Welcome to the much anticipated, first PPV of 2016, the Royal Rumble. I’ll be honest; it’s been a very, very, very long time since I was anticipating a PPV like I was with the Royal Rumble with so many rumors being thrown around. We heard a little bit of everything from who’s going to be the surprise entrants, A.J Styles could be debuting, could the entire Bullet Club show up or could Finn Balor be a part of the Royal Rumble. If the actual Rumble match didn’t have me excited enough, the matches before the Rumble match figured to be pretty good also. Let’s see what I thought about this PPV!!!
This was the opening match of the night between the Intercontinental Champion, Dean Ambrose defending it against the former champ in Kevin Owens. These two have been feuding for a few months now and I must say that I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Whenever you put these two in the ring together I expect nothing but a good match coming out of it and the match was great. Of course, it was a Last Man Standing Match and they literally beat the hell out of each other by using tables, chairs and whatever they could find. The match went about twenty minutes and after Ambrose tossed Owens through two tables that were set-up, he picked up the win. Winner and Still Intercontinental Champ: Dean Ambrose
Match Rating: 4.25/5
This is another match featuring a feud that has been going on the past few months also between the tag champs, New Day facing the Usos. New Day has been the most entertaining act for the past few months and they just get it. All three of them know how to get the fans into it and they can go in the ring also. The Usos have been the most consistent tag team in the WWE over the last few years and they are really over with the fans also. As far as the match went, this was another good match between these two and in the end, New Day retained the titles when Big E caught Jimmy from the top rope and hit the Big Ending. Winners and Still Tag Champions: New Day
Match Rating: 3/5
These two have been feuding for the past month or so with them trading the United States title on Monday Night Raw and Smackdown a few weeks back. Rumor has it that Kalisto is in line for a major push because Vince is looking for someone to replace the departed Rey Mysterio. This was another good, physical match despite a few botches throughout the match. In the end, Kalisto hit another Salina Del Sol on Del Rio to win the match. Winner and New United States Champion: Kalisto
Match Rating: 3/5
These two joined the main roster at the same time as part of Team PCB with Paige, but she eventually turned on both of them and they remained friends. After Charlotte won the title and eventually aligned herself with her dad, Ric Flair she slowly started her heel turn and she went full-fledged on Becky Lynch after being pinned by her. They have been feuding for the past month and this was another match I was looking for. This match was pretty good and we saw Ric Flair get involved quite a few times, even kissing Becky Lynch during the match, only to receive a slap to the face. In the end, Charlotte picked up the win with the help of Flair and afterwards, we heard the music of Sasha Banks and the crowd ERUPTED!!! She came out, kicked Becky Lynch out of the ring, gave Charlotte five and when Charlotte went to leave, she hit the Bank Statement on Charlotte, then held up the Divas title in the face of Ric Flair. Winner and Still Divas Champ: Charlotte
Match Rating: 3.5/5
We knew coming into this match that Roman Reigns would be defending his WWE Championship in the Royal Rumble match and he would be the first entrant to the match. He started the match against Rusev and before the 3rd entrant came to the ring, he eliminated him. After Rusev was eliminated, Roman Reigns looked confused and the 3rd entrant was none other than A.J. Styles and the crowd went NUTS!!!! Styles had a really good debut, I mean he debuted in the Royal Rumble match and lasted a pretty long time, but he was eventually eliminated by Kevin Owens, which was a great choice. The entire Royal Rumble match was really good and we saw an appearance from Sami Zayn, who actually eliminated Kevin Owens. The Wyatt Family dominated the Royal Rumble match until Brock Lesnar entered and got rid of all of them except Bray. Afterwards, Bray summoned the entire Wyatt Family to surround the ring and get rid of Lesnar. Earlier in the match, the League of Nations attacked Roman Reigns and beat the hell out of him that sent him to the back, but he returned later in the Royal Rumble match. After cleaning the ring and with only a few guys remaining, it was time for the 30th entrant and it was none other than Triple H. The final three was Triple H, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, but Triple H eliminated Roman Reigns leaving him and Ambrose to fight for the championship. After going at each other for a few minutes, Triple H managed to eliminate Dean Ambrose to become the new WWE Champion, his 14th reign. Winner and New WWE Champion: Triple H
Match Rating: 4.25/5
Overall Rating: 8/10- This was an AMAZING PPV from the beginning to the end. The opening match raised the bar pretty high because Ambrose/Owens really put on a really good, physical match that saw so much action with tables and chairs. After the opening match, we had really good matches for the tag titles, U.S. title and the Divas Championship. The Rumble match delivered and was one of the better Royal Rumble matches I’ve ever saw.
What did you think the Royal Rumble PPV? What did you think about the debut of the “Phenomenal One” A.J. Styles? What are your thoughts about Triple H walking away as the new WWE Champion?
