The WWE Championship match for the Royal Rumble was announced on the New Year’s Day edition of SmackDown.
AJ Styles won a number one contender’s fatal five-way match that aired in this week’s main event and will challenge for Daniel Bryan’s WWE title at the Royal Rumble. Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Mustafa Ali, and Samoa Joe were the other wrestlers in the fatal five-way.
The finishing sequence ended with Styles hitting a springboard 450 on Orton and pinning him.
Joe had defeated Jeff Hardy earlier in the show in a match where the stipulation was that the winner would get the last spot in the fatal five-way.
WWE also continued the storyline of Vince McMahon wanting to see the “real AJ Styles.” Last Tuesday’s SmackDown ended with an angle where Vince tried to get a reaction out of Styles. He slapped Styles in the face, then Styles punched Vince. On this week’s episode, Styles told Vince and Shane McMahon that he wasn’t going to apologize for last week. He said Vince intentionally provoked him, and they’ll see the real Styles tonight.
Shane asked Vince if he was sure he wanted to see the real Styles, and Vince replied by saying “absolutely.” Shane told him to be careful what he wishes for.
Royal Rumble 2019 is taking place at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on January 27. The men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches, Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Braun Strowman, and Buddy Murphy defending the Cruiserweight Championship in a fatal four-way match are also set for the pay-per-view.
A rematch of one of the best matches from 2016 appears to be in the plans for WrestleMania 34.
The build to WrestleMania officially began at tonight’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The men’s Rumble came down to a final four of Shinsuke Nakamura, Roman Reigns, John Cena, and Finn Balor. And after eliminating Reigns to win the match, Nakamura did an interview where he set his sights on a WrestleMania meeting with AJ Styles.
The storyline of the Rumble winners being able to pick which champion they’ll challenge at WrestleMania was set up earlier in the night.
The only time that Styles and Nakamura have faced off in a singles match was at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 10. It finished fourth in our Match of the Year voting. Styles wrote on Twitter following Nakamura’s win: “A match many thought they’d never seen on this continent…in this ring…for this title will be the MAIN EVENT of @WrestleMania. #StylesVsNakamura #YeahOh … this is going to be #Phenomenal.”
To open the main card of the Rumble PPV, Styles retained the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a handicap match. He pinned Owens, who wasn’t the legal man. Owens and Zayn complained to Shane McMahon after the match, but McMahon wasn’t sympathetic towards them.
There may be at least one more WWE Championship defense before WrestleMania, with SmackDown’s Fastlane show taking place in Columbus, Ohio on March 11th. The Nationwide Arena has been advertising Styles vs. Nakamura vs. Owens vs. Zayn vs. Randy Orton in a fatal five-way title match as the PPV’s main event, but that was before Nakamura won the Rumble.
The build to WrestleMania kicks into gear in Philadelphia tonight with two Royal Rumble matches.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, last night’s Takeover show, today’s New Beginnings in Sapporo and Saturday’s New Beginnings in Sapporo so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
In addition to the traditional men’s match, the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble will take place on this year’s pay-per-view. Both matches will have 30 entrants and major implications for WrestleMania, with the winners earning a title shot at WWE’s biggest show of the year.
Brock Lesnar will defend his Universal Championship against Braun Strowman and Kane in a triple threat match. There will also be two challengers for AJ Styles’ WWE Championship, but Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn will team up to face Styles in a handicap match.
Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan will put their Raw Tag Team titles on the line against Cesaro & Sheamus. And on the SmackDown side, The Usos defend their titles against Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin in a two-out-of-three falls match.
On the two-hour pre-show, Bobby Roode is scheduled to issue an open challenge, The Revival take on Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, and Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado team against Drew Gulak, TJP & Jack Gallagher.
Our coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.
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KALISTO & GRAN METALIK & LINCE DORADO VS. DREW GULAK & JACK GALLAGHER & TJP
This was a surprisingly slow-paced but well worked match. The story was that TJP tagged himself in when Gulak was in, then went for a rolling reverse cradle using the trunks on Kalisto, but he reversed into a Salida del Sol for the pin. So once again TJP’s partners were mad at him. The faces all did moonsaults off the same corner to the floor at the same time and Metalik did a flip dive. Aside from that it was basic stuff and Gulak got mad at Gallagher once for going to the middle rope.
LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON VS. THE REVIVAL
This was the 50-50 booking ending when Dash gave Anderson a chop block and pinned him. He went to hold the trunks but ended up not really getting them. They worked on Anderson’s legft knee. The Revival are so good at little tag team things. Not a flashy match at all, but good work and the crowd did get into it by the end.
BOBBY ROODE VS. MOJO RAWLEY FOR U.S. TITLE
Hell of a surprise. So I’m told Rawley was not the original opponent but that person was moved to the Rumble. I have no idea who this would be. It was okay. You’d expect better. Rawley missed a charge into the corner and his shoulder went into the post and Roode hit a Glorious DDT.
A.J. STYLES VS. KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN FOR WWE TITLE
Really good match. Styles threw Zayn over the top rope and Owens superkicked Styles and went for the pop up power bomb, but Styles turned it into a front rolling cradle for the win. Zayn workd most of the way and he and Zayn were great together. The controversy was that Owens never tagged in and Zayn was the legal man.
Owens and Zayn told Shane McMahon that the ref screwed them again and asked Shane if he saw it. Shane said “Yep” and walked away.
USOS VS. CHAD GABLE & SHELTON BENJAMIN FOR THE SMACKDOWN TAG TITLES IN A 2/3 FALL MATCH
Gable was pinned in the first fall by Jey after a ton of superkicks. Real good but the crowd isn’t that hot for this match. Gable is on fire.
Second fall saw Jimmy pin Benjamin with an inside cradle. I guess all things considered this match was a big disappointment even though some real good stuff here. Gable did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor and Gable & Benjamin did a sky high bulldog on Jimmy.
So the women’s Rumble is last which tells you the women are last and means the biggest angle is at the end of the women’s match.
MEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE
Corbin destroyed a few people but was elimninated quick. Andrade Cien Almas was the only early surprise entrant.
The final four were Reigns, Cena, Nakamura and Balor.
The surprises were Hurricane, Dolph Ziggler, Andrade Cien Almas, Adam Cole and Rey Mysterio. Rey got a huge pop and looked great. They all got a big reaction at first. The crowd really lvoed Cole who came out with his ribs all tape up selling last night’s match with Aleister Black..
Cena threw out Balor who was in 57:30.
Nakamura knocked Cena out with the Kinshasa. It’s Nakamura vs. Reigns.
After some very good back and forth action, Nakamura hit the Kinshasa and threw Reigns over the top so it looks like Styles vs. Nakamura at WrestleMania.
This was a lot of fun.
Renee Young asked Nakamura who he wanted to face. The whole place was chanting AJ Styles. He said AJ Styles.
This played out well to the crowd because they hated Cena and Reigns so Nakamura was a super babyface in winning.
Rusev was really over as expected starting out. Balor going long elevated his stock. There was the Kofi Kingston spot where he was thrown out but one of his feet landed on Xavier Wooods, who was selling on the floor, so he wasn’t eliminated. But he was eliminated shortly after
Shane and Daniel Bryan were celebrating Nakamura winning and Kurt and Stephanie vowed that one of the Raw women will win. Stephanie promised the big surprise.at the end of Rumble. I think everyoine is now expecting Ronda Rousey at this point.
SETH ROLLINS & JASON JORDAN VS. SHEAMUS & CESARO FOR RAW TAG TITLES
The crowd was dead for this. To explain Jordan being hurt, Cesaro threw him into the post and he was selling on the floor almost the entire match. So it was like a handicap match with Rollins against both. I think this would have worked well in any other position except after the men’s Rumble because the people ended way too pumped and didn’t care about this at all. Rollins finally got to the corner, and then Jordan tagged himself in, but started selling the idea of a concussion, never made contact, and tagged out. Rollins came back in and it ended up with Sheamus hitting a Brogue kick and then a double-team white noise and Cesaro pinned Rollins to win the title.
BROCK LESNAR VS. BRAUN STROWMAN VS. KANE FOR THE UNIVERSAL TITLE
This This was a match that shouid have gotten over in Philadelphia as it was all about breaking tables. The idea was for Lesnar to win and protect Strowman. Strowman had Lesnar beat after two powerslams but Kane hit Strowman with a chair. Lesnar ended up throwing Kane into Strowman and hitting an F-5 on Kane for the pin. Strowman after made a big deal about how Lesnar didn’t beat him. Earlier Strowman also powerslammed Lesnar through a table and Kane broke up the pin. They broke a couple of announces tables. There were some very dangerous blows early. Strowman landed a hard knee to the side of Lesnar’s head and Lesnar gave him a receipt by drilling him with a punch. Lesnar also gave Kane an F-5 through the announcers table without clearing out the monitors..
WOMEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE.
Maria Menounos introduced Stephanie McMahon, and then Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair were introduced to sit at ringside.
Sasha Banks in first. She’s starting with Becky Lynch.
Kairi Sane and Lita were early surprises but out quickly. Other non-roster wonmen that came in later were Torrie Wilson, Mooly Holly, Michelle McCool (getting Undertaker chants), Vickie Guerrero (doing a comedy gimmick), Jacqueline Ember Moon, Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, The Bella Twins and Trish Stratus,.
Nia Jax has been pushed as a monster.
The final four are Banks, Asuka and the Bella Twins.
The Bellas threw out Banks.
Nikki eliminated Brie so it’s Nikki vs. Asuka.
Asuka and Nikki were on the apron and Asuka kicked her off to win.
The first half of the match was pretty bad but the crowd popped for all the non-roster members big so it worked in that way. At the end, it was very good, Stratus looked real good as did Phoenix. In the end, it was all about introducing Ronda Rousey at the end.
Asuka has to make the choice. Fans want he to pick Charlotte. Ronda is out.
She got a good pop, not gigantic. Ronda wanted to shae hands with Assuka. Asuka slapped her hand away. Ronda kept pointing to the WrestleMania sign.
Rousey went to shake hands with Stephanie and left.
Asuka never did pick.
ESPN just announced Rousey has signed a full-time WWE contract and said this is her first priority for the next several years. We’ll have to see what full-time means because her doing a Brock Lesnar scheduled would be a lot better than full-time.
It took until the Friday before the pay-per-view, but Roman Reigns has finally been announced for Sunday’s Royal Rumble match.
Reigns lost the Intercontinental Championship to The Miz on Monday’s episode of Raw. Reigns challenging Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship has long been expected to be the main event of WrestleMania, and Dave Meltzer reported that those plans haven’t changed as of this past week, but that could still be set up if Reigns doesn’t win the Royal Rumble.
With the addition of Reigns, the men’s Royal Rumble is up to 18 confirmed entrants. There have also been 18 participants announced for the women’s match, which is everyone on the current roster who is available and doesn’t hold a title. There are 12 spots remaining for both matches heading into the weekend.
On the pre-show, there will be a United States Championship open challenge issued by Bobby Roode. Roode won the title by defeating Baron Corbin, Mojo Rawley, and Jinder Mahal in a tournament after the storyline where Dolph Ziggler walked out and voluntarily gave up the championship in December.
Two tag team matches are also set for the pre-show. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson will team against The Revival, and Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado will face Drew Gulak, TJP & Jack Gallagher.
Television host Maria Menounos, who fairly regularly makes appearances for WWE and has wrestled in a few matches in the past, revealed that she will be the guest ring announcer for the women’s Royal Rumble.
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Ric Flair, and Madusa will be guests on the pre-show panel. The pre-show begins at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday before the main card kicks off at 7 p.m.
While speaking with TMZ Sports, Ronda Rousey said she won’t be entering the women’s Royal Rumble and won’t even be in the United States on Sunday.
“I’m actually leaving to Colombia right now to finish shooting ‘Mile 22,'” Rousey told TMZ Sports while at an airport. “And I won’t be back until mid-February.” She also posted a video on her Instagram account from Colombia today.
Rousey wouldn’t be able to confirm that she’s going to be in the Rumble if a surprise appearance is planned, but it’s noteworthy that she’s outright said she won’t be in the match.
Rousey claimed that she hasn’t put pen to paper on a deal with WWE yet, which is the same thing Triple H said on a conference call yesterday. He noted that Rousey has loved the pro wrestling industry since she was a kid and has been training on the side for a while, mentioning a video he saw of her from four years ago while she was still fighting in the UFC.
“Mile 22” is an action film that is being directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, and John Malkovich in addition to Rousey.
Stephanie McMahon will be joining the commentary team for Sunday’s women’s Royal Rumble match.
McMahon made the announcement on Twitter today: “Announcing the first-ever women’s #RoyalRumble match was one of my all-time favorite moments in @WWE… And now I’m proud to share that I’ll be joining the Announce team for this historic match this Sunday! #RumbleForAll #RoyalRumble”
McMahon joined the women’s division in the ring on the December 18th episode of Raw to announce that WWE’s first-ever women’s Royal Rumble would be happening in 2018. While speaking with The Mirror earlier this month, she explained why the announcement was a character-breaking moment: “We were chastised by some fans because we broke character and I told the women earlier in the day — they knew I was coming out but they didn’t know what I was going to say — I told them react naturally, don’t feel like you have to be in character, it’s okay for you to react however you want to react, to whatever I’m going to say. We all broke character that night.”
There have been 18 entrants officially confirmed for the women’s Rumble, which is everyone on the current roster who is active and doesn’t hold a title. The remaining participants in the match figure to be wrestlers from NXT and potentially some surprise appearances.
Following this week’s Raw and SmackDown go-home shows, about 60 percent of the participants for the men’s and women’s Royal Rumbles have been announced.
There have been 17 names revealed for the men’s match, with The Miz, Tye Dillinger, and all three members of The New Day as the latest wrestlers to be confirmed for it. Every active member of Raw and SmackDown’s women’s divisions (aside from the champions) had already been confirmed for the women’s Rumble heading into this week.
There are still plenty of men’s wrestlers from the current roster who have yet to be announced — including Roman Reigns, who lost the Intercontinental Championship to The Miz on Monday. Wrestlers from NXT and potentially some surprises should round out the lineup for the women’s match.
Here’s the updated list of Royal Rumble entrants. Both matches will take place in Philadelphia on Sunday:
As we head into the last two weeks of build on television, there are now eight matches announced for the Royal Rumble.
Enzo Amore defending his Cruiserweight Championship against Cedric Alexander is the latest match to officially be added to the pay-per-view’s card. To set things up for the Rumble, Alexander challenged for the title and defeated Amore by countout on this past Monday’s episode of Raw.
Amore was counted out on Raw due to a storyline leg injury, but he was legitimately busted open hardway by a kick from Alexander during the match and needed to get four stitches after.
The updated card for the Royal Rumble is listed below. The PPV will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on January 28th:
Men’s Royal Rumble match
Women’s Royal Rumble match
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Braun Strowman and Kane in a triple threat match
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a handicap match
The finals of the United States Championship tournament
Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defending against Cesaro & Sheamus
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defending against Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin in a two-out-of-three falls match
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore defending against Cedric Alexander
The SmackDown Tag Team titles will be on the line in a two-out-of-three falls match at the Royal Rumble.
The Usos are set to defend their titles against Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin, which stems from their championship match last week being restarted after Gable pinned Jimmy Uso when neither man was legal. The Usos quickly retained with superkicks and a splash after the match was restarted.
Gable & Benjamin took part in an in-ring segment where they demanded justice on SmackDown tonight. Gable was wearing a shirt that said “#FreeTheTagTitles” and they insulted the crowd in Alabama. Daniel Bryan came down and said the referee’s decision from last week was final, but he made the two-out-of-three falls match official after Gable asked if they had to beat The Usos twice in one night.
With the pay-per-view less than three weeks away, there are now seven matches announced for the Royal Rumble. The updated card is listed below:
Men’s Royal Rumble match
Women’s Royal Rumble match
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Braun Strowman and Kane in a triple threat match
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a handicap match
The finals of the United States Championship tournament
Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defending against Cesaro & Sheamus
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defending against Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin in a two-out-of-three falls match
With less than three weeks before the pay-per-view, there are now six matches announced for the Royal Rumble.
Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defending their Tag Team titles against Cesaro & Sheamus was officially added to the card during a backstage segment on Raw last night. Cesaro & Sheamus lobbied for their rematch and accused Kurt Angle of favoring Jordan, but Angle made the title match official for the PPV.
Rollins & Jordan started teaming together after Dean Ambrose was forced out of action due to a legitimate triceps injury. They won the titles from Cesaro & Sheamus on the Christmas Day episode of Raw.
Cesaro & Sheamus lost to Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews on Raw last night when O’Neil pinned Sheamus with a roll-up. Rollins, Jordan & Roman Reigns lost to Finn Balor, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson in the main event, with Rollins being pinned by Balor and Jordan accidentally messing things up for his team during the match.
The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia will host the Royal Rumble on January 28th. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
Men’s Royal Rumble match
Women’s Royal Rumble match
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Braun Strowman and Kane in a triple threat match
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a handicap match
The finals of the United States Championship tournament
Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defending against Cesaro & Sheamus
The WWE Championship will be on the line in a handicap match at the Royal Rumble.
The match, which was made at the end of tonight’s episode of SmackDown, will be AJ Styles defending against the team of Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. Owens and Zayn have each pinned Styles in non-title matches over the last two weeks, with both of those wins advancing the storyline of dissension between Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan.
Owens, Shane, and Bryan were all at ringside for Styles vs. Zayn tonight. After a ref bump, Owens blocked the referee from getting back into the ring and counting a pin for Styles. Shane then pushed Owens and tried to get the referee to send him to the back, with Bryan responding that Shane should leave with Owens. Styles knocked Owens off the apron, but that allowed Zayn to hit Styles with the Helluva Kick for the win.
Styles got on the microphone after. He told Shane and Bryan to stop bickering like children and said he should just face both Owens & Zayn in a handicap match. Bryan liked the idea and made the title match official.
Here’s the updated card for the Royal Rumble. The show will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on January 28th:
Men’s Royal Rumble
Women’s Royal Rumble
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Braun Strowman and Kane in a triple threat match
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a handicap match
Just as there will be for the men’s match on the same night, there will be 30 entrants in the women’s Royal Rumble.
WWE clarified some of the specifics for the women’s Rumble in the opening segment of Raw tonight. Kurt Angle announced that it would have the same rules as the men’s match, with there being 30 entrants, eliminations occurring when a wrestler goes over the top rope and both feet touch the floor, and the winner getting a title shot at WrestleMania.
With there being enough active women on the Raw and SmackDown rosters (without counting the champions) to account for a bit more than half of those 30 wrestlers, it appears that the rest will be from NXT or other surprise entrants.
Naomi, Asuka, Ruby Riott, and Natalya have been officially confirmed for the women’s Royal Rumble. The pay-per-view takes place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on January 28th.
John Cena will officially be taking part in the Royal Rumble match later this month.
WWE had Cena make the announcement on Twitter today: “A sunny morning on the first day of 2018. Possibilities are endless, opportunities are plentiful. Time to #EarnTheDay because on January 28th, I’m entering the #RoyalRumble match and earning a chance at history @WrestleMania! #Raw”
For the first time since Survivor Series, Cena returned to WWE television on Raw last week. He opened the show with a promo, was interrupted by Elias, and they worked a long and competitive match where Cena won.
With him being a free agent in storyline, Cena would be able to challenge for either the Universal Championship or WWE Championship at WrestleMania if he were to win the Royal Rumble. Dave Meltzer noted in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that he was told that rumors of Cena vs. AJ Styles for the WWE title are incorrect as of right now and it was indicated to him that Cena is planned to be in a “much bigger” match.
The next show that Cena is currently advertised for is the 25th anniversary episode of Raw. That show will take place on January 22nd, which is the Monday before the Royal Rumble.
Cena, Elias, Randy Orton, and Shinsuke Nakamura have now been announced for the men’s Royal Rumble. Naomi, Asuka, Ruby Riott, and Natalya have been confirmed for the women’s Rumble match.
The first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match will be taking place next month.
Though few other details were announced, Stephanie McMahon appeared at the end of tonight’s episode of Raw to reveal the news. She mentioned the evolution of WWE’s women’s division and the times they’ve made history over the last few years. She then said the first all-women’s Royal Rumble match will take place at next month’s pay-per-view.
Both Raw and SmackDown wrestlers will be featured in the women’s Royal Rumble. Bayley, Asuka, Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, Mickie James, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Alicia Fox, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, and Paige were also in the ring when Stephanie made the announcement.
The main event of Raw tonight was a six-woman tag match between Banks, Bayley & James and Paige, Rose & Deville. It ended when Rose and Deville wouldn’t stop attacking Banks in the ring, then the rest of the Raw women’s division came out before the announcement.
While WWE has yet to reveal how many wrestlers will be in the women’s Rumble, we now know that there will be two Royal Rumble matches at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on January 28th. Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane for the Universal Championship is the only other match that has been confirmed as of now.
