 Cody Rhodes Won the 30-Man Royal Rumble MatchWhile this won't go down as the one of the best Rumble matches I've seen in the last decade, it was a very good on the whole and a definite improvement over last year's installment. Gunther and Sheamus starting out was brilliant given their history and they carried the early goings of the match as well as Drew McIntyre once he entered a little bit later. The first chunk of the Rumble suffered from nothing overly exciting happening, but Brock Lesnar woke the crowd back up when he came out and starting obliterating dudes before getting eliminated by Bobby Lashley (which was well done). There weren't any surprise entrants until Booker T returned, followed by Edge and Logan Paul. Although those were cool moments, I think fans (myself included) expected more than the obvious. Also, I wouldn't have had Rhodes enter at number 30. That's way too late. Maybe they wanted him to take it easy coming off his injury, but he ended up wrestling a mini match with Gunther at the end, anyway. That was terrific and shades of Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker from the 2007 Rumble. Rhodes was the right winner and he was heavily cheered by this crowd.
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 Dante Chen def. Kale DixonChen doesn't win many matches these days, but him beating newcomer Kale Dixon was a safe bet. I know nothing about Dixon, but he has a decent look and I thought he fared well for himself here. Granted, Chen was on offense for a majority of the match, but that was probably for the better. Having him work with someone who can go like Chen is definitely a smart choice. This was fine for what it was.
 Rey Mysterio def. Karrion KrossThis feud has been a fine use of both guys before Mysterio reignites his rivalry with Dominik heading into WrestleMania 39. I have no idea where Kross goes from here, but I think he'd benefit from being featured on SmackDown more consistently because he clearly isn't over at the moment. This was an enjoyable opener with a lively crowd and a surprising result. I don't think Kross should have lost clean here, but this very well could have been the end of their short-lived storyline.
 "Hangman" Adam Page def. Wheeler YutaIt's so great to have Page back in action after a few months off due to his concussion. As for Yuta, he's cooled off considerably since last year as he feels like just another member of Blackpool Combat Club (is that still a thing?) at this point, but the guy can go and this was the enjoyable, well-wrestled affair you'd expect from them. The crowd was quiet, though I'm not sure if that was due to this being a taped show, both guys being babyfaces or both. This gave Page a win before he faces Jon Moxley in a rubber match on Wednesday's Dynamite.
 Impact X-Division Champion Trey Miguel def. Mike JacksonYes, it was completely ridiculous for Jackson to be challenging for the X-Division Championship (and for him to be scoring as much offense as he did), but this was meant to be fun and the crowd was into the action. It worked perfectly with Miguel's new "disrespectful punk" gimmick and Jackson was impressive as always. The post-match angle indicated Miguel's feud with Decay's Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus isn't over yet.
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