WWE Royal Rumble 2020

WWE Royal Rumble 2020

Houston, TX - January 2020

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, the WWE Championship was held by Brock Lesnar, while the Universal Championship was held by "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt. The Intercontinental Champion was Shinsuke Nakamure, the US Champion was Andrade "Cien" Almas, the 24/7 Champion was Mojo Rawley, the RAW Women's Champion was Becky Lynch, and the SmackDown Women's Champion was Bayley. The SmackDown Tag Team Champions were The New Day, while the RAW Tag Team titles were held by Seth Rollins and Murphy. 

Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin was the opener for this year's edition of the Royal Rumble. This was a Falls Count Anywhere match and they didn't waste any time exploiting that stipulation, brawling all over the baseball stadium, including on the dugout towards the end. This wasn't a terrible match and the live crowd was definitely popping for the big moves - but watching on TV, it just didn't pop off the screen. In fact, I'd rate it considerably lower than the Bobby Lashley/Braun Strowman match from a couple months back, which seemed just a touch more unpredictable and, because the performers were certainly hoping their efforts might nudge them closer to a legit main event push, felt more urgent and meaningful. These two have been feuding for months and the output just hasn't been good enough to make me sit back and want to see this match - especially a 30-minute version. Roode, Ziggler, and the Usos made cameos, but that was too be expected. The most shocking thing about the match was the finish, which saw Reigns get a clean, decisive win. Here's hoping that this signals the end of this feud and the "Baron Corbin As Top Heel" experiment - but there's nothing the WWE has done over the past year that would make me think that was the case. Not a bad match and maybe even a better match that I'm giving it credit for, but I wasn't blown away by any moment of it and thought it overstayed its welcome by a good 4-5 minutes. (2.5/5)

I was definitely surprised to see the Women's Royal Rumble as the second match of the show. Alexa Bliss and Bianca Belair started things off and both went on to have some exceptional moments.  Bliss's run was particularly nice considering that, since suffering a series of injuries (and concussions?), she's been noticeably de-pushed despite remaining very over and, arguably, one of the more beloved babyfaces not named Becky Lynch. Belair, meanwhile, got to showcase her strength by eliminating a ton of other competitors. Her match against Shayna Baszler in 2019 was one of my absolute favorites of the year so I was glad to see her get some spotlight. Other great moments included Mandy Rose being rescued by Otis, some nice main roster "debuts" in Chelsea Green and Mercedes Martinez, and the unexpected return of Naomi, who got a nice "welcome back" pop from the Houston crowd. Unfortunately, Naomi, who came in with a full head of steam and executed an awesome near-elimination leap from the steps onto the barricade, wasted too much time just standing on an announce table and not re-entering the match for me. I also didn't like seeing "Santina" in the match - at this point, with Women's Wrestling and the Women's Championship scenes being more intriguing and exciting than anything the men are doing - there's just no need to make "call backs" to when men in drag were deemed better options to win women's battle royals than actual women. Thankfully, Santina eliminating himself seemed to suggest that there was a bit of "meta-commentary" going on there. Still, Santina's spot could've gone to any number of women who were not featured - including, most notably, Sasha Banks and, to a lesser extent, Nia Jax, who many expected to return at the show. Speaking of talent that were expected to return, it was heavily rumored all over the internet that Ronda Rousey would likely be returning at the Rumble and winning the thing - and while I was hoping for that outcome, to me, its silly to criticize a Royal Rumble match for who was not in it (especially when there was absolutely no indication that Rousey would be in the match). Now, that's not always the case. In 2014, the WWE seemed to go out of their way to keep things murky about Daniel Bryan appearing the Rumble (he didn't, despite wrestling earlier on the show, and the crowd famously turned on the match). With Rousey being off-screen for so long, it was always just a rumor - and not even one the WWE really acknowledged as a possibility. ANYWAY...by the time we got to our final 3 - Baszler, Pheonix, and Charlotte - I was pulling for Baszler, but confident that Charlotte would get the nod. If anything, though, it strikes me that this actually looks like an even more likely clue that Rousey will be back sooner than later. Last year, Flair was the spoiler that inserted herself into the Becky/Rousey match and, this year, I'm guessing it will be Rousey in that role. Its not how I would book things (I personally think Rousey/Lynch in a 1-on-1 match is the better option), I'm not surprised that Charlotte has once again found herself in the winner's circle and potential closing match of a WrestleMania. All in all, a good-not-great Rumble that fans will be overly harsh on because they've grown a bit tired of Charlotte's favorable booking and were "robbed" of a big surprise they actually had no reason to expect was coming their way. (3/5)

Bayley vs. Lacey Evans for Bayley's SmackDown Women's Championship followed. I liked the pre-match character work out of Bayley, but this match just did not seem to capture the crowd, which is a shame because it wasn't terrible. In my estimation, the big issue here is that SmackDown and RAW have both been ice cold for months now and, sadly, that means that the majority of the characters and feuds on these shows are also ice cold. Bayley's heel turn should've been a big story in 2019 and Bayley has definitely worked hard to change up her look and even some of her in-ring style to match the new persona - but 2 + 2 is just not adding up to 4 and I think it has much to do with the context. Evans, meanwhile, should be an easy-to-root-for babyface, but she's too freshly turned to have the crowd truly behind her. Here's hoping the WWE reshuffles the deck heading into WrestleMania as there are some better options to challenge Bayley - namely workers like Bliss, Nikki Cross, and some of the other women featured in the Rumble who got much stronger reactions than either Bayley or Evans did in this match. And, again, where was Sasha Banks? An average match that came off even lower than that due to a tepid crowd. (1.5/5)

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defended his WWE Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan in a Strap Match next. This was not your usual strap match - where a winner is declared when a wrestler tags all four corners - but it wasn't your standard singles contest either as both Bryan and Wyatt used the strap to constantly up the ante and deliver the brutality. As has become standard, Daniel Bryan worked a minor miracle in bringing the crowd from a little bit of a lull to a frenzy. Wyatt, to his credit, cut off Bryan with some basic-but-well-executed monster moves. While I wouldn't call this Wyatt's best match ever (I'm partial to the Wyatt/Shield six-mans and even some of Bray's battles with Cena and Reigns), it was a definite improvement from the bouts he put on with Seth Rollins a couple months back. My biggest gripe was the finish. While I understand the reasoning behind keeping The Fiend as strong, I still expected something a little bit more dramatic than the "outta nowhere" result that basically saw Daniel Bryan walk into a finish that, and I'm admittedly being a bit nitpicky here, didn't even play into the strap situation (which they had actually done a nice job of making a focal point of the match for most of the match). I don't see this one cracking my Top 10 of the year come December, but it wasn't terrible. (3/5)

The RAW Women's Championship was next - Becky Lynch defending the title against Asuka. Like some of the other singles matches on this show, this one was given ample time and the pre-match video did a nice job of going through their rivalry. Also like the previous match on the show, this one was good - but not truly great or "must-see." As over as Becky Lynch is, she's still not the same caliber worker as Charlotte or even Sasha Banks, her moves not super smooth, her timing not super precise. What Lynch (and Bayley, at her babyface best) is able to do is get sympathy and fire-up with the best of em' and it was in these moments that she shined. Asuka was her usual self and took at least one absolutely nasty bump - a belly-flop from the apron onto the arena floor - but I would've liked to see a little bit more treachery from her and her Kabuki Warrior teammate. The match's final third heaped on the dramatics as Becky Lynch took a devastating kick to the head and the referee nearly called her out of the match. It was an interesting and mildly tone-deaf "swerve" considering that, just last month, Kairi Sane suffered a legitimate concussion (not to mention the injury suffered by Desmond Wolfe the night before on the Worlds Collide show). What saved things was the actual finish, which saw Becky Lynch counter Asuka's mist attack by straight-up kicking her in the gut and then locking her up in the Disarmer. (3/5)

Main event time - the 2020 Men's Royal Rumble! A couple weeks back, Brock Lesnar announced that he would be entering #1 and would proceed to toss out 29 other men - and he almost did just that, eliminating over a dozen guys (and most of them in rapid sequence). I read some live bloggers' takes and they just didn't "get it." The minute Lesnar announced that this was his plan, you had to know that this is exactly what would happen for at least the first 6-7 entrants. And, honestly, I was entertained by Lesnar's dominance. Brock Lesnar is currently the single biggest star on the roster - male or female - and he should dominate. Plus, it wasn't like there wasn't some inventive and clever twists on Lesnar steamrolling through dudes. One could argue that guys like Shelton Benjamin and Big E were made to look foolish or unimpressive (and they undoubtedly were), but Keith Lee got some time to shine, MVP's return put a smile on my face, and seeing Kofi and Rey team-up to try to take out the Beast was a solid bookend to their 2019 feuds with him. When Lesnar finally did go - eliminated via Claymore by eventual Rumble winner, Drew McIntyre, it felt like a big deal and a star-making moment. I'm far from the biggest Drew McIntyre fan and I remain a HUGE skeptic on his long-term main event potential (heel or face), but this was definitely a good first step in re-establishing him as a top guy after absolute dogshit runs as sidekick to Dolph Ziggler and Shane McMahon. Elsewhere in the Rumble, we saw the return of the Rated-R Superstar, Edge, which was a big shocker despite prevalent rumors that he'd be coming back dating back to at least November. The crowd loved seeing him and it was nice to see him actually last awhile in the Rumble (making it into the final 3), unlike John Morrison and MVP (who were tossed out by Lesnar like complete nobodies). I would've liked to see a little bit more storyline advancement in this match; the Royal Rumble match is one of the rare opportunities to the WWE has each year where they are almost guaranteed to have millions of eyeballs on their product for a full hour. Why not kickstart more big angles beyond just what is happening with the WrestleMania main event (and, this year, Edge vs. Orton)? Coming out of the Rumble, the Owens & Joe vs. Rollins & Company feud isn't really any hotter, nor is anything involving Rey/Andrade/Carillo/Garza (a storyline that has seemingly been thrust into overdrive on RAW). For whatever reason, the Lashley/Rusev feud was kept off the show entirely - which is bonkers considering how prominent it has been featured on TV. I know Mania is months away, but the Rumble gives the WWE its best possible chance to develop interesting new storylines for their biggest show of the year and this one just didn't deliver. Still, from beginning to end, thanks to some brilliant work out of Lesnar for the first half of the match, it was undeniably entertaining and the finish did give us something fresh and exciting. Better than average, but not an all-time classic. (3/5)


The 2020 Royal Rumble was a solid, but not great show, as reflected by its right-near-the-middle Kwang Score of 2.67-out-of-5. While the Men's Royal Rumble started off hot, Lesnar's elimination ended up being its peak with nothing interesting or intriguing after it. The Women's Rumble was fine, but because the previous two editions involved huge twists - the debut of Ronda Rousey and an injured Becky Lynch forcing her way into the match - the fact that this was a more straight-forward edition made it seem less remarkable. The Bryan/Wyatt feud wasn't a Match of the Year candidate, but I wasn't expecting it to be. Ditto for the Corbin/Reigns opener. I didn't love the overbooking in Asuka/Lynch, but the match was still better than average. All in all, not a show I see myself ever re-watching, but I don't think I'd say that about anything the WWE has put on over the past 2-3 years. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand