Daddy’s Hangout 2019 Royal Rumble Review

We are officially on the road to WrestleMania. Royal Rumble has been one of my favorite PPVs because the Rumble is cool and all the uncertainty around it. For the second year, we had the ladies having their very own Royal Rumble match. Finn Balor challenged Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. Daniel Bryan put up his WWE Championship against former champ, A.J. Styles. Ronda Rousey battled Sasha Banks for her Raw Women’s title. Asuka defended the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch. Shane McMahon & The Miz challenged the Bar for the SmackDown tag titles. Let’s see how things turned out with the 2019 Royal Rumble.

We kicked the night off with Asuka defending her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch. The match was a physical one with both of them hitting a series of strikes and kicks. Throughout the match, both of them locked in their submissions and had chances to win. They fought on the outside as both hit painful moves on each other. Towards the end of the match, they both had the others submission move locked on the other. Crazy spot in the match when Lynch hit the Bexploder from the top rope for a near fall. The crowd was definitely into the match with most of the support going to Lynch. In the end, they had a great sequence full of counters and submission holds. Asuka locked in the Asuka Lock, but Lynch reversed and fought it off until Asuka reversed it. After Asuka reversed it, Lynch tapped giving Asuka the win. Winner and Still SmackDown Women’s Champ: Asuka

Match Rating: 4/5- Really good match as expected.

The Bar defended their SmackDown Tag Titles against the new team of the Miz & Shane McMahon. The match started off with Shane spearing Sheamus. Cesaro pulled Sheamus out of the ring to gather themselves. Afterwards, the Bar took advantage of the match. Both teams had the advantage of the match at some point. Crazy spot when Shane went for the Drive-By on both Cesaro & Sheamus. Cesaro caught Shane and did the Cesaro Swing on Shane in what seemed like forever. After Cesaro stopped, Shane put him in the Triangle Choke and tried to make him tap. Sheamus hit Shane with a knee from the top rope and Miz kicked him out of the ring. Eventually, Miz hit Sheamus with the Skull Crushing Finale and Shane hit the Shooting Star Press for the win on Cesaro. Winner and New SmackDown Tag Champs: Miz & Shane McMahon

Match Rating: 3/5

Ronda Rousey defended her Raw Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks. From the beginning of the match, they really went after each other. Sasha was really on a mission as she took the fight to Rousey. Rousey quickly turned the ties as she took the fight to Banks on the outside. Rousey went to work on Banks and even knocked out one of the LED ring posts after missing Banks with a forearm. The match went back into the ring where Banks took advantage of the arm injury of Rousey. Banks kept the advantage and hit Rousey with a good amount of offense. They both had their fair share of submission moves on each other. Rousey finally got in a good amount of offense in and started to work on Bank’s arm. In the end, Rousey hit the Piper’s Pit for the win. Winner and Still Raw Women’s Champ: Ronda Rousey

Match Rating: 3.75/5- Another good match! After the match, Rousey & Banks showed signs of respect to each other. Banks left the ring and as Rousey was heading up the aisle Banks met her again. After talking, Banks held up the 4 Horsewomen sign and left.

Lacey Evans and Natalya started the match. Things picked up when Nikki Cross entered at #8. Cross hit the ring taking out everyone as the crowd was fully behind her. Xion Li from NXT came in at #11 and Kairi Sane at 14. Sane & Charlotte who came in at #13 had a chop off on each other. Ember Moon and Kacy Catanzaro pulled a Kofi Kingston stunt holding off elimination. Hornswoggle appeared under the ring Zelina Vega was under the ring. Alexa Bliss returned to the ring as she came in at #26 and the crowd erupted. Nia Jax eliminated Natalya when she entered at 29 after Natalya was in the ring for almost 56 minutes. Lana was being attended to by the trainers, Nia Jax hurt her more. Lynch came out and asked to replace her and Fit Finlay let her. Lynch went right after Jax for hurting her last year. The final four came down to Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Nia Jax & Bayley. Bayley was the first eliminated out of the four. Lynch eliminated Nia Jax while she was on the outside leaving her & Charlotte as the final two. Jax pushed Lynch off the steps and it seemed to hurt her knee. Charlotte continued to go after the knee but in the end, Lynch eliminated Charlotte to win the match. 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble Winner: Becky Lynch

Match Rating: 3/5- The match had its moments, but everyone was happy to see Becky Lynch Win the match.

The New Daniel Bryan defended the WWE title against former champ, A.J. Styles. Honestly, this match fell flat and only garnished minimal reaction from the fans. A.J. Styles got in some offense here and there, but Daniel Bryan pretty much controlled the match. Bryan worked on the arm of Styles but A.J. continued to fight back. Things got interesting when Erick Rowan appeared out of nowhere. Towards the end, Bryan tried to kick Styles but hit the official. Styles hit the Styles Clash and went for the pin, but Rowan hit the ring. Rowan grabbed Styles, put the claw on him and chokeslammed him. Bryan made the cover for the win. Winner and Still WWE Champion: Daniel Bryan

Match Rating: 3.25/5- After the match, Rowan held Styles so he could hit his running knee. Rowan and Bryan left to together which makes for an interesting storyline.

Brock Lesnar defended his Universal Championship against Finn Balor. Balor won a Fatal Fourway match on Raw a couple weeks prior to earn the shot. Going into the match it was a David vs. Goliath thing. Balor went right after Lesnar as soon as the bell rang. After a minute, Lesnar for the upper hand as he manhandled Balor. Balor gained controlled again and injuring the ribs of Lesnar. Finn hit three consecutive over the top rope flips onto Lesnar. Balor rolled Lesnar back inside and continued working on Brock. Balor eventually hit the Coup De Grace on Lesnar. Brock countered the pin attempt into the Kamura Lock and eventually Balor tapped. Winner and Still Universal Champ: Brock Lesnar

Match Rating: 4/5- This was an incredible fast paced match between these two. Lesnar looked like he was in a fight and after the match, he attacked Balor and hitting consecutive suplexes. Say what you want about Brock, the people always react to him.

We had the Men’s Royal Rumble and there were so many possibilities throughout the day. Jeff Jarrett was the first surprise as he entered second. Johnny Gargano and Aleister Black from NXT was a part of the match and both done well. Kurt Angle also appeared in the match. While many thought he was gone, Dolph Ziggler also appeared in the match. We knew that R-Truth wouldn’t keep #30 and we wanted a major surprise and we got one. Nia Jax attacked R-Truth during his entrance, beat him up and took his spot, which got the fans going. Nia hit the ring and the fellows didn’t know what to do so she attacked everyone in sight. Nia actually eliminated a couple of people in the process and then the tide changed. Nia was eliminated with a Ziggler super kick, Mysterio hit the 619 and Orton landed the RKO. Mysterio finally eliminated her. The final four was Strowman, Rollins, Andrade and Ziggler. Strowman eliminated Andrade and Ziggler leaving him & Rollins as the final two. Rollins and Strowman fought each other on the apron and in the end, Rollins finally tossed the big man. 2019 Men’s Royal Rumble Winner: Seth Rollins

Match Rating: 3/5

Overall Rating: 6/10- There were so many expectations heading into this Royal Rumble. While the Rumble matches didn’t live up to lofty expectations, the WWE listened to the fans. They did the right thing by having Lynch & Rollins win the match. Both Women Championship matches delivered as the crowd ate them. Check out my top three matches from the night.