 Liv Morgan Won the 30-Woman Royal Rumble MatchThis women's Rumble was very much a mixed bag. I appreciated all of the NXT representation, and there definitely some stories told, but it was also all over the place and had plenty of dead spots. Bianca Belair and AJ Lee not returning was certainly surprising, but I'd rather they wait to kick off the Becky Lynch vs. Lee rivalry until closer to WrestleMania 42, and Belair must not be cleared yet, unfortunately. That said, if Belair was in it, she would've had to win, so I'm glad this was all about Morgan, who has been in every single women's Rumble to date and had yet to win one until now. That was the correct outcome. The final stretch or so was well done and Sol Ruca being in there right before the finish was an encouraging sign for her future on the main roster. Gunther def. AJ Styles to End Styles' CareerI thoroughly enjoyed their original outing a few weeks ago on Raw and this was even better. Obviously, Styles' career being on the line added more drama, but it was genuinely unpredictable who would win. The action was excellent and they had the crowd invested from start to finish. It truly does feel like this was it for Styles, and if so, he went out on a high note, and I'm sad to see him retire. If him not taking off his gloves afterward was an indicator that he's not totally done yet, then sign me the hell up, but that's far from confirmed. Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre def. Sami ZaynI wasn't particularly paying attention to the crowd noise for a lot of the show (one of the drawbacks of watching with other people), so I didn't notice the crowd being quiet according to what was said online, but I thought these two had a really good match. I didn't think Zayn was winning, but there were some suspenseful nearfalls down the stretch. The story of Zayn constantly coming up short whenever it matters most (or at least whenever a world title is on the line) continues. He has to get the job done eventually, but now was not the right time. Roman Reigns Won the 30-Man Royal Rumble MatchI've seen stronger Rumble matches in recent years, but I've also seen way worse. This was probably somewhere in the middle, but much like with the women's, I enjoyed it on the whole. Bron Breakker getting out immediately was a genuine shock since he was one of the odds-on favorites to win, and while I'm interested to see where that goes, the masked man stuff has gotten tiresome and repetitive. The first half or so of the Rumble was great, but it fell apart in the second half with a lot of illogical eliminations. Brock Lesnar eliminating Oba Femi? Cody Rhodes and LA Knight eliminating Lesnar while Jey Uso was making his (egregiously long) entrance? Rhodes eliminating Knight? The presentation of Powerhouse Hobbs a.k.a. Royce Keys in his debut was cool, and the exchange between the two El Grande Americanos was short and sweet, but La Parka fell flat as a surprise entrant. Reigns winning was a tad too predictable for my liking, specifically because there aren't a lot of interesting directions WWE can go in with it. Reigns vs. CM Punk has potential, but I would've rather seen Reigns in there with a fresh face this year and not competing for a championship. Maybe they'll change my mind, but I'm not overly optimistic. Overall ShowThis year's installment of the Royal Rumble will not go down as one of the best WWE has ever done. Putting aside the fact it emanated from Saudi Arabia and the crowd looked terribly empty due to the dumb LED lights, the Rumbles themselves were solid but nothing spectacular and I wasn't a fan of the way a lot of the eliminations were executed. Thankfully, the other two matches delivered, specifically Styles vs. Gunther. This wasn't the most exciting kickoff to the road to WrestleMania, but that isn't to say it's shaping up to be a dud by any means. We shall see.
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