Monitoring Desk
The Royal Rumble might not have gone according to the expectations with some minor surprises but there were no massive headline makers in the exhausting first pay-per-view of the year.
Before the bell could ring, Roman Reigns was attacked by Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. But Reigns quickly recovered and threw Jericho in the shark cage.
Owens then hit a frog splash onto Reigns through a table, but the latter responded with a Samoan Drop through a chair and a Superman Punch, nevertheless could only get a two-count. Owens then assembled some chairs and decided to suplex Reigns off the top rope. However, the plan backfired him as Reigns connected with a superman punch and Owens fell into the chairs.
With momentum shifting, Reigns then thought of powerbombing Owens through the table, but as he rolled him into the ring to execute it, in came the beast Braun Strowman from the crowd.
Strowman pulled Reigns outside of the ring, assaulting the Universal Championship challenger with a chokeslam through the German announce table and powerslammed through a table in the ring.
Owens somehow came in time to pin Reigns and retain the championship.
Neville went in the game as undisputed favourites but Rich Swann turned the tables with a superkick followed by a Phoenix Splash to the outside of the ring. But Neville made amends to his poor start with a suplex off the top rope and won the championship with a double-arm choker submission.
Probably should go as one of the matches of the decade! AJ Styles and John Cena put on a wrestling beauty, just as they had done at SummerSlam in Brooklyn last August in a match the former won.
Styles was able to hit the Cena a Phenomenal Forearm, a Pele Kick and a Styles Clash, and entombed Cena in his own submission move, the STF. That was not all about Styles, he also had the ability to kick out of two Attitude Adjustments and a Diamond Cutter move.
Sensing the game was just a finishing move away, Cena went to top rope for an Attitude Adjustment, but Styles kicked out in two again to leave the crowd dazed. Styles again countered Cena’s AA, and attempted to finish the match with one more Phenomenal Forearm.
But Cena caught him and hit an AA and rather pinning him, the Cenation leader struck with another AA for earning the title. With the win against Styles, Cena matched Ric Flair’s record of 16 world titles.
It turned out to be an interesting game, probably due to all its build-up and hype, but may not have lived up to the expectations of many.
Braun Strowman eliminated seven members, notably the likes of Mark Henry, Big Show and Big Cass. Strowman after cleaning the house was eliminated by the combination of Barron Corbin and Sami Zayn.
Sheamus tagged with Cesaro and sent the New Day tag team out within a matter of five seconds. Sheamus then tried to eliminate Cesaro but was then attacked from behind by Chris Jericho, who removed both Sheamus and Cesaro.
Randy Ortan and Luke Harper entered the fray and they were followed by Brock Lesnar. Lesnar eliminated three competitors until the entry of his nemesis Goldberg. Goldberg made sure Lesnar gets eliminated, spearing him and throwing him out of the ring.
Goldberg also eliminated Luke Harper and Rusev, but the Undertaker threw Goldberg out of the ring. The Dead Man also was able to get three competitors out and looked set for glory.
That’s when Roman Reigns stunned the crowd at No. 30. Reigns unbelievably eliminated the Undertaker. Reigns, Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt were the last three survivors. Orton first removed Wyatt and then turned a spear into a RKO and throw Reigns over the top rope for the victory.
