With the Road to Wrestlemania in full swing, WWE built anticipation to the Royal Rumble last night by adding a major stipulation to the signature match. We also saw the debut of a new stable, the return of a WWE Legend and a long-awaited heel turn. Let’s take a look at what went down.
Reigns Survives.. For Now
We kick things off with Stephanie McMahon making her way to the ring, only to be interrupted halfway down the ramp by our new people’s champ Roman Reigns. Steph isn’t very happy about this but Reigns grabs the mic and says we don’t need Steph, so he’s calling out Vince McMahon himself.
Daddy’s little girl tells Roman that Vince isn’t there yet and the odds are stacked against him. Reigns goes John Cena-lite by saying if he loses tonight he loses his life and family and nobody is going to take that away, which Steph rightfully laughs at.
Steph promises to use Reigns til he can’t fight anymore after he loses tonight instead of firing him, then takes a shot at Reigns pops. Reigns tells her if he loses she’s going to have to pick Vince up from a hospital.
As he leaves, Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose makes his way in and BROS FOR LIFE.
Backstage we see a black limo pull in and Vince is in the building. JoJo interviews him and Vince tells her that all charges against him from last week have been dropped and this week he is the law.
It’s finally main event time and Vince comes out in his ref gear which is… interesting.
This was exactly what we expected it to be. Reigns overcoming fast-counts every time Sheamus tried a pin, Reigns overcoming slow-counts every time he tried to pin, and a physical hoss match between the two men.
Things start to break down when Vince decides not to count at all on a Reigns pin attempt. Reigns hits the ropes to Superman Punch Sheamus… but he reverses course and takes McMahon out!
Seriously, Vince would fire a wrestler if they sold a bump as badly as he does.
Reigns hits Sheamus with a spear but there’s no ref so he starts calling for one, only nobody comes out. He starts taking the frustration for this out on Sheamus and takes him to the announce table… only to realize that Vince is starting to get up so he starts dragging Vince around until Steph comes out to stop him.
She gets on the apron and starts screaming so Reigns throws Vince into the ropes, which flips Steph into the ring.
This distraction leads to not one but two Brogue Kicks from Sheamus who makes the cover but somehow Reigns kicks out at two when evil ref Scott Armstrong comes out for the count. He helps Sheamus pick Reigns up for a third Brogue Kick but Roman goes insane and murderizes everyone.
Sheamus eats another spear and a third ref comes out for the three-count as Reigns somehow overcomes the odds and retains.
Afterwards, angry Vince is angry and he punches the official who made the three-count. He grabs the mic and says that Reigns will be defending the title at Royal Rumble… IN THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH.
Early prediction – Reigns enters at 1, Brock Lesnar enters at 30 and wins the title. So Reigns gets his crowning moment at ‘Mania after overcoming the Authority AND Brock Lesnar.
Other Results –
Owens & Neville Put on a Show – Continuing the feud that isn’t really a feud but is more the reason for our IC title feud, Kevin Owens and Neville stole the show with a fun, physical match.
Reminder – Neville is pretty freaking amazing in the ring.
He also sells like a Champion.
Oh and Kevin Owens… still vicious.
Owens picks up the win with a vicious Pop-Up Power Bomb. After the match, he continues to beat Neville down again as he did last week, with Ambrose making the save and finishing things off by putting KO through the announce table with an elbow drop.
This feud is so… underwhelming. These guys are amazing, and yet they can’t get an interesting feud going. Last month’s match had no build-up, this month’s match is based on… Ambrose stopping Owens from being a bully? I don’t know, I have super high expectations for this thing and thus far just haven’t enjoyed it at all.
Y2J Back – The New Day comes out and cuts an awesome promo as per usual only to be interrupted by a returning Y2J. Chris Jericho comes out, calls them rooty tooty booty, makes a Fetty Wap reference and then enters himself into the Rumble.
New Day Still Rocking – New Day picks up the win over the Dudley Boyz and Kalisto with their finisher.
Rusev and Del Rio Destroy the Usos – Pretty good tag match between the Usos and half of the League of Nations. The Usos took a ton of punishment in this one.
Our finish sees Del Rio hit a monstrous stomp for the win.
Dolph Ziggler is Getting Buried Again – Dolph Ziggler comes out for a match and his opponent is… Heat Slater? Slater comes out with Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas and Adam Rose and they are officially a stable which is absolutely amazing.
Slater picks up the win thanks to a distraction and roll-up, and afterwards the group dubs themselves the Social Outcasts.
Remember when Ziggler single-handedly beat the Authority at Survivor Series 2014? Me neither.
Charlotte FINALLY Turns Heel – Backstage we see Becky Lynch and Charlotte talking about their upcoming match and being best friends which was lame. What wasn’t lame was their match, which might have been the highlight of the night. Charlotte started to show some heel tendencies throughout the match, and once again tried to use a Ric Flair distraction for the win, but Becky reverses and rolls Charlotte up for the 1-2-3!
After the match, Charlotte goes full heel and beats Becky down while Ric is very happy about it. Charlotte-Becky for the Divas title on Smackdown this Thursday.
Battle of Immovable Objects – Big Show and Ryback had a match that was not fun at all. The Wyatt’s interrupted to cause a DQ and then proceeded to destroy Ryback. We then get a staredown between Show and Strong Throwman that was.. yeah.
They fight for like 10 seconds and then the Wyatt’s beat Show down. Bray then says they will rise at the Royal Rumble.
Titus O’Neil Beats Stardust – Yeah that’s all you need to know.