5 Best Moments From The 2018 Royal Rumble
“Music’s Biggest Night” may have been last night, but so was WWE’s Royal Rumble, the starting point on “The Road to WrestleMania.” It was easily one of the best Royal Rumble shows in years, and here are five reasons why.
AJ Styles retained
The deck was stacked against WWE Champion AJ Styles during his handicap match with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, but Styles got the pin thanks to a legal man mix-up. If it means fans will get a WWE dream match at WrestleMania, however, who cares about that mistake!
All of the great surprise entrants to the Women’s Royal Rumble
Considering it was the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match, fans knew there would be some surprise entrants, but who knew there would be SO many! Lita, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Vickie Guerrero, Kelly Kelly, Jacqueline, Beth Phoenix, the Bella Twins and Trish Stratus all contributed to an outstanding and historic first for the WWE women’s division.
All the NXT appearances!
There’s always at least one NXT superstar in the Royal Rumble, but there were two superstars in each match with NXT Champion Andrade Cien Almas, Adam Cole (BAY BAY!), Kairi Sane and NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon all making their Royal Rumble debuts.
Ronda Rousey Debuts
After a ton of speculation of the MMA star being an entrant in the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble, she ended up appearing after the match wearing her own WWE shirt and throwing her hat in the WrestleMania conversation. Even though we’d be surprised if she didn’t face Charlotte Flair, we dug the odd confrontation, as well as Asuka slapping her hand away from a handshake.
The right superstars won each Royal Rumble match
Let’s face it: The brass at WWE have got it wrong a number of times in recent history when it came to the Royal Rumble, but Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka were certainly the right picks to win. Plus, it sets up Nakamura v. Styles at WrestleMania, which is already the frontrunner of “match of the night” 70 days out from “The Grandest Stage of Them All.”
Blogger Erica Banas currently resides at 317 Gimmick Street.