Men’s Royal Rumble Match
The 2020 Royal Rumble will go down as one of the most satisfying Royal Rumble PPV’s in WWE history because it had such a satisfying conclusion. Arguably, no man deserves to win the Royal Rumble match more than Drew McIntyre. He is a first-time winner, so it received more of a pop than say a second Roman Reigns victory. He has been working on his craft since 2001 at age 15 and was with WWE for years before being assigned to the jobber group 3MB. Finally, at 34, McIntyre has perfected his craft and is coming into his own as a performer. He is finally being allowed to showcase the flamboyance he has with his personality and that charming sense of arrogance.
McIntyre will be very easy to root for in his WrestleMania 36 match against Brock Lesnar. McIntyre has a feel-good story because he has worked so hard for so long in the sports entertainment industry, It is finally paying off. He also brings a certain level of believability to the storyline because it is very believable that a man of his size would believe he could present a challenge to Lesnar and perhaps even defeat him – which absolutely should happen. Speaking of Lesnar, he didn’t bury anyone in the rumble match either – everyone he eliminated got a larger spotlight than they would have if they hadn’t faced off with him.
The McIntyre – Lesnar WrestleMania match has a legit opportunity to be the main event and take precedence over The Fiend taking on his challenger who will probably be Roman Reigns at this point. This will provide a good amount of unpredictability surrounding WrestleMania because some people just assumed that Reigns would be in the main event this year since he has made a pretty full recovery from his leukemia diagnosis.
WWE fans – no matter how much they don’t like him – fans must acknowledge that when The Beast does decide to show up, Brock brings with him an unsettling presence. Lesnar also has a natural ability to elevate the level of star power of every superstar who enters the ring with him because of the amount of attention Vince McMahon has afforded to Lesnar in the booking process over the years.
The biggest surprise of the men’s Royal Rumble match was the return of Edge, who appears to be in unbelievable condition and plans to wrestle a part-time schedule similar to that of Brock Lesnar. This is fantastic news for Edge as well as the entire WWE universe because no one thought they would ever see him wrestle again after his triple fusion neck surgery in 2011.
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
Charlotte Flair could have easily gone her entire career without ever winning a Royal Rumble. Personally, I might have booked the narrative of her career to paint the picture that she had a knack for winning all big matches but struggled for some reason in Royal Rumble matches. This result instead paints the picture that she is attaining yet another accolade that is eerily similar to the accomplishments of her dad (since Ric Flair won the men’s Rumble match in 1992). It had sort of a predictable feel to it because Charlotte Flair is always a favorite in any match. This was somewhat of a letdown, but it was more than made up for with Drew McIntyre’s victory later in the night in the men’s Rumble.
Everyone was so excited to see Shayna Baszler, now at number 30. Everyone in the arena thought she was going to get the victory, as she was the betting favorite to win the women’s Rumble – and the WWE universe got the predictable result in the end. WWE teased the universe for as long as possible before going with the favorite to win.
A nice surprise in the match was Bianca Belair’s dominant showing during the first half of the match. Many of the women from NXT showed up, showcasing the depth of WWE’s women’s division.
The Rest
it was great to see Sheamus as he looked to be in great shape after nine months away to recover from an injury. I as well as most of the WWE universe figured that he retired because he has dealt with spinal stenosis for several years. Shorty G had a little bit of a rough night because he didn’t add much to the story – the highlight was clearly Sheamus’ return.
WWE made the right decision by having Andrade retain his United States Championship over Humberto Carillo. While Carillo makes for an excellent challenger for the title, he doesn’t have the budding superstar aura that Andrade does. Also, while Humberto has received a pretty decent push early on in his WWE tenure, Andrade has gotten a more sustained push and it’s going according to plan (he is a former NXT Champion and has been nearly 2 years now on the main roster).
In hindsight, which is always 20/20, the fact that Roman Reigns earned the victory over King Corbin in the opening match on the main card was almost a dead giveaway that he would not get a second major accolade in the same night by winning the men’s Rumble match. It feels about time for this rivalry to come to a conclusion so both men can move on to something fresh. Otherwise, WWE will be asking fans to put their energy into a rivalry they are not really feeling anymore.
The WWE creative team quite frankly seems to be unsure what exactly to do with Bayley. There was always the possibility that Sasha Banks could have won the Royal Rumble and chosen to face her friend at WrestleMania, but that obviously didn’t happen as she is injured. There is always the possibility that WWE could have Sasha Banks punch her ticket to face Bayley at ‘Mania through the Elimination Chamber or something like that, because I don’t know what other storylines WWE would be able to craft for Bayley.
It was almost a foregone conclusion that The Fiend would retain the Universal Championship over Daniel Bryan. Bryan can easily afford a loss due to how much the WWE universe has resonated and connected to his character in the past, and he will gain more sympathy.
It will be interesting to see what Vince McMahon decides to do with Bray Wyatt’s “The Fiend” persona post-‘Mania. One could envision that this is just a stage in the evolution of Wyatt’s character that he will portray for a year and then move on to something else. It is also plausible that this incarnation could continue for a few years because of how mesmerizing and distinct it is. There are also so many different layers to The Fiend’s psychological puzzle.
Doing away with the red lights during the match takes nothing away from the menacing presence of The Fiend. Some superstars – Seth Rollins in particular – have claimed that they couldn’t see what they were doing during matches with Bray Wyatt’s alter ego. The concept of a scrap match hindered the two superstars more than it added anything – which is obviously what was intended.
Becky Lynch has had many accomplishments over the last year and there will probably be entire chapters dedicated to her in books written years down the road about WWE history. She has now conquered the one opponent she couldn’t seem to beat in Asuka. The Man will now be able to be clear-headed in preparation for Charlotte Flair at ‘Mania.
Jordan Devlin Making Noise
Jordan Devlin made what was by far the biggest impact in the first official NXT Worlds Collide event. He competed in the fatal four-way match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and got the victory in what was the only title change the night. Very few men in the company deserve to become a champion more than he does, as it has been obvious over the past few months that he has been working very hard on perfecting his in-ring ability.
He also has an innate sense of timing that can only be developed through years of perfecting his craft. He could be one superstar to look out for as he might receive a more focused push in the coming months (it would be reasonable to anticipate he will make a move to the United States as well).
The Undisputed Era may be losing a little steam as they lost an encounter with Imperium (who may be gaining momentum). WWE may also want to think about having Trent Seven form a tag team with Cesaro since they have now both lost teeth in memorable ways in matches (just a thought for something that could eventually happen in a couple of years).