match featured a lot of clutter in the ring as mid-card entrants came in and hung out until the stars entered to throw them all out.
#13 — 2009
This match was the only time where a stable has been able to successfully help its leader to win it all. The final chunk of the match, featuring Randy Orton’s Legacy stable against everyone else, was excellent. However, the match dragged a bit until all of the Legacy members entered and things started snapping into place.
#14 — 2008
Marred by too many announcers and some match flow issues — notably where literally everyone in the match stopped what they’re doing to watch Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka fight each other — 2008 also had a great opening sequence with Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and a fun ending sequence that made Triple H and John Cena look like beasts.
Unfortunately, the middle section of the match really drags.
#15 — 2006
The 2006 match wasn’t terrible, but it felt like a retread. It recycled much of the match structure of the 2004 bout — featuring Rey Mysterio going the distance rather than Chris Benoit — but did so in a much more disjointed and clunky way.
It also recycled the exact same sequence featuring Jonathan Coachman (as a serious Rumble entrant) attacking babyfaces from behind and then cowering in fear.
#16 — 2005
2005 was not great, despite featuring a lot of fun sequences. It just featured way too many instances of the match being sidelined for dumb reasons, including everyone beating on Daniel Puder, Muhammad Hassan, and Jonathan Coachman, and the West Side Rumble sequence which really strained believability.
#17 — 1990
The 1990 Rumble featured the good and bad of early ’90s WWF. On one hand, it’s pretty star-studded and had a fun sequence that involved Hulk Hogan accidentally knocking the Ultimate Warrior out of the ring. It featured an always-fun spot where several wrestlers went after Earthquake and tossed him out.
But there’s no real flow or storyline to the match and, at times, it had a whole lot of guys hanging out in the ring trying to figure out what they’re going to do next.
#18 — 2014
Otherwise known as the last in-ring appearance of CM Punk to date, the 2014 Rumble was anchored by a really lengthy performance by Punk and a crowd that really stopped caring once he got tossed out.
Even when you ignore the crowd’s disapproval of this match — particularly when it became clear that Daniel Bryan wouldn’t be in it — there really wasn’t much structure or storytelling within it.
#19 — 1991
1991 was arguably the most bland Rumble they’ve ever done. Clocking in at 65 minutes, it featured a fairly star-studded roster that weren’t given anything interesting to do. The middle portion of the match involved the ring filling up with guys waiting for Hulk Hogan to come in to eliminate them, rather than advancing many storylines for the rest of the roster.
#20 — 1998
1998 was easily the match with the weakest and thinnest roster. One wrestler no-showed (in storyline) and Mick Foley got three spots in the match (appearing as Cactus Jack, Dude Love, and Mankind), so this match only featured 27 actual entrants.
Coming at the height of Steve Austin’s popularity meant that the crowd was hot, but was really anxious to see Austin and tended to tune out until he showed up at #24. The ending segments were quite fun, but the match took forever to get itself into gear.
#21 — 2013
The 2013 Rumble was weird. One of the few Rumbles to go second from the top rather than be presented as the main event, this year’s Rumble was presented as somewhat an afterthought compared to the night’s CM Punk vs. The Rock main event.
The crowd seemed to treat the thing as something they had to sit through to get to see The Rock, and the match itself didn’t help by being rather clunky and disjointed.
#22 — 1988
The original Rumble was fine. It got the concept over by having a healthy mixture of tag team wrestlers and midcarders, but it was very punchy/kicky and doesn’t really do much storytelling beyond “Wow, look at how many guys are in the match!”
It doesn’t help that Don Muraco and Nikolai Volkoff got confused by the concept and both came out at the same time when the buzzer went off midway through the bout.
#23 — 2016
The 2016 match took the 1999 Rumble storyline — Mr. McMahon trying to prevent a certain guy from winning — and made a few tinkers that ended up making it a little bit better overall.
This match had more star power and a better structure than the 1999 edition (with AJ Styles’ debut energizing the first half and a lengthy sequence with the Wyatt Family anchoring the second half), but the Roman Reigns storyline itself was clumsily handled. After having so many guys to bell-to-bell in the Rumble without leaving the ring in the recent past, Reigns’ disappearing act felt like a cop-out.
#24 — 2002
The 2002 match was really long, and unnecessarily so. The match featured an interesting roster of pretty big stars, including a returning Mr. Perfect, but there wasn’t a lot of flow to it. Worst of all, the lengthy ending sequences involving Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Perfect took forever to finish up and killed a lot of the emotion and momentum of the match.
#25 — 2015
The 2015 Rumble is structured oddly. A year after the crowd turned on the 2014 Rumble because Daniel Bryan wasn’t in it, he was tossed midway through the match and the crowd turned on it again.
The match is anchored by multiple eliminations by Rusev (a heel) and Bray Wyatt (also a heel), who dominate the Rumble until Big Show (a heel), Kane (a heel), and Roman Reigns (who is booed louder than most heels) come in and take over the match in the home-stretch.
As you would expect, the fans didn’t like this match at all. The storytelling was clunky, and while it’s not difficult to see what they were trying to accomplish by having Reigns overcome all the big monsters, the crowd wasn’t having any of it and it utterly killed the match.
#26 — 1999
On paper, Steve Austin and Vince McMahon fighting for the whole match sounded good, but the reality involved Austin being absent for a giant chunk and the crowd getting restless.
This match features multiple instances of a potential title shot at WrestleMania being ignored in favor of silly storylines, most notably a few times where one wrestler was left alone in the ring and one situation where the ring was actually empty for a stretch as Austin fought McMahon on the concourse.
#27 — 1996
This year featured a flat crowd, very little energy or flow, and fans sitting on their hands until Shawn Michaels entered midway through.
#28 — 2012
Coming a year after the 2011 40-man Rumble, 2012 featured way more filler including Kharma, all three announcers, Mick Foley, and Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer. As you would expect, it was not a good match.
#29 — 1995
The 60-second intervals between entrants really hurt the match, as everything was rushed and very little got time to breathe. It also showcased the WWF’s shocking lack of depth in that time, as the biggest crowd reactions were for Bret Hart twice running out to attack people (first Owen Hart and later Bob Backlund).
This weekend is a big one. Not only do we have the Royal Rumble, we also have NXT TakeOver: San Antonio and two EVOLVE shows. We asked our staff this past week what match, event, or moment they are looking forward to the most. Not surprisingly — the Royal Rumble match dominated most of their thoughts.
Here’s what they had to say —
Bryan Rose: I think that I am looking forward to the Royal Rumble match itself the most. Unlike other WWE stipulation matches, this match only happens once a year, and it’s on this show. It’s one of the few stipulations that haven’t been done to death, so there’s still a mystique to it.
Plus, with big names like The Undertaker and Goldberg, there could be some interesting developments and interactions. It’s the match where we get our first glimpse at what will go down at WrestleMania, so how can it not be one of the more interesting matches of the weekend?
James Cox: I’m absolutely looking forward to a Royal Rumble match where there is no clear winner going in. As long as whoever wins immediately strikes us as being logical with a coherent path through the next few months and into WrestleMania, we’ll all be happy.
Paul Fontaine: The Royal Rumble match is always one of my favorite times of the year, dating back to when I was a kid. The anticipation of who will be next. Speculation of who will win, who will eliminate the most guys, what surprises will there be?
WrestleMania may be “bigger” but personally the Rumble — and specifically the match itself — will always hold a special place for me.
Ryan Frederick: I’m most looking forward to the Royal Rumble match because for the first time in a long time, it’s really hard to figure out who is going to win.
While it’s always a fun match, as someone who has recently gone back and watched every Rumble match, the vast majority of them were predictable. The sheer unpredictability of who is going to win this year makes this one perhaps the most interesting Rumble match ever.
I also think both main title matches on Sunday will be good, and if they let Neville and Rich Swann have time to do something, that could end up being great.
Jeremy Peeples: This is the most interesting Rumble weekend in quite some time. The NXT card’s finish could show us a major NXT call-up the next night. The actual Rumble match has been built up with many dream match-style scenarios that have either historical significance now, or possibly later.
We’ve got a match where we could have Goldberg face The Undertaker briefly, and that alone conjures up thoughts of a decade ago where Taker and HBK went at it and made everyone want a one-on-one match — which delivered a classic two years later.
It’s doubtful that we’ll see a match of that quality with Goldberg against either Braun, Brock, or Taker — but the mind does race when you start thinking of the possibilities.
Joseph Currier: This year’s Royal Rumble match should be one of the most exciting in recent memory, but there will be very few things in the industry this year that excite me more than Chris Hero’s final independent wrestling match at EVOLVE 77.
Hero is arguably the most prolific indie wrestler of this era. That can sometimes be a backhanded compliment with it meaning that someone didn’t spend much time in bigger companies, but Hero has defined indie wrestling for a large part of the last two decades. He returned to the indies three years ago after a stint in WWE developmental to become perhaps the best wrestler in the world and has put on so many incredible matches since.
Now he’s heading back to NXT as Kassius Ohno, but Chris Hero will have one final match on Saturday as he takes on Zack Sabre Jr. The two always have excellent chemistry together. Their match in EVOLVE during WrestleMania weekend last year was a borderline contender for my Match of the Year in the Observer Awards. This should be extra special with Sabre looking to take over as the top unsigned star in the world.
It’s a match that everyone should check out just for the significance of the moment, but I fully expect it to deliver in the ring as well.
Who ends up winning the Royal Rumble?
Bryan Rose: Even though I voted for him as Most Overrated in the Observer Awards, I think Baron Corbin is going to take this. They’re very high on him, and with other people in key spots I think he could be someone who could get a title match at WrestleMania, especially if John Cena wins the title on Sunday.
James Cox: I expect Lesnar and Goldberg will eliminate each other with no regard for winning the thing because they want a piece of each other. I don’t like Undertaker winning, because he then has to win the title at WrestleMania (and presumably drop it the next night) otherwise he loses twice at Mania.
Undertaker doesn’t need to win the Rumble to book himself in a big match. I think the winner should create a new storyline thread altogether, so I would say it’s more likely to be Corbin, Rollins, Orton, Balor, or Samoa Joe — someone who can take it in a fresh direction. I pick Randy Orton.
Paul Fontaine: I like Goldberg to win the Rumble and then go on to challenge Brock for the title at Mania after he beats Kevin Owens at Fastlane.
Ryan Frederick: The Undertaker. When they brought him back to announce he was going to be in the match, I was against announcing it early. I thought if you had a situation where it was down to Goldberg, Lesnar, Strowman, and about six other guys in the ring with #30 still to come, and when that clock hit zero and out came Undertaker at 30, the building would have exploded.
However, him being announced has added more interest to the match, and the scene at the end of Raw was one of the best recent memories of the show.
Jeremy Peeples: The Undertaker would be my pick to win the Rumble. He probably shouldn’t be taking an over the top bump now anyway, and him winning the match opens the door to facing any champion he wants — which gives Vince plenty of time to waffle back and forth between now and Mania.
Taker going for one last shot at his holy grail would certainly help sell tickets, and if he faces AJ Styles, it should at least be a very good match.
Joseph Currier: I’ve fully expected The Undertaker to challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania for months now. It’s a match that feels like it has to happen on WWE’s biggest stage at some point and time is always running out to make it happen.
Dave Meltzer has reported that Undertaker is more likely to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania as of now. I’m all for that match happening, especially if it’s for the Universal Championship.
Undertaker winning is the most intriguing scenario and leaves the door open for the most possibilities. I’ll guess that wins out in the end and he walks out of the Alamodome as the Royal Rumble winner.
WWE is bringing the Royal Rumble back to Philadelphia next year.
Though much of this week’s focus is on Sunday’s show at the Alamodome, Philly.com broke the news on Thursday morning that the 2018 Royal Rumble will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event will be held on January 28th of next year.
In addition to the Rumble, the arena will also host three other WWE shows that week, with NXT TakeOver taking place on Saturday, Raw on Monday, and SmackDown on Tuesday. Holding four straight nights of shows in the same city is WWE’s plan for their “big four” pay-per-views going forward.
“WWE has enjoyed a very special relationship with the city and its fans over decades, and that important heritage made Philadelphia a very natural choice to host this unprecedented four-night celebration,” WWE’s executive vice president of special events John Saboor told Philly.com. “Our decision to place next year’s Royal Rumble celebration in Philadelphia is truly another exciting and important step in the continued growth of WWE’s four largest annual events.”
Philadelphia was last home to the Rumble in 2015, where the fans were vocal in their opposition of Roman Reigns’ win in the main event. The city has been in the running to host WrestleMania in recent years, but lost out to New Orleans for 2018’s event.
The SmackDown Women’s Championship won’t be defended at the Royal Rumble, but the show’s women’s division will still be represented on Sunday.
Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella & Naomi will face Mickie James, Natalya & Alexa Bliss in a six-woman tag team match at the Alamodome. The match was announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown.
It will be James’ first time wrestling on the main roster since returning to the company and being revealed as La Luchadora last week.
With the addition of the six-woman tag, the Royal Rumble will be a rare pay-per-view with three women’s matches. Charlotte Flair defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Bayley, along with Sasha Banks taking on Nia Jax are also scheduled for the show.
The updated card for the Royal Rumble is:
The Royal Rumble match
AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship against John Cena
Kevin Owens defending the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in a no DQ match with Chris Jericho suspended above the ring in a shark cage
Charlotte Flair defending the Raw Women’s Championship against Bayley
After the addition of Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson to the Royal Rumble kickoff show was announced earlier in the night, another match was added to Sunday’s pre-show on tonight’s episode of Raw.
Sasha Banks will face Nia Jax on the show as the Raw women’s division gets another match at the Alamodome. Bayley challenging Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women’s Championship is also scheduled for the Royal Rumble.
The match was announced after Banks stood tall over Jax as she attacked her with a crutch before hitting her with flying knees to the outside. The two have been programmed together in a storyline lately, including an angle where Jax attacked Banks before last week’s Raw went on the air.
With the two-hour kickoff show and expanded four-hour main card, the Royal Rumble lineup should at least mostly be rounded out on tomorrow’s SmackDown. If SmackDown adds a women’s match to the card, it will be a rare pay-per-view with more than two women’s division matches.
It was also announced on Raw that the Universal Championship match between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns on Sunday would now be a no disqualification match in addition to Chris Jericho being suspended above the ring in a shark cage.
The Raw Tag Team Championship will be on the line this coming Sunday, but only on the Royal Rumble pre-show.
It was announced on tonight’s episode of Raw that Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson would challenge Cesaro & Sheamus for their titles at the Alamodome as WWE presents its first pay-per-view of the year.
Playing off of the controversial finish from last week’s Raw where Gallows & Anderson appeared to have the titles won before it was announced that the champions had actually been disqualified, their match on Sunday will have the added stipulation of two referees calling the match.
The storyline between the two teams continued tonight as Gallows defeated Cesaro in a singles match after the distracted referee missed Gallows tapping out to the sharpshooter.
With the addition of the tag title match, the updated card for the Royal Rumble is:
The Royal Rumble match
AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship against John Cena
Kevin Owens defending the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns with Chris Jericho suspended above the ring in a shark cage
Charlotte Flair defending the Raw Women’s Championship against Bayley
Rich Swann defending the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Neville
Cesaro & Sheamus defending the Raw Tag Team Championship against Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (kickoff show match)
For the first time since turning heel and joining the division, Neville will be getting a shot at the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
It was announced at the end of tonight’s episode of 205 Live that Neville would challenge Rich Swann for the title at the Royal Rumble on January 29th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Following Swann’s win against Tony Nese in his first match back after being injured by Neville in their storyline, Swann accepted Neville’s challenge to a title match and told him to name the time and place. Neville responded that it would be happening at the biggest stage possible at the Rumble.
Tonight’s SmackDown also saw two additions to the upcoming Royal Rumble match, with Dean Ambrose and The Miz announcing that they would be entering it. Dolph Ziggler later announced on Talking Smack that he would be entering the match as well.
Before the Rumble takes place, Alexa Bliss will put her Women’s Championship on the line against Becky Lynch in a steel cage match on next week’s episode of SmackDown. That match was announced tonight after “La Luchadora’s” involvement in the Bliss vs. Lynch feud over the last few weeks led to the stipulation.
When it was announced that The Undertaker would be appearing on tonight’s Raw, it raised questions about what that meant for his place on the SmackDown roster.
But it turns out that The Undertaker can go wherever he wants in storyline. And he chose tonight to announce that he would be entering the 2017 Royal Rumble.
WWE played up that it was only rumored that Undertaker would be appearing on the show, with Stephanie McMahon putting pressure on Mick Foley to deliver the appearance or else potentially lose his job. When he appeared, Undertaker noted that he was in New Orleans where the streak was broken. He said that he’s dug 29 holes for 29 souls and would be bringing the dark side to the Royal Rumble match. He vowed to return to the main event of WrestleMania.
Next week will see more build to the Royal Rumble, with Brock Lesnar appearing in person on Raw for the first time since his Survivor Series loss against Goldberg.
The Royal Rumble will take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on January 29th. The current entrants in the Rumble match are:
