FIVE GOLDEN ROYAL RUMBLE MOMENTS TO REMEMBER
It was indeed a Rumble to remember at the San Antonio Alamodome, Texas last weekend where the 30th Royal Rumble was held. With a huge crowd of 52,020 WWE denizens, expectations were high that the ring would offer exciting and bloody challenges. Here are five golden moments of WWE Royal Rumble:
Roman Reigns Robbed Again:
It is gradually becoming convincing that the WWE athlete suffers from a near-success syndrome. Each time he comes close to winning a championship match, there’s always an obstacle blocking his victory. His quest to regain the WWE Universal Championship title from Kevin Owens would have paid off if not for the unexpected intervention of Braun Strowman. With Chris Jericho locked up in a cage that was suspended above the ring, Strowman was Owens’ saviour in retaining his title. Strowman sent Reigns crashing on the announcement table, the steel bar of the ring, and another table inside the ring before leaving him for Owens to finish off. Again, at the rumble match, Reigns was almost close to winning the match but was defeated by The Viper, Randy Orton, who clinched the headline ticket to WrestleMania.
A Battle of Resilience:
John Cena vs AJ Styles match is the best match of the Royal Rumble event. In a battle between determination and phenomenon, only resilience can win. That was the case on Sunday when the two wrestlers applied every trick in their books to emerge the winner of the adrenaline-filled match. From face-offs to high jumps, the athletes exhausted all manner of stunts. For both athletes, the aim was to set records. Cena succeeded in setting a record of winning the WWE Champion title for the 16th time while Styles couldn’t maintain his victory streak of defeating Cena in every match since he joined the WWE last year.
The Rise and Rise of Braun Strowman: Strowman is gradually becoming the Daredevil of the WWE wrestlers. Armed with an intimidating height and brawn, he is the new face of fear, just like his moniker ‘Monster of Men’. Although, he did not win the Royal Rumble match, he made an impressive record by eliminating seven wrestlers including the world strongest man Mark Henry and the world largest man Big Show (whom he eliminated last year), but was later eliminated by Corbyn.
New Foes:
At the Royal Rumble match, any man fends for himself irrespective of their alliances. Therefore, the seeds of betrayal was wildly sown in the Royal Rumble. While The New Day and Big Cass and Enzo Amore were saved from the dilemma of turning against one another, the Celtic Warrior Sheamus and his tag team partner, Cesaro didn’t waste time in throwing their friendship out of the ring. Entering the match at number 19, Cesaro was at the point of swinging Sheamus but for Rusev who kicked him in the chin. The two partners will be eliminated later simultaneously by Chris Jericho after Sheamus tried to eliminate Cesaro just after they eliminated The New Day. The bad blood is already brewing among the two wrestlers. The internal strife in The Wyatt’s family came to a boiling point at the match. Luke Harper attacked Bray Wyatt to the astonishment of the former but was eliminated by Goldberg.
The Beast and Undertaker’s Short-Lived Moments:
After creating a wave of fear with his catchy phrase: “I’ve dug 29 holes for 29 souls”, for his participation in the Royal Rumble match, the invincible Undertaker only succeeded in digging only four holes for Goldberg, Corbyn, Sami Zayn and Miz. He was eliminated by Roman Reigns, the last man to enter the ring.
The Beast’s entrance at number 26 on the other hand was greeted with much fanfare. He ended up eliminating only Dean Ambrose, Dolph Zigler and Enzo before Goldberg gave him a double humiliation by throwing him out of the ring.