The 35th Annual Royal Rumble comes live from Tampa. It is the 148th PPV in WWF history.
(Dark: Rey Mysterio d. Dragon Lee
Gargano/Ciampa d. Alexander/Tozawa (Tozawa injures ankle, Alexander helps him from ring)
Dark Ride Title: Ilja Dragunov d. Nathan Frazer)
The announcers (the color commentators rotate) Cole (7th PPV) Graves (9th) Barrett (9th) Regal (28th)
The show starts with a long clip package of Royal Rumble History
'89...the very first match, Demolition going over the Powers of Pain....Hogan slamming Andre....the Brainbusters keeping over the Rockers....Hennig taking the IC from Bret....Savage dropping the elbow on DiBiase...
'90...the Rougeau Brothers brawling...HBK turning his back on Marty costing the Rockers their tag belts...Bret taking the IC from Ted....Savage brutally attacking Hennig to close the show...
'91..Undertaker tombstoning Dusty...Shawn superkicks Marty...the Road Warriors going nose to nose on the ramp with Demolition...Savage sticking Hennig with the WWF Fork, over and over again...
'92...long chain sequence with Shawn and Owen....Savage drops the elbow on a bloody Piper....Flair submits Davey Boy....
'93...Razor's Edge on Savage...Perfect Plex on Flair....Shawn superkicking Owen...
'94....Owen driving the WWF Fork in Savage's head...Waltman turning on Razor, allowing the Michaels win...Undertaker chokeslamming Bret through the Spanish announce table....
'95....Backlund submitting Neidhart to win the tag belts...Owen DDTs Razor on the concrete outside...Michaels hits Diesel with a TV monitor
'96...Austin with the Stunner on Razor to win the tag belts...Vaderbomb onto Michaels....Bret rolls through an Owen pinfall attempt to pin his brother...
'97...Austin brawling with Vader...Funk hitting Cactus with a moonsault wrapped in barbed wire...Pillman cracking both Bret and Shawn over the heads with the WWF Title...
'98..Michaels hitting Taker with multiple superkicks...Funk and Cactus, covered in blood, holding the tag belts...Mike Tyson walking down the ramp...Vader submitting to Shamrock...Owen has Austin in the sharpshooter, blood coming down his face...
'99...Edge/Christian/Matt/Jeff celebrating together...Rock Bottom on Waltman...a violent headbutt spot with Owen and Cactus...
'00...Angle submits the Bulldog...Angle submits Waltman....the Dudleys set a table on fire...RJericho submits HHH...Cactus and Taz brawl...
'01...Raven/Taz/the Dudleys and Justin Credible all standing over the Hardys...Angle Slam on the Rock...Hunter Pedigrees Waltman on the ramp...Regal holding the ropes as he pins Austin...Benoit submits Jericho...
'02...Edge and Christian wiping out HHH...Stunner on DDP...RVD frogsplash on Taz...Angle submits Flair...
'03..Crazy TLC spots with Hardys/Dudleys/Edge and Christian...Brock with 3 F5s on Jericho...Shelton pins Benoit....Rey with the pinfall on RVD...Angle submits Michaels....Brock destroying Angle....
'04...Christian gets the fall on Matt...Cactus hitting Brock with the barbed wire bat...Angle rolling Eddy up...
'05..Christian gets Flair in the Figure Four...Edge gets the fall on Jericho...Benoit submits Michaels..
'06...Matt and Edge, bleeding in the empty arena match...CM Punk, in his first WWF appearance, comes out of the front row to hit London with the Pepsi Plunge...Michaels superkicks Angle...Fit pins Benoit...Ricky Steamboat fighting off Hunter's heel stable...
'07...Crazy glass table spots with RVD/Sabu v. Sandman/Dreamer...Edge spears Matt dead on the ramp...
'08...Pepsi Plunge on Jeff Hardy...Edge turning on Jericho....Shelton pinning Rey to win the WWF Title...
'09..Orton RKO's Van Dam...Christian takes off the Blood Dragon mask, revealing he and Edge are the tag team champs...The Messiah Shawn Michaels superkicks Jericho
'10...Bret Hart Appreciation Night...the future Presidents of the United States, Linda and Vince, sitting in the front row next to Bret...Bret preventing Nitro from interfering in the IC match...Nitro superkicking him on the ramp...Christian fighting Punk in the cage..Edge spears Maria while Punk is handcuffed to the cage
'11...Regal lowblows Punk...Mysterio pins Danielson...Edge and Punk go nose to nose...
'12...WWE 100...scores of veterans from PPV past shown streaming into the building...Cena pins Punk...Rock Bottom on Barrett on the ramp...Cattle Mutilation on Nemeth gives Danielson the WWF Title...Punk and Danielson shaking hands...
'13...Nemeth pinning Claudio...El Generico jumping from the video wall...Jericho pins Punk...Lesnar F5ing Danielson...
'14...the Shield keeping the tag belts over the Wyatts...Punk submitting to Danielson and leaving town, his first Rumble in a decade is tonight...
'15...Steve Austin coming to the ring...Paige pins Natty to win the Womens Title...The Shield in a garbage match against Bubbay Ray Dudley and DDP...Kenta attacks Claudio...save by Danielson...
'16...Roman wiping out Hunter...Charlotte pins Becky...the unmasking of Pac...Generico buckle bomb on Jericho...AJ Styles walking down the ramp, a shocking debut...the big Bullet Club formation, Anderson/Gallows/Nakamura/Devitt/Styles taking over the WWF to close the show
'17...Becky joins the Bullet Club, laying out Charlotte and Sasha...the Shield explodes, Ambrose/Black/Langston firing blows at each other...Brock F5s Rusev...big tag spot, Steen/Generico battling Claudio and Pac....
'18...Andrade, under the mask, and Adam Cole falling off a ladder...FTR, as the Revival, beating American Alpha...Generico getting the fall on Rey...Usos and FTR going noses to noses...Nakamura pinning Tyler Black to become WWF Champion...
'19...Rousey laying in stiff shots on Lynch...Iyo and Sane in a fast paced spot...Kurt Angle getting a fall on Kingston...Devitt pinning Pete Dunne...Danielson swinging chairshots at Samoa Joe...Styles with the flying forearm to beat Lesnar...Black standing above Ambrose, Dean leaving the territory...Nakamura and Kenta in the middle of the ring...
'20...Iyo and Sane again battling...Andrade, under the mask, pinning Claudio....McIntyre brawling with Roman...Lesnar F5ing Riddle...Banks/Bayley/Charlotte/Lynch in a wild brawl around the arena...Aleister Black holding the IC belt over Ricochet...Danielson and Steen laying out Styles....Tyler Black pinning Joe and Nakamura...
'21...Roman kills Jeff Hardy...Edge over Christian in a No DQ match...Banks getting the fall on Bayley...Claudio taking the IC title over Styles...Riddle/Rey/Steen/Zayn in a four way....Danielson submits Ricochet...
'22...Edge facing off with Rey...Styles Clash on Ricochet...Roman pins Langston to take the tag belts and force the New Day to disband...Ripley pins Belair to keep the belt...Nakamura/Black/Devitt/Styles brawling up the ramp...the Holy Roman Empire laying out both Steen and Zayn...
'23...Logan Paul sends Edge out of the promotion...Asuka/Iyo in a street fight...Cody pins Gable..Walter and Lesnar holding the tag belts aloft....Roman pinfall on Black....
There's a shot of Andrade and Reed, in separate rooms, guards out front of their doors, ensuring they do not get out (ensuring Andrade doesn't kill Reed for attacking Charlotte)
1. IC #1 CONTENDER: ELIMINATION CHAMBER: JIMMY USO d. LA KNIGHT/SANTOS ESCOBAR/BRON STEINER/DOMINIC MYSTERIO/JD MCDONAGH
-Lot of space between dark matches and this one to get the chamber in place
-Biggest singles win of Uso's career - he will go to Wrestlemania 40 to challenge for the IC.
-Uso is one of the first two wrestlers in the ring, lets say with McDonagh.
-Steiner is 5th, he comes in and runs wild, kills everyone, the spot ends with his spearing Dom through a chamber, it knocks out both of them. Dom's underneath, so the fall is counted on him, Knight is the 6th man in, he comes in, pulls Steiner away, Steiner totally dead, Knight does the Peoples Elbow on him, gets the fall.
-Last 3 are Uso/Escobar/Knight - Jimmy goes over both of them to win the match.
2. FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE: RANDY ORTON d. DAMIEN PRIEST (w/Ripley)
-This match never gets to the ring, allowing for the chamber to get torn down, they fight everywhere else, Ripley is the only member of Defiance who can aid Priest (Dom's dead, Reeds locked up) she does - until the return of Becky Lynch - Lynch takes Ripley out allowing for Orton to get a fall, maybe an RKO through a merch table.
3. LOGAN PAUL (wMcAfee) d. PRINCE DEVITT
-Devitt is left wondering what is future is here - he loses his feud to Rhodes, he can never fight for the WWF Title again, Paul comes right at him - and then beats him clean here. Has Devitt reaches the end of his run?
4. KAIRI SANE d. LIV MORGAN (Special Guest Referee: Iyo Sky)
-Sky won her long feud with Asuka, Asuka then took the title from Rousey after training from Sane - Sane was special guest referee in Asuka keeping the belt over Sky and tension related to those things has caused a break in their friendship - Sky teases she's going to screw Sane over here, but eventually counts the fall. Sky and Sane get into a shoving match postmatch.
5. CARMELO HAYES (w/Williams) d. RICOCHET (w/Alexander)
-This is the write off for Ricochet - Hayes gets him clean - Hayes and Williams with a postmatch beatdown (Alexander took some sort of bump during the match so it takes him a moment to save...) But Alexander doesn't save - he turns on Ricochet, he joins the Culture, Tozawa got injured in the dark match so he can't help - its the farewell for Ricochet.
6. WOMENS TAG TITLES: BELAIR/BAYLEY d. HORSEWOMEN (Stratton/Baszler)
-Belair and Bayley keep the belts here, Baszler going under.
7. UNSANCTIONED: ANDRADE d. BRONSON REED
-There's a light change, this is officially where intermission begins - a non WWF referee is brought in - this is not a wrestling match, it's a fight, it should not look like they are cooperating with each other more than they have to so spots can get in, double juice - eventually there's a ref stoppage when Reed can no longer continue.
Taped package featuring Wrestlemanias 10, 20, 30...the theme for all 3 being Brother v Brother...they then show shots of Philadelphia, with the chyron that it is the City of Brotherly Love...Love is then scratched out...it's Wrestlemania 40, coming in April from Philadelphia.
8. WOMENS TITLE: ASUKA d. JORDYNN GRACE
-Asuka clean.
9. #1 CONTENDER: WALTER (w/Heyman) d. ROMAN REIGNS
-A match long in the making, really sense Reigns' first title defense when Walter saved Lesnar postmatch. Main event style, long, nearfalls - and Walter gets him. Walter will go to Wrestlemania to challenge the winner of Cody/Punk.
10. IC: JEY USO d. DREW McINTYRE
-The 85th Intercontinental Champion is Jey Uso. There's some booking here, there's a ref bump, then Roman runs in and lays Drew out with the punch. Jey is shocked - Roman's forming his heel group, not selecting the Usos blew up their whole family - but Roman's desire for revenge against McIntyre, Roman's losing his shot at the WWF Title in the prior match - he takes out that frustration here - McIntyre kicks out here, the ref recovers, it's a long count - but Drew kicks out - but a couple of minutes later, Jey gets the fall and the win. Roman gets the IC belt from the timekeepers table, comes to the ring, hands it to Jey and raises his hand - Jey Usos is IC Champ...and then on the ramp emerges Jimmy and we see that it has become clear - at Wrestlemania 40, we will see Jey v. Jimmy for the IC Title.
11. TAG TITLES: SAMI ZAYN/KEVIN STEEN (w/ Gargano/Ciampa) d. TRIPLE CROWN (Styles/Nakamura w/ Mysterio)
-Its the big workrate match for the night, long, nearfalls, Steen pins Nakamura - postmatch, its handshakes - including between Steen and Rey, burying their old feud - Zayn/Steen/Gargano/Ciampa hit the buckles postmatch - the following night, RAW builds to the GDI reformation - but when Gargano and Ciampa are handed the t-shirts, they turn on Zayn and Steen, destroying both guys.
12. WWF TITLE: CODY RHODES d. CM PUNK
-Your big main event - Punk's first WWF match in a decade.
-Cody goes over clean, postmatch he takes the bag in which we all know the AEW Title is located, although we do not see it - Cody opens the bag, holds the title belt, again, we do not see it, we just see the big sack in which it is held - and Cody throws down the sack, with, presumably, the AEW Title - Cody holds the WWF Title aloft - its the inverse of the Punk spot from Survivor Series '06 and the primacy of WWF has been declared at Royal Rumble 2024!
Post show is that 10-20-30 Mania package from earlier, it ends however with the title card:
Wrestlemania 40
Philadelphia.
Brother vs. Brother
Sister vs. Sister.
There's a really meta thing happening with the finish of the main event.
As you know, I'm wrapping up - not unlike the way a wrestler (Ricochet in this show) wraps up. And in the way (Ricochet, in this show) might wrap up, on his back, putting the promotion over, this is my doing that.
If I'm watching this show at home - I'm rooting for Punk and the idea that the AEW Title gets thrown away by Cody Rhodes is super aggravating for me. Booo. Booooooooooooo.
But - for WWF, for this story - with Roman setting up the lens through which to view Punk's throwing the WWF belt down in '06 as an existential harm to WWF, the ability to square that circle was irresistible. So - as the promotion heads to the big anniversary shows and then its new future - putting this period on that story from the past is whats best for business, even though, it's not what's best for me. I go out on my back, as is the time honored tradition.
Back next month to start the built to 40.
