Royal Rumble 2020 Recap
On an incredibly sad day, the passing of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gigi, the WWE had to put on a show that would hopefully bring joy to fans worldwide who have been touched by this news.
The Royal Rumble kicked off the Road to Wrestlemania in Houston, Texas as men and women battled for the opportunity at the grandest stage of them all. For the most part, the show delivered with high octane action but at times the show staled, thus the rollercoaster experience of this event. We did, however, see a return of a legend that made you smile during such a hard day. Here is what you missed from WWE’s first major pay per view of the decade:
Rumble Winners
Vince McMahon finally pulled the plug on his most prized possession: Drew McIntyre. The budding star in the making got the biggest win of his career, sending the last man, Roman Reigns, over to secure his spot at Wrestlemania. Charlotte Flair did Charlotte Flair things and added another accomplishment to her already grand resume, setting up for a major encounter against Bayley or “The Man” Becky Lynch. To most of the WWE Universe, these names weren’t a surprise at all.
Charlotte Flair has been a staple of the women’s division since she’s arrived on the scene. She’s an 11-time world champion from NXT, Raw and Smackdown. Flair was the most logical winner giving that Sasha Banks was not cleared to participate in the match though, in the end, it looked like WWE was ready to go the route of Shayna Baszler. Bianca Belair had an incredible showing as well now holding the record, with Baszler, for most eliminations in the women’s rumble. She surely has superstar and charisma to build around as a future world champion but for now will have to focus on capturing the NXT Women’s Champion at Takeover: Portland from Rhea Ripley. The Glamazon Beth Phoneix had a gusty performance after suffering a nasty cut in the back of her head that had half of hair bright red. Other than those notable performances, the women’s rumble often struggled at times with its pace, lack of big names, and development of feuds during the match.
The men’s rumble, however, was electric, to say the least. The contest started with Brock Lesnar dominating the majority of the contest. He tied the record with 13 eliminations, all doing it in a fashion never seen before. WWE left fans of the edge of their seat waiting to see who will throw over the beast…and then came McIntyre. A thunderous claymore sent Lesnar over the ropes and the eyes of McIntyre said it all, he wanted this. WWE has been building his character as of late giving him more opportunities to showcase his character outside of the Scottish Psychopath. The icing of the cake was McIntyre sending Roman Reigns over as fan began to boo the match as the thought of another Reigns/Lesnar Wrestlemania became more prevalent. Now WWE has the next few months to build this inevitable encounter between McIntyre and Lesnar.
Suprise Returns
The best thing to come from this Rumble was the Rated-R Superstar making his in-ring return from retirement. Edge hadn’t been in a ring since April 2011, when he was forced into retirement due to spinal fusion neck surgery. For someone who hasn’t competed since nearly 10 years ago, he looked good in his return. You worried during the match about his neck and possible re-injury but WWE wouldn’t have brought him back unless he was officially cleared. However, he did look gassed throughout the match and some hits he took made you cringe. With Edge’s return, WWE can go in many different routes if they want to showcase the HOF in upcoming programming. Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and now Alister Black is one man short from evening the odds in their battle against Rollins and Co…
Not to be overshadowed by Edge, Naomi made her return to the women’s division as well as her amazing stunts of avoiding elimination. Naomi is a legit threat to both champions as she can be built in a small feud before Wrestlemania. She will surely bring some buzz to a stale division that only sees the top stars as worthy of TV time while the rest of the division watches. A gimmick surprise we got as the No. 29 entrant was Santina Marella who made his return to WWE as well.
Champions Retained
We didn’t see no title change hands at this event but WWE made sure you felt the possibility of a new champion with near falls. Bray Wyatt, Bayley, and Asuka all escaped Royal Rumble with a win despite being pushed by their challengers. Wyatt and Daniel Bryan had a match of the year candidate with their strap match that turned out to be better than initially thought. A violent affair that saw welts grow on both competitors from the attacks from the straps. This was Wyatt’s best since he has made his return as the Fiend and it looks as this feud will continue to evolve so look forward to more matches between the two.
Asuka and Becky have incredible chemistry in their matches and both sold the other well in this hard-fought match up. Asuka was every bit Lynch’s equal but Lynch was finally able to get over the hump and outsmart the Kabuki Warrior. Bayley and Lacey Evans didn’t have as great of a matchup, a large part due to the flatness of the crowd but both did well in escalating their story with Evans almost making a late rally to win.
Look forward to Raw tonight to give us a taste of what’s to come in this build for Wrestlemania.
