2016 Royal Rumble results and reaction

2016 Royal Rumble

   Another year another Rumble in the books and guess what? We got a pretty good one this year! Sure the way it all ended with Triple H walking away as Champion was very disappointing since this was their chance to crown a new top guy but it could have been worse.....it could have been Roman Reigns. What we did get though was a card, for the first time in a long time, that didn't have a "filler" bathroom match in it and delivered from top to bottom. We got an awesome last man standing match between Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens, New Day showing why they're basically everything in the Tag Team division right now and did i forget to mention the WWE debut of AJ STYLES!!!!! So lets get to the rundown shall we....

Damien Sandow/Darren Young vs. Dudley Boyz vs. The Ascension vs. Mark Henry/Jack Swagger

   The pre-show featured a 4 team tag match to determine which guys gained entrance into the Royal Rumble. Really tells you what the company thinks of you when you have to compete in a match to gain entrance into the Rumble but whatever. Its good to see Damien Sandow back to using his old gimmick again though and he was the one member of this match to get any kind of buzz on them. Match itself was OK, aside from the freeze frame botch the Ascension had about timing to break up a pin, with Mark Henry and Jack Swagger walking away as the winners. Sad state of affairs for these two former world champions that this is what they're reduced to but it is what it is and they move on.

Winner(s): Mark Henry and Jack Swagger

Intercontinental Championship Last Man Standing: Dean Ambrose(C) vs. Kevin Owens

   Next up is the Intercontinental Championship Last Man Standing match between Ambrose and Owens. What a match! Everything we hoped it could be and more. Its rare to get a burst of Indy and hardcore awesomeness nowadays with the PG era and all but these two showed you can still bring down the house. Kendo sticks, multiple stacked tables and chairs galore made this the match of the night, even more so then the Rumble itself. Want to see a top rope fisherman buster through a table? How about a running cannonball through the outside barricade? This match had it all and then some and really got the crowd into the show right away and they stayed hot all night. Anyway in the end Ambrose picks up the win by pushing Owens off the top rope through two stacked tables at ringside, yep that happened to. My only request is maybe don't mic up ringside so much because whoever the idiot was who was taunting Owens when setting up those tables was super annoying but other then that 5-Star match and a great look at the future of the company. Now lets take a look at some highlights shall we....

Winner and Still Champion: Dean Ambrose

Tag Team Championship:  New Day(C) vs. The Usos

   Next up we get the Tag Team Championship, a division now entirely about the awesomeness that is The New Day! I mean really they are everything for the tag team ranks right now. Sure the Lucha Dragons and Usos are talented teams but the entertainment level New Day brings steals the show every week. These guys took a terrible gimmick and have now made it all that is good in wrestling. Good job boys..

   Anyway the match itself was solid as was expected. Both the Uso's and New Day are great ring workers and showed why they're in the position they're in right now. It is sad though that the Uso's lost the momentum they had before Jey's shoulder injury and now kinda seem like also-rans. The New Day picking up the ball and running with it as they did didn't help but its also very obvious who the top dogs are now. In the end New Day picked up the win and all was right in the world.

Winner and Still Champion(s): The New Day

United States Championship: Alberto Del Rio (C) vs. Kalisto

   Next up is the US championship with a feud that kinda came out of nowhere. Well not nowhere exactly as it was born out of Sin Cara separating his shoulder and them needing something for Kalisto to do while he recovers. I must admit i was surprised though that Kalisto picked up the win here.  had this pegged as him putting up a valiant effort but ultimately falling short in the end and disappearing back down the card, his win here seems to show that management has some kind of faith in him to give him the win at the second biggest show of the year. The match itself was OK, nothing special but OK. Kalisto got jumped before the match by the rest of the League of Nations and then got dominated for the majority but was still able to pull it off. Good for him and i hope it continues, lets hope the Sin Cara botch gene isn't rubbing off though as Kalisto did blow a spot pretty obviously late but other then that a solid effort by both. It did include this move however which i hope ADR adds to his move set because its pretty brutal.

Winner and New Champion: Kalisto

Divas Championship: Charlotte (C) vs. Becky Lynch

  Next up we have the Divas Championship match. On paper, and going off the matches these two had in NXT, this should have been a candidate for match of the night but didn't end up that way. Don't get me wrong there was nothing particularly

Add your Frank Drebin quotes here 

   So after the interference Charlotte was able to turn it around and pick up the win, good for Charlotte but I'm afraid what this could mean for Becky since right after she lost this happened...

The Boss is back!!

   Yep Sasha Banks returned, put the boots to Becky Lynch and then took her spot against Charlotte for Fastlane. Sure its great to see Sasha back but i just don't want to see Lynch get buried. The downside of having so many great women wrestlers now is there's nowhere near enough room for them all. Anyway Charlotte picks up the win and its MAIN EVENT TIME!!!!

Winner and Still Divas Champion: Charlotte

2016 Royal Rumble

   Royal Rumble time it is!! OK before we get too far into it lets just get this out of the way now...

   AJ STYLES IS IN THE WWE!!! He made his debut last night and put on a pretty good showing too, not to mention getting the biggest pop of the night. Sure Styles wasn't able to hit the Styles Clash on anyone, that be Michelle McCools finisher for all you non-TNA people, but he still lasted about 30 minutes and got set-up with a ready made feud with Kevin Owens as Owens eliminated him. All together a great debut for AJ and lets hope WWE was listening to the way the crowd reacted to him as well.

I'm getting in one signature move dammit!!

   So lets get into the Rumble itself, what a great damn match it was!! Whether you like the idea of HHH winning and becoming champion again, which i did not, the match itself had allot going for it. I was a bit surprised their were no surprise "Legends" or surprise entrants this year as that's usually a good pop getter every year but they didn't need it. The Rumble itself actually felt almost like it was broken into sections. There were mini-story lines all over the place that made the match interesting, or frustrating as the Reigns "injury" portion was, and gave WWE not only an out to eliminate some favorites but also allowed them to set up Wrestlemania by kicking off a few feuds as well. 

   We had the Wyatt's dominating for a bit, particularly Braun throwing out Kane easily and then choking out Big Show before dumping him over the top rope, before everyone except Bray being eliminated by Brock Lesnar. This however led to the Wyatt's just jumping in the ring, beating Lesnar down, and throwing him over the top rope. This is obviously the start to a Bray Wyatt/Brock Lesnar feud for Wrestlemania and that sounds perfect! I was personally hoping for Bray to walk away with the gold but a main event slot at Wrestlemania will do.

Whoops wrong match

   Yeah this happened to R-Truth as well, but honestly it was a highlight so whatever. Added some much needed levity and didn't bury him at all, which is more then i can say for Swagger and Henry who both earned their spot in the Rumble only to both get eliminated immediately. We also got to see Kevin Owens reignite an old feud with a returning Sami Zayn who came back and then eliminated Owens. Here's hoping an AJ-Owens-Zayn match is in our 'Mania future, unless its all 3 in the Money in the Bank match in which case I'm also listening.

Lets do it!!

   Couple random thoughts before the main parts, Jericho had a surprisingly good showing as well. He stayed in almost an hour and made it to the final 5. Lets hope this is setting him up for some substantial coming up and not just a "Good job guy" booking. Only one member of the "Social Outcasts" were entered in but all 4 came down to the ring? Seems they should have done more with that and not just use them as punching bags. Same thing with the League of Nations although Barrett was the only one not to get in here. How did Titus O'Neill get entered but Darren Young had to earn his slot? Can we officially say Big Show and Kane are no longer threats to win despite what the announcers say?  OK so time for the main thrust.

 

   Yep they did they injury angle for Roman Reigns to get him out of the Rumble for awhile. I always hate when this gimmick gets used as its a dead giveaway whats on their mind. "Lets get Roman out so we can keep Brock away from destroying him before he wins". Sure Roman didn't win but it still was distracting they did it. Anyway he did eventually return and start clearing house for a bit but then the impossible happened...

   Yep got caught looking the wrong way and dumped. This also got the second biggest pop of the night which tells you where the WWE Universe is with Reigns. The final 2 were HHH and Dean Ambrose and I'll admit i was super excited. Even though it was pretty obvious which way they were gonna go a part of me liked the idea of Ambrose pulling off the upset, not to mention the cache he would gain by holding the Intercontinental and Heavyweight titles at the same time. It would have been a huge boost to Ambrose's character and made all 3 former Shield members legit World Champions. It wasn't to be however as HHH reversed Ambrose on the ropes and back body dropped him over the top to the absolute thundering silence that was the Amway Center in Orlando. Yep dead silence from a crowd who had been hot all night. Sure its the smart move business wise to put the belt on a known quantity heading into an injury depleted Wrestlemania but they still blew a huge opportunity to crown a new star without having to diminish an existing one. HHH winning is basically just spinning their wheels and playing it safe. This is corporate WWE however so playing it safe is what the do now fans be damned. We'll see if it helps ratings at all

Take this Smarks!!

Winner of 2016 Royal Rumble and New Heavyweight Champion: Triple H

   

   Overall the 2016 Royal Rumble was a very good show, the Owens/Ambrose match was amazing and the Royal Rumble itself was also fantastic. If they can keep this booking up maybe Wrestlemania won't be the disaster it looks like it might be. Anyway lets see where Monday Night Raw leads us heading into Fastlane, super excited to see.