Daddy’s Hangout Presents 2017 Royal Rumble Review

Welcome to the 29^th anniversary of the Royal Rumble. This has always been one of my favorite WWE events because of the uncertainty of the Rumble match. This year is no different with big names like Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker and Goldberg being part of the Rumble match. There have been so many rumors about who may show up and possible debuts. After a really good NXTTakeover: San Antonio the previous night, the main roster will likely step their game up. We also have A.J. Styles defending the WWE title against John Cena. On the Raw side of things, Charlotte defended her title against Bayley. Last but not least, Roman Reigns challenged Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. Let’s see how the 2017 Royal Rumble turned out!!

The evening started with the Raw Women’s championship between Charlotte Flair and Bayley. These two have been somewhat feuding ever since Bayley arrived on Raw as she holds a pair of wins over the champion. As for Charlotte, what can you say about her that hasn’t been said, she’s very good at what she do. The match started off a little slow, but they quickly picked things up as both displayed a great amount of offense. Charlotte did what she normally does and that’s dominate, while Bayley played her relentless role perfectly. In the end, Charlotte picked up the win with a Natural Selection on the ring apron. Winner and Still Raw Women’s Champ: Charlotte Flair

Match Rating: 3.25/5

This is for the WWE Universal title as Kevin Owens defended his title against Roman Reigns. Of course, the build for this match revolved around Chris Jericho also. Jericho became the United States Champion a couple of weeks ago in a handicap match. For this match, Jericho will be in a shark tank above the ring. I’ll be honest, the match was much better than expected because both guys pulled out all stops. The match had its share of bumps, nearfalls and of course, Jericho found a way to get involved. Since it was a No-DQ match, Jericho threw some brass knuckles to Owens and he hit a Superman Punch on Reigns with them. Reigns kicked out afterwards and the tide turned when he went on an offensive explosion. He hit a Superman Punch on Owens while he was perched on the top rope and Owens crashed into a pyramid of chairs. Afterwards, Reigns hit a powerbomb on Owens through the announce table. Reigns tossed Owens into the ring and it seemed like Reigns was about to become the new champion, but Strowman hit the ring. Braun Strowman proceeded to beat Reigns down and hit a running power slam through the table. Owens finally came to and eventually pinned Reigns to retain the title. Winner and Still Universal Champ: Kevin Owens

Match Rating: 4/5

We have the cruiserweight title being defended as Rich Swann face Neville. This feud started after Swann successfully retained the title against Brian Kendrick and T.J. Perkins. The music of Neville hit and he came down to the ring to attack Swann and Perkins. Ever since then, Neville has called himself the King of the Cruiserweight Division and attacked Swann numerous times on Raw and 205 Live. Ever since Neville has had a change of attitude, I’m definitely digging him, but I just don’t like him being relegated to being just a cruiserweight. As far as the match, it was really good and they told an amazing story. Neville controlled most of the match, but Swann was really resilient and became very aggressive towards the end of the match. In the end, Neville regained control and applied his submission to win the match. Winner and New Cruiserweight Champ: Neville

Match Rating: 3/5

The final match before the Rumble match has A.J. Styles defending his WWE title against John Cena. You can say that Styles had one of the best rookie years in the WWE ever. On the other hand, Cena is trying to capture his 16^th world title, which would tie him with Ric Flair for the most ever. The match started off with mind games, but they picked things up and the fans were into it. If you didn’t get a chance to see this match, head to the WWE Network and check it out. You can say that this match was PHENOMENAL because both of them brought it. During the match, both men hit their finishers multiple times for nearfalls and the crowd was on their feet. Cena hit his AA a few times, even from the top rope, but still couldn’t put the champ away. On the other hand, Styles hit the Styles Clash a couple of times and couldn’t put Cena away. In the end, Styles went for the Phenomenal Forearm, but Cena caught him and hit 2 AAs to win the championship for the 16^th time. Winner and New WWE Champ: John Cena

Match Rating: 4.5/5- AWESOME Match

Finally we had the Rumble match itself and there were so many rumors headed into this match. We heard Samoa Joe could debut, plus the possibly of Kurt Angle, Finn Balor and even Kenny Omega showing up. If that’s the reason you tuned into this PPV, then you were horribly disappointed. Honestly, I was pretty pissed, but in the end I definitely understood. I’m not going to go through the order of entry and eliminations, but you can view it here. The only surprise in the match, which wasn’t a surprise, was Tye Dillinger entering the Rumble at #10. Things picked up when Braun Strowman as he entered in at #8 and eventually eliminated seven superstars. Some of the guys he tossed out were Big Cass, Mark Henry and the Big Show. He was eventually eliminated by a number of guys attacking him and Baron Corbin finishing him off. Everything went smooth until Brock Lesnar entered the Rumble at #26 as he beat down everyone in the ring. Enzo Amore came out at #27 and he was met pretty quickly by Lesnar and eliminated fast. As bodies were lying in the ring the crowd was chanting for Goldberg and he entered at #28. Goldberg and Lesnar met face-to-face and Lesnar tried to clothesline him, but was met with a spear and elimination. The Undertaker and Roman Reigns were the final two competitors; with Undertaker and Goldberg meeting face-to-face until the other competitors attacked them. Undertaker eventually eliminated Goldberg, but Reigns tossed out the Undertaker and told ‘Taker that the ring is his yard now. It came down to Jericho, Orton, Wyatt and Reigns, but Reigns eliminated Jericho quickly. Afterwards, Roman Reigns eliminated Bray Wyatt, but Orton hit the RKO and eliminated Reigns to win the Royal Rumble. 2017 Royal Rumble Winner: Randy Orton

Match Rating: 3.75/5

Overall Rating: 7/10- All the championship matches delivered and Styles/Cena was the match of the year candidate. I’ll have to say this, will Undertaker be able to have a match at WrestleMania because he looked horrible and it hurt me to say that. Will the WWE go Reigns/Strowman or Reigns/Taker? I’m cool with Orton winning the Rumble and I don’t think he’s going to be facing Cena either. Somehow I see Bray Wyatt finally capturing the championship at the Elimination Chamber PPV. On the Raw side, I’m up in the air on who will be the Universal champion and who’ll be the challenger. Either way, we’re on the Road to WrestleMania so let’s enjoy the next few months. As far as Samoa Joe or Shinsuke Nakamura not showing up, I’m cool with it because it was already a star-studded Rumble match.

What did you about the Royal Rumble PPV? What was your favorite match of the night? What was your favorite part of the Rumble match? Head to the comments section below and give me some feedback. Here are my top 3 matches from the 2017 Royal Rumble PPV!!