The Royal Rumble was really good, wasn’t it?
Whether you agree with me or not, it is truer than ever that the Royal Rumble is one of the best shows WWE produces. It is exquisite, creative and thrilling. You don’t want to miss a beat as the element of surprise can catch you unaware at any moment.
Yeah, I’m still not over Kevin Dunn missing Edge’s first spear last year.
This year, more so than others, delivered wholesome content for the vision of wrestling fans. They may say they always listen to the fans – that is a lie. However, the Royal Rumble certainly heard us loud and clear.
6. Drew McIntyre Defeats Goldberg To Retain WWE Championship
Let’s start with the big one; the reason why everyone tuned into the 34th Royal Rumble show, to see Goldberg defeat Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship.
This was a joke, obviously – only WWE wanted to see that but they listened to the fans instead, actually delivering a promising start to the night with the main show kicking off with a Claymore to Goldberg.
Like any other Goldberg match, it didn’t pick up in length and rather in finishing manoeuvres. It was most likely a bonus as he is definitely slowing down in his old age.
He hit a few good spears but as soon as he slammed McIntyre with the jackhammer, I had flashbacks of the Super Show-Down extreme botch with Undertaker. His legs were a bit shaky when the finisher entered its climax. However, McIntyre kicked out and the bout continued.
Luckily, it ended with McIntyre proving Goldberg was next with a Claymore and retaining his WWE Championship. This was inching closer to the return of WWE’s dark age, but thankfully, McIntyre found a way to hold onto the light.
During the post-match, Goldberg raised McIntyre’s hand in respect, relieving us of the worry that they will have a rematch in the future. Furthermore, this accomplished in making Drew McIntyre enter a whole other level on Monday Night Raw.
Within one year, he has beaten Goldberg, Lesnar and COVID-19. What a courageous warrior our champ is.
5. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax Regain Women’s Tag Team Title
I know this shouldn’t be the case, but WWE lowered my expectations as soon as these women made their entrance on the pre-show.
Some may argue that the pre-show is a brilliant place to be. It is the show that is streamed on free platforms such as YouTube or Facebook to urge fans to come along to the Network and watch. Therefore, it gains many eyes.
However, I will argue against that and state WWE has conditioned us to believe nothing important will happen on the pre-show. So, as soon as I see Raw Women’s Champion Asuka make her way to the ring, I roll my eyes with disappointment.
The match was average at best, but was more shenanigans than match. Early into the bout, Ric Flair and Lacey Evans made their way down to the ring and started riling up Charlotte with cheap shots and cynical distractions, which finally led to Baszler and Jax regaining their tag team title.
That is okay, but rather pointless because it left us questioning what the entire point in putting the belts on Asuka & Charlotte was in the first place. Personally, I would have had Evans and Royce be the ones to beat Asuka & Charlotte for the tag title, at least it pairs up with the story they are telling. I think the thing that hurt most about this result is Asuka was nowhere to be seen at the end.
This has instantly led me to believe Asuka will also be nowhere near the Raw Women’s Championship by the time WrestleMania rolls around.
4. Bianca Belair Wins Women’s Royal Rumble Match
Now, this was something exciting. I love a Royal Rumble match but I don’t know if it was just because I was mega-hyped beforehand or because WWE gave us a winner we actually wanted, but this Royal Rumble hit all the feels in a positive way.
The match started with Bayley and a returning Naomi. So pleased to see her shine in this match as she is basically the equivalent of Kofi Kingston or John Morrison for the wRumble – avoiding any chance of being eliminated by doing the impossible. Then, eventual winner, Bianca Belair joined the fray at number three.
I’m not going to go through every entrant as we’d be here all day, but click here to find out all the surprise entrants.
Billie Kay begged for a friend to enter the ring with. This featured encounters with Toni Storm and Shayna Baszler but missed out on the opportunity for a sweet IIconics reunion, which was delayed for later in the match.
Also, this Rumble was unique and dare I say, the best Women’s Rumble of them all, down to the effective booking of the match. Shotzi Blackheart was the only one eliminated for roughly 20 minutes before Rhea Ripley ran down at number 14 and tore the Thunderdome down!
Ripley is incredible and deserved to be at the calibre of Charlotte, as a major competitor during this bout. Additionally, it was awesome seeing them rekindle their feud from last year, with Ripley on her way to the main roster, this could be pursued further.
Other moments that happened saw Alexa Bliss come out at ‘lucky’ number 27 but was eliminated fairly early on after trying to ignite Super-Bliss. Also, Natalya was the announced number 30 and did just come out to the ring.
Skipping to the end, we saw Belair, Ripley and Flair face off as the final three. This was a very intense moment – it could’ve literally been any of them! Immediately, Belair and Ripley worked together to take out Charlotte.
Belair and Ripley both have history with Charlotte. Remember the “You don’t even go here” promo by Belair on NXT last year? They knew Charlotte winning the Rumble again would be a scary timeline and they prevented it from going ahead. Then we saw the future brawl in the final two.
At this point, we knew a star was in the making and this Rumble kept to its purpose. If the Money In The Bank match kept to this purpose, we’d still be obsessed with that too but this is why we love the Rumble more. The future of Bianca Belair was revealed to be a helluva good one.
Belair won the 2021 Royal Rumble to a wholesome ovation by fans from their homes. She was in tears, tired – she did last 58 minutes – and proud, you could tell how much this victory meant for her.
I loved it and excited to see Belair on SmackDown this week. Plus, we are probably heading towards Belair vs Banks, which sounds amazing!
3. Roman Reigns Retains Universal Championship
This match was not as good as their TLC clash, but it was still another classic.
Physically, the Last Man Standing match came in hitting and didn’t shy away from the huge, dramatic spots. C’mon, it is Kevin Owens on a big four pay-per-view, it is his thing now.
Reigns repeated the spot from SmackDown a few weeks ago when he chucked Owens off the Thunderdome monitors onto a set of tables. WWE virtually does this to the rebellious Thunderdome users. Then the fight ran into the backstage area.
Instantly, Reigns ran over Owens in a crazy golf buggy spot. This came out of nowhere but was quickly glossed over when Owens got onto the offence and performed a senton from the top of a forklift onto the Tribal Chief.
Then the final moments saw Reigns try to handcuff Owens; which was deja vu to their steel cage match last month. However, this time Owens used reverse UNO card and locked Reigns up instead.
Then we witnessed the Head of the Table target the referee, who was rapidly counting to 10, and Reigns send the ref’s head crashing into a nearby piece of staging. After this, Heyman tried to unlock the cuffs. Unfortunately, this was going seriously wrong and the referee had to stop counting for the result to go as intended.
Reigns then eventually got back to his feet, locked Owens in the guillotine and forced him to pass out. I believe that their story has reached its conclusion now. I have no idea what Owens will be doing at ‘Mania but Reigns certainly has something big on the table…
2. Sasha Banks Retains SmackDown Women’s Championship
In a TLC rematch, Sasha Banks faced Carmella. The match was really good but unnecessary. It has only gone and derailed any momentum Carmella has had with this new gimmick, ripping away any faith of her winning her rivalries.
Although I do have to admit, I am a Carmella fan. She has improved immensely since debuting on the main roster in 2016 – leaps and bounds for her to be fighting toe-to-toe with Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship on a big four pay-per-view.
Furthermore, she hit a wicked-looking suicide dive, which could easily have gone wrong!
Carmella eventually tapped to the Bank Statement, further solidifying that Banks vs Belair is seemingly on the way.
6. Edge Wins Men’s Royal Rumble Match
Finally, let’s discuss the overbooked hecticness that we all know and love, the annual men’s Royal Rumble.
This started with the pre-announced entries of Edge and Randy Orton, proving the fire still burns between the two ‘Greatest Wrestling Match Ever’ competitors. A fire that doesn’t burn anymore is the ones Orton suffered at the hands of Alexa Bliss. He never wore a mask or had any signs of trauma. I guess the Fiend only haunts him on Mondays.
Nevertheless, Orton left with more injuries as Edge hit the Edgecution on the commentary table then relentlessly whacked his legs with a steel chair. This resulted in medical staff evacuating Orton backstage. As fans, we all knew he’d be back…
Other engaging moments saw the returns of Carlito and Christian. Both popped me hard and both I’d adore seeing have one more exciting run for the company. Additionally, when Christian and Edge embraced in a friendly hug, I was a wreck. Who says wrestling fans are emotionless fools who crave violence?!
This match also saw the main roster debut of Damian Priest. Kane and Daniel Bryan also shared a Team Hell No reunion, likewise with Xavier Woods and Big E.
One notable thing that was triggering here was Ricochet’s entry in the Royal Rumble. This was confusing seeing as AJ Styles beat him in a qualifying match a few weeks ago.
To keep with the mainstream and the youth, Bad Bunny hit a crossbody onto Miz & Morrison after Miz trashed his DJ set near the ramp.
Later in the match, we saw Daniel Bryan and Riddle put on a casual wrestling match. Enough action to excite us but also keep us wanting much more! Daniel Bryan was my prediction to win this match, as he was for many.
I have lost any hope in Bryan ever winning a Rumble now after Rollins returned from paternity, sticking to his Messiah gimmick, and eliminating the former WWE Champion. I could easily see Rollins vs Bryan feature at the Grandest Stage of Them All.
Eventually, Edge managed to outlast every other competitor and become a two-time Rumble winner – oh wait, nope. He has just been RKO’d! This is obviously the rumored terrible suggestion that Orton is going to win and renew his rivalry with Drew McIntyre. The fans are desperate to see them get it on again.
Luckily, Edge managed to swerve the Irish whip and eliminate Orton for the show to end with Edge chasing his dreams at 47 years young.
In hindsight, having Edge win was the best choice. His promo on last week’s Raw proved this championship win means everything to him. Plus, if he does become the champion, we would be on the trail of incredible Edge dream matches. Just thinking about Edge vs McIntyre, Edge vs. Keith Lee, Edge vs Ricochet, Edge vs AJ Styles is exhilarating, and honestly, Bryan and SmackDown never needed the win.
The blue brand is definitely gearing up for the most thrilling Elimination Chamber match.
Whatever the road to WrestleMania entails, it is fair to say they have got fans anticipating the next few shows for the first time in months. Well done, WWE.
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