Royal Rumble 2018 : Men & Women Battle Royal !

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For the 1st time in history WWE will have a Royal Rumble where men and women will take part. The announcement came weeks ago where it was announced that the ladies in the company will have a female Battle Royal like the men. This of course touched off anger from some online who aren't happy about the men having to share a Royal Rumble PPV with women.

But its a drastic change from a company that went back n forth the last near 20 years with the ladies in the company. For a number of years in the late 1990's , Diva's in the company was just there to be in bikini's and make the male 18-34 demographic go crazy. Then in early 2000's the company transitioned to actual in ring talent as Trish Stratus , Lita , Victoria and others would come through. They would change the company towards actual good women who could work matches. Trish was a fitness model but training and help from Fit Finley helped transformed her into quite the in ring talent of that era.

Then the WWE started to change again and brought in non-wrestlers like the Bella's , Candice Michelle , Kelly Kelly and more the next few years. The wrestling got so bad people would joke whenever a women's match began it was time for a piss break. TNA started pushing its Knockout division and it became obvious the company had lost a step there with the women. But in 2010's the company seemed to realize they had lost their way with the division. Paige , Sasha Banks and more was brought in and the division transformed yet again.

This is its step. And being honest I'm more excited for the Women's "Royal Rumble" than I am the men because quite frankly , we always get hints where its gonna go each year . Plus its the 1st year the women get this and seeing a 1st time winner will be fun.


Now as far as the singles matches go on the card , not wowed by any of those to be fair. So we shall see what happens and I do hope the 3 way with all 3 monsters (Lesnar, Kane , Strowman) has some crap get destroyed. But we shall see. Happy watching folks.

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So in the Pre-show I'm watching ....holy fuck David Otunga still has a job ? Wow... I'm stunned. Anyhow nice win for Roode and I do wish they'd have his match on Rumble and do the surprise Open Challenge deal.

10 years ago a surprise entrance from John Cena in 2008. Nice to hear some actual good commentary from Jim Ross.

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Flair basically claims the only PPV's worth a damn is the Royal Rumble , Wrestlemania , Summerslam and Survivor Series. Him discussing the 1992 RR is one of the best that ever was. He went 60+ minutes and fully showed he was THE MAN. That he could still go. It was more of a sign to Jim Herd how stupid he was for letting him walk.

Bringing up Styles and him facing Owens & Zayn. I do kinda hope Flair would redo his heel manager run with Styles , this time in the WWE. Flair claims he's that good and he's this current generation Shawn Michaels. I'd like to see AJ stay heel and align with Flair who helps him. But we likely won't see that . The crowd really wants the PPV to start and keeps counting it down.


- 205 Ad , last time I watched it they barely had the guys do anything and that was with Neville. It was like watching Neville try and work a normal WWE Main event style match as a cruiserweight . No clue if its changed since then.


- ROYAL RUMBLE BEGINS !


Royal Rumble- The voice intro reminds me of the classic Dave Shahadi voice overs that the company used to do back in the day. Before they let the production guy go to TNA back in 2000's. The entire intro sells this very well. I actually wanna see how Co-Champions work for Owens & Zayn comically.

I wonder if we'll get Enzo Amore's KFC ad tonight ? Likely not....lol.

Ok this is kinda....stupid. Why are you letting AJ Styles open this PPV ? He's a World Champion. His match should be below the Lesnar one. I do like the Zayn and Owens friendship deal. That is some fun chemistry and reminds me of Hall & Nash in a sense. Out comes perhaps the best working talent right now the WWE has and been a top guy for nearly 2 years. Styles signing really was a great one for him and the company.

Zayn is funny goofball heel while Owens is violent evil heel. Perfect blend here folks. Fans are behind AJ fully before we even start. Who would imagine we'd see Ring of Honor guys vs TNA in a WWE ring ? Pretty sweet and I did love the mind games to start.

Most comical statement , "The 1st ever Co-Champion on Smackdown Live would get the world talking . It would get ESPN talking !" No I doubt ESPN gives 2 shits if 2 pro wrestlers become co-champions. I'm sure they won't be demanding to cover that.

Loved that cannonball miss. That was one funny goofy spot for a heel to miss in the corner and then we get a nice Styles spot with the big huricarana. Then later another great AJ spot with that moonsault into a DDT. Holy crap ....what a spot later against Zayn & Owens !

Whew what a close one , Zayn and Owens almost had that one with the super kick into a blue thunder bomb. AJ almost gets another close one with the Phenom forearm. That was a ....weird type finish and the guy you didn't expect to take a pin fall.

New Orleans Wrestlemania folks....70 days away. Backstage we see Owens debate this and ya know....he's got a point. He never was tagged in so not the legal man folks. Shane won't do anything here.

Fresh off his DUI , one of the Uso's is here. If this was WWF Attitude , that Uso would come out with a beer and mock the whole deal. The Uso's talk trash and discuss that this is a lifestyle. Welcome to the Uso Penitentiary. Well given one just got bonded out that fits folks.

Its nice to see Shelton Benjamin back in the WWE. He can be a decent tag team wrestler really. He can help Gable out here develop . It surprises me the WWE isn't calling this the New America's Greatest tag team. Shelton clearly is showing the one Uso this is how you don't fuck with someone in the Yard at the Uso Penitentiary as he targets the knee. Both men are like , teaching the one Uso this is for jumping ahead in the chow line , so both work the knee.

This Gable has some decent ability , and Shelton is looking really good. I loved that power bomb into the other Uso into his finisher. Then we get a nice moonsault from Gable. The near falls in this are incredible. Gable takes like 4-5 super kicks combined there in a spot. Somewhere the Bucks wanna sue for copyright infringement. Good brutal floor spot later as they decide to teach that one Uso for snitching in the Uso Penitentiary.

Then that ...stupid finish....WOW. Really , what was the point of that ?

Love the whole run down of the Royal Rumble. Austin won the RR , 3 times in a row as the only winner like that. Rey Mysterio lasted 62:12 minutes in a Royal Rumble one year. I remember that one. Also Jericho has the most combined minutes in the Rumble as he has nearly 5 hours in it ! One man will out last all others to get the spot.

Hold on... the Royal Rumble match is now ? Before the Women ? Before a tag team match and other singles match ? This is....wow. Just a weirdly plotted PPV show for the company for real.


Rusev Daaaaaaaay .......ok this is funny. Nice way to kick this off. He's even wearing a Happy Rusev Day shirt. Can he win Rusev Rumble , then headline Rusevmania on Rusev Day ? The fans dig Rusev Day for sure. Out comes Balor. I kinda wish he'd come out as the Demon makeup and do the intro of that.

Here comes Rhyno....hey nice. RHYNO GORE....GORE....GORE. The fans love ECW of course and he quickly become a home town favorite. Damn Rhyno is working Rusev like he's a small guy.

Baron Corbin is next as they bring up what a failure he is to cash in with his MITB. Corbin eliminates Rhyno , then gets himself knocked over by Balor. Corbin GOES INSANE and lays out Rusev and Balor with moves on the floor. Slater is next , as he gets met up the ramp and laid out by Corbin who destroyed EVERYONE.

#6 is Elias and he won't have to worry about Corbin. He is out to play guitar his way to the ring folks. Ok ...that is awful funny to do. I kinda wanna walk with Elias....as Philly seems to wanna do. Time is just an illusion , the only thing is real is the light of Elias. The clock won't start til he gives us a performance . He's gonna go spit in Rocky's statue. Its an Elias night.

#7 is the NXT World champion as he takes out Slater again. Almas is quick and they seem to struggle in the quick time. #8 is Bray Wyatt , aka the Eater of Worlds and he decides to lay out poor Slater. So far Rusev , Slater and Balor haven't recovered yet , til Balor shocks me.

#9 is part of the New Day and its Big E. He helps Slater up and gives him....pancakes in his face. The fans chant Rusev Day. #10 is next and its Tye Dillenger , the perfect #10. Backstage Owens & Zayn jump Dillenger before he can come out as Zayn decides to take his spot. Zayn lays out Slater ...which is becoming a fun joke to see. They bring up Zayn last year went 47 minutes in ring.

#11 is next and its a member of The Bar , Shamus . Finally , in a comical moment Shamus tosses Slater in , and then as he gets in Slater eliminates him. Everyone is stunned for awhile in ring as is Shamus. Then Wyatt takes him out ! That was a funny entire deal with Slater. Fans want Rusev Day !

#12 is Xavier Woods and he targets Wyatt 1st. The New Day start working together in ring. Both men try to eliminate Elias. #13 will be Apollo Crews who I don't think I have ever seen before. He's part of Titus World Wide.

#14 is up....as its been 20 minutes for Rusev and Balor thus far. Anyhow 14 is Shinsuke Nakamura , his 1st Royal Rumble. The king of strong style. The crowd sings Nakamura's theme. Then start a chant for him. Then eliminates Zayn !

#15 is coming as its Cesaro now folks as they have started calling him the Swiss Cyborg. The fans begin yet another Rusev Day chant in this. #16 is up as its finally Kofi Kingston , all 3 members of New Day is in now. Also nice spot with Rusev and Cesaro trading blows.

Crews is eliminated by Cesaro in a nice spot . Kingston is tied #4 all-time for Royal Rumble appearances. #17 is up as its Jinder Mahal. Lawler tells us Mahal is his pick to win so we kinda know he'll get tossed soon. Woods is eliminated by Mahal and then so is Big E.

#18 next is Seth Rollins , BURN IT DOWN. Rollins is on fire awhile before caught by Cesaro. But he gets elevated over in a nice spot by Rollins. Kingston is saved by Woods and then a plate of pancakes as Kofi is still legal. They the New Day elevate like a pogo stick back in and Mahal gets knocked out by Kingston . He eats the pancake plate. #19 is up as Kofi goes out finally . Its "Woken , Matt Hardy". Not broken yet as he's nutty as squirrel poop. Hardy & Wyatt work together weirdly....then finally come to blows. Finally taking each other out.

#20 next is John Cena....as Lawler comically changes it to him. Fans use the song to sing "John Cena sucks....." at times. He won the RR in 2008 and 2013. Everyone decides for the hell of it to target Cena and take him out. Elias gets eliminated as fans boo. No walking with Elias folks...damn you Cena.

#21 is up as its Hurricane ! Cena and Hurricane have a weird comical stare down as Hurricane attempts a choke slam and gets eliminated by Cena. Ok that was a decent moment. #22 is coming as its Aiden English as he promoted Rusev Day earlier. Fans begin dueling Cena chants as usual. #23 is Adam Cole as the Philly fans remember him. He's taped up due to injuries he had last night at NXT Takeover.

end of part #1

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#24 is coming as its brought up that 2 members in this match is from NXT. Balor is still in it. Finally we see that 24 is Randy Orton . He won in 2009 and in 2017. The last man to win back to back Rumbles is Stone Cold. Almas in a spot launches himself and caught in a RKO by Orton. The 13 time champion eliminates Almas. #25 is Titus O'Neal.

#26 is coming up as its The Miz. Ya know I'd love if Miz won this. He's the new IC Champion since Monday Night. Miz is taking out everyone in spots and show cases some nice moves. He has tied Undertaker for 3rd all-time in Rumble appearances. #27 is Rey Mysterio Jr !! yeaaahhh fuuck yeah. Is this part of the final run he always wanted ?

Fans begin a welcome back chant as he's tearing it up folks. He takes out Adam Cole next. #28 is coming as its Reigns and fans aren't happy as they boo loudly. They bring up how he won the 2015 Royal Rumble and the fans really don't wanna see this. Finally its Miz/Reigns eyeing each other. The fans aren't into this at all as they boo Reigns taking out guys. With help from Rollins they take out Miz together and then Roman turns on Rollins. As Rollins smirks...

#29 is Goldust ? With this entry he's #12 for the times he's been in this and tied for 2nd with Shawn Michaels and Big Show. #30 is the final man to enter....ITS DOLPH ZIGGLER. They are stunned as they thought he retired. Ziggler is on a super kick spree as he takes out Goldust.

Dolph starts doing Shawn as he tunes up and then ...gets knocked out by Balor. This is weird to do a return on and hype for nothing. Final 6 is the Old Guard vs the New Guard. Nakamura does a great spot with Orton . Later Reigns takes out Orton as the Old Guard turns. Balor takes out Mysterio ! The FINAL FOUR - Reigns , Cena , Balor and Nakamura ! Balor has been in there 52 minutes working.

The fans chant for Nakamura. He's the guy they want to win it. This starts as Cena knows to play heel quick as he jumps the young guys. This is a fun spot as young guys take them down and now its Balor vs Nakamura. They have a great exchange against each other. Balor has done 55 minutes while Nakamura is really iron....50 minutes and no resting really.

Cena eliminates Balor as he's out after 57 minutes. Fans start a bullshit chant and want Nakamura to win this. Both men start working heel on him. Nakamura just took out Cena ! Now he's one away. Can he bet Vince's chosen one ? Fans erupt for this. They want Nakamura....they are literally begging for this one. Nakamura has been going near 60 minutes thus far.

NAKAMURA WINS !! NAKAMURA WINS !! He's going to Wrestlemania ...to face AJ Styles. Wow...what a damn performance. Him and Balor was the MVP's of this and carried this whole deal. Cole tells us its 44 minutes and 14 seconds. But I think it was closer to 60 in a way. Nice celebration as we will see Styles vs Nakamura in a repeat of their epic Wrestle Kingdom match a couple years ago.

Also hopefully it main events Wrestlemania. Anyhow onto a tag team match as Rollins comes out 1st . Out next is Kurt Angle's love child. Or as Shane Douglas joked the worst dumb storyline that the company has done in a long time. (and he's right....really ...Kurt Angle's son ?) I do like the matching near looks of Shamus and Cesaro. Nice one. Funaki is part of Japanese announce team....INDEEEED. lol.

Jordan seems to be turning heel as he acts like he suffered a bad concussion and has no clue where he's at. Leaving Rollins to work both men in this. The BAR win the titles for the 4th time. Next is the Universal Championship match and the women will Main Event the Royal Rumble.

We get a nice promo of Beast vs Machine vs Monster deal. Braun to show off how powerful he is , pulls down the tron. This is Vince's dream match of big men. He likely is creaming right now at this. Interesting stat , Kane has never faced Brock Lesnar before. He has only been in ring twice with him and that was in 2003 in a tag match and last year in the Rumble.

Brock weirdly isn't as cut as he once was. Maybe working the 2-3 dates a year is a reason he's not as cut as he once was. Heyman has to build heat in this , its not like the match will be as good. Plus its Philly and Paul can build heat for it. Fans chant along with him as he announces Lesnar. All 3 go at it with no strategy or build as they just go at it. Lesnar getting a chair and watches as Strowman punches the chair from him !

I did like how Strowman shrugs off everything and drops Lesnar through a table. The announcers joke maybe he threw himself into the table . Dear lord this match has became absolute shit. Its like watching Kronik vs Brothers of Destruction back in 2001 for guys no selling and it being no DQ to destroy things. Lesnar F5's Strowman through a table as they are seemingly trying to rush through this.

Lesnar puts the empty table on top of Strowman , which is so fragile they break. They act like Strowman just moved the tron again , he moved a gimmick table off him that breaks on impact at times lol. Strowman had the pin and decides to do another one and it gives Kane time to do chair shots. And we get a silly finish as Kane runs into Strowman and knocks him off the ramp and gets F5. What a complete crap of a match.

Right now were at 10pm , how long will this Women's Rumble last ? I kinda hope we see Mickie , Victoria and a few others. Some lady named Maria is there and credits herself being part of women's revolution. Fans boo and they boo Stephanie. Maybe the fact people wanna see the match and not see people keep taking credit for this. And this is a problem , Stephanie has to do guest announcing for no reason like saying the women can't stand on their own without her taking credit.

Yes Alexa Bliss should be out there...she's a Champion and currently champion of RAW. Charlotte Flair is Smackdown Champion. Again ...Charlotte and Alexa should be there watching. Finally we get entrant #1.... Sasha Banks....#2 is Becky Lynch . Banks is rocking her Wonder Woman type get up for this.

#3 is up and its Sarah Logan. We got her doing the hillbilly gimmick in a sense since she's from Kentucky. She was part of the boys wrestling team in her town. Nice sell on the head butt. #4 is next Mandy Rose. And they bring up Paige's sad injury and how she was supposed to be part of this. Mandy Rose can squat over 300 pounds. NOTE TO SELF never boo Mandy Rose if your in front of her.

LITA RETURNS at #5. This is nice. I wanted an older return. Its a shame AJ Lee isn't there anymore because she'd be perfect for a spot since they showed where she met Lita as a little kid and cried. They bring up the women tattooed on her arms are of those who passed away like Moolah and May Young. Lita takes out Mandy Rose. #6 up and its Kairi Sane , who comes out dressed as a cool pirate !

That was a fun spot by Sane. The return of the pirate gimmick in WWE. She clears house and #7 is up. Its Tamina and she's coming down with a purpose and super kicks. Lita nails some twists of fate. Then a Lita sault as fans chant she still has it. Ahhh finally Lynch eliminates her after she takes out Tamina. #8 next is Dana Brooke. She does a nice cartwheel for us . Nice spring board Muta elbow into the corner !

Brooke takes out Sane and I'm down. Damn.....liked the pirate. Out next is Torrie Wilson at #9. They bring up she's a fitness instructor in Florida and stayed in shape. Torrie takes down Brooke and eliminates her. #10 is up and its Sonya Deville. She comes out doing some boxing and targets Banks. Deville takes out Torrie .

#11 next and its Liv Morgan and Cole puts over how she idolized Lita. I like Morgan's look as she's like some 80's Jersey Girl type. #12 now as Molly Holly returns ! Molly hasn't aged at all. Molly takes out Sarah Logan and its brought up how tough she is as she was trained by Dean Malenko and Finley. What a moonsault by Holly. At #13 its Lana and as they bring up she's working as a manager. Fans chant Rusev Day as she comes down. No clue why they'd put a manager in this.

Lana snaps and goes crazy. #14 is up and its Michelle McCool as no one demanded it. McCool does a big boot and trips comically. Fans start an Undertaker chant as they have little respect for McCool. Deville gets eliminated by her as does Morgan. Then she takes out Holly in this nepotism case. Now 4 people as Lana goes.

#15 is up as Ruby Riot comes out and nearly gets eliminated by McCool. #16 is up and wtf ...Vickie Guerrero ? This has gotta be insanely silly. What is up with this strategy as she screeches at them over the mic. They will listen to her . She tries to play up a friendship with McCool and they toss her quick. #17 coming Carmella as she struts in front of Vickie with the MITB case. Then Vickie lays her out with the case.

Coming is #18 as its Natalya. The queen of Hearts. Anyhow she comically throws her stuff on Carmella and wakes her. Banks is going near 30 minutes in this . #19 now as we see Kelly Kelly for no reason. Why the WWE keeps putting non-workers in this is getting insanely stupid. Finally Natalya eliminates McCool saving us her grand return push. #20 coming Naomi as she is is wearing a glow stick. In the original NXT , her mentor was Kelly Kelly as Cole tells us.


end of part #2

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Becky Lynch is out as its 31 minutes for her. 21 on the way being Jacqueline ....oh yeah. The former Miss Texas and someone who faced men and won titles. They bring up how Booker has stories how tough this lady is. I am hoping she kinda wins this. #22 coming next and its Nia Jax. The big lady as she starts taking people out and Jacqueline is 1st , then Kelly Kelly. Ruby Riot is next and eats a guerrilla press slam into the top turnbuckle...and tossed.

Jax is a wrecking machine ! Naomi is still saved and on barricade. #23 is Ember Moon. She comes at Jax and has an arm injury after NXT title defense last night. Whoa....Jax just threw her on that bad arm damn. Naomi takes going to Maria's chair , walks on her hands and gets back to ring. She does all that and gets eliminated by Jax ! #24 is next and its Beth Phoenix. 2 big Amazons clashing !

They both start going at it. Beth tried to pick her up but couldn't. Natalya and Beth work together on Jax. 2nd rope and we get a hug and then Natalya takes her out. #25 is in Asuka is out ! Emma Moon and Asuka as they both go at it due to bad blood in NXT. One Arm eclipse move...Moon is out. Out at #26 is Mickie James. I was always a fan of her.

Sasha Banks is still in this but took time off. #27 up and its Nikki Bella . Again why is the company dragging out Kelly Kelly , Vickie Guerrero and a Bella. Its like they are trying to draw attention to why some of these women shouldn't be there. Of course Nikki Bella has to eliminate someone and its Carmella. #28 as its Brie Bella...for fucks sake. Now both terrible Bella's are in ring.

#29 and please be someone good. This ones Bayley and she meets the Bella's head on. One last person left .TRISH STRATUS ! OH YES. The entire ring is stunned as its Stratus. She delivers a nice double bull dog off the ropes. She is still delivering it. Now its Mickie vs Trish ! After some great series , Trish takes out Mickie. All the women attack Nia in a spot.

They all band together and finally get Nia out . Were down to Sasha , Trish , 2 Bella's , Natalya and Asuka. Trish takes out Natalya ! Sasha and Trish have a fun exchange and does a nice elimination of Trish . Asuka then does the same mocking gesture. Banks then tries to work heel and triple team Asuka ...and gets tossed by the Bella twins.

Asuka does it and goes to Wrestlemania ! That was a solid finish and you can tell Nikki was supposed to hit the floor but the spot was blown. Nice Royal Rumble for the ladies except for some spots of course.

Rhonda Rousey comes out as her UFC career seems to be kinda gone. She will seemingly challenge one of the champions (likely Charlotte) . Then points at Wrestlemania sign and Asuka slaps her hand shake away.






The Bad - In terms of not really making sense , the WWE title match began to start the show . Which as I thought makes no sense since its the 2nd most valuable title in the company. Then the guy who really you'd not expect to take the pin , did. Nothing against Zayn , but really your letting him take the loss instead of a guy like Zayn who really isn't as considered a big as star as Owens right now ? Not the best decision really. Plus the fact ...Owens wasn't even tagged in , so if tags aren't really needed why do a typical handicap tag match and just make it a 2 on 1 non-tag then ?

Don't even ask me what the point of that 2 outta 3 falls was when you won't even give Gable & Benjamin a friggen fall ? Is it to bury them comically ? Because again that finish makes no sense since all 4 men worked a damn fine match.

This is just one weirdly plotted PPV. 1st AJ kicks off the PPV , then the Royal Rumble for the men is placed halfway on the show instead of the finale that many would want to see. Least we have Jerry Lawler ....and where is ...Jim Ross ? I mean why give half that announce team ?

What the mortal hell was that KFC spot ? Did they really do that in front of an audience ?

People need to take the Strowman/Kane/Lesnar match and play it for people in terms of an absolute clusterfuck of really nothing there. I like no DQ matches if they make friggen sense. But all the spots seemed to be about selling each guy being unstoppable and it was crap. After the performance of Styles , Nakamura and others , its a shame this was a main event.

As I posted a negative was dragging women who shouldn't be there out to work. Like seeing Vickie Guerrero , Kelly Kelly and more. The fact you had Trish , perhaps one of the greatest female wrestlers the company has had for 20 years and its a rare holy fuck return and you don't use her to put over Asuka in this. Instead you use the 2 Bella Twins no one gives a shit for in ring ?


OVERALL : Not a terrible Royal Rumble as we had some great matches like Styles/Owens/Zayn . We also got Nakamura winning as well as Asuka. Both showed this is a new generation and Vince's old beliefs of pushing guys is ending. But the Rumble was laid out weird and we got stupid finishes like the 2/3 falls tag match that was comically ended after 2 falls. We also got spots like Dolph's that made no sense . A terrible 3 way main event that was more car wreck disaster than actual match . And finally a return folks have wanted for years and could have been used better instead ...hey here is the Bella Twins , 2 terrible workers that carried our division for a couple years and made it a joke til we realized it.

Overall it was a solid Royal Rumble but it had a lot of shaking your head and questions why ? And whoever booked that main event of Lesnar/Strowman/Kane ...please quit. That was perhaps the worst I have seen in a long time.