 Kickoff Show: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler def. Raw Women's Champion Asuka and Charlotte Flair to Win the WWE Women's Tag Team ChampionshipThis was a fairly formulaic match, though I can't say I was disappointed because I wasn't expecting much to begin with. I was slightly surprised this was bumped to the Kickoff show, but then again, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship have never been positioned as being important, so I guess I shouldn't have been. Lacey Evans and Ric Flair interfered as everyone figured they would and cost the babyfaces the tag titles in what was an overbooked finish. I can't stress enough how much of an afterthought Asuka feels like at the moment.
 Natalya def. Tamina to Earn the No. 30 Spot in the Women's Royal Rumble MatchThis was announced on SmackDown and I couldn't understand for the life of me why these two of all people would be fighting for the number 30 spot. I'm less interested in them than almost anyone else in WWE's women's division on either show, but Natalya was the more bearable choice of the two, so her winning was the right result. Hopefully Tamina isn't in there long tomorrow night because she's awful. That said, this was serviceable and not as abysmal as I was expecting. It was smart to keep this on the shorter side and just get it over with.
 Ariya Daivari def. August Grey and Jake Atlas in a Triple Threat MatchI believe it was supposed to be Grey and Atlas one-on-one before Daivari interjected himself earlier in the day. I've made it quite clear that I couldn't care less about Daivari, but he actually added to this outing by being the sole heel. They kept the pace consistent throughout, worked well together and produced a fun Triple Threat. I would have preferred one of the babyfaces winning, but the story was that Daivari stole the win from Atlas by knocking him out at ringside before pinning Grey. It made sense, though Atlas should avenge the loss eventually.
 AJ Styles Confronted Daniel BryanBryan cut the same solid promo he did last week about winning the men's Royal Rumble and was interrupted by Styles. I hate the "quarterly" Brand-to-Brand Invitational, but at least Styles and Omos acknowledged its existence and didn't just blow off the fact they were on SmackDown despite being Raw Superstars. This was a decent verbal exchange that served to set up their match for later in the night.
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