There's a new main-event challenger for the title at WrestleMania. Let's find out where we go from here.
A hot crowd in Philadelphia welcomed WWE to town on Sunday night for the 2015 edition of the annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Each year, the winner of the Royal Rumble wins a guaranteed title shot in the main event of wrestling's version of the Super Bowl, as the Road to WrestleMania officially begins.
The Royal Rumble is generally the most can't-miss match of the year for the WWE, and Sunday night's iteration was no exception. With 62 days until WrestleMania, let's take a look at how the chess board is set up at the moment.
Cesaro & Tyson Kidd def. The New Day
This match was initially advertised as a six-man match, but with Xavier Woods reportedly battling injuries, Kofi Kingston and Big E of the New Day went at it against Cesaro and Kidd in a traditional tag team match while Adam Rose and his Rosebuds accompanied Natalya in the heels' corner.
What we learned: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro have a huge following ... at least in Philadelphia. They were roundly cheered and the New Day roundly booed and they looked amazing and strong while winning. Kidd has quietly (quietly unless you've been watching NXT -- which you should be) become one of the most charismatic performers in the company and Cesaro has been criminally underrated while staying hugely popular since day one. They need to have some front-office support in the worst way, immediately.
Meanwhile, the New Day needs to finally turn heel and break out of this ill-advised gospel gimmick. If that's where they're going, the slow burn will ultimately be worth it. If it's not where they're going ... I feel very, very bad for all three men in the stable.
The Ascension def. New Age Outlaws
After being beat down by a handful of WWE Legends on "RAW," the new tag team with the classic "monster heel" gimmick, The Ascension, somewhat avenged themselves with a win over the six-time tag team champions the New Age Outlaws.
What we learned: While The Ascension probably would have benefitted from coming out and wrecking shop (like the Road Warriors or Demolition might have done), it's likely no amount of anything is going to help this team, given how much their employers seem to hate them (and others who are coming up to the main roster from the NXT feeder system). Ultimately they looked strong, so let's see where things go from here. Rather than feuding with old-timers and part-timers, they could probably stand to be injected into the stale tag team division. Speaking of which ...
WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (c) def. The Miz & Damien Mizdow
The crowd LOVES Mizdow and HATES The Miz, which means the breakup of these two is well underway. While Mizdow had things more under control than The Miz, it was ultimately the latter who ate the pin and took the loss for his team.
What we learned: Strangely and wonderfully, Damien Sandow's career has been helped far more by stooging around for months and then becoming The Miz's stunt double than it likely ever would have been by successfully cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase and winning the WWE Championship. For comparison's sake, look at Jack Swagger, who cashed in his briefcase and got a brief title run, then never sniffed the main event scene again. Mizdow is one of the most over and beloved wrestlers on the card and will probably have a tremendous showcase match against The Miz at WrestleMania (or so we can dream). He's better off in the long run. The system works!
Meanwhile, The Usos are just sort of there. Did I mention the tag team scene is stagnant right now?
Nikki & Brie Bella def. Paige & Natalya
Nikki Bella, surprise HOSS of the past two years, cleaned Natalya's clock with a forearm shiver and netted the win for the Bella twins.
What we learned: The women in WWE continue to trend in the right direction. This was a fun, very good match where everyone got to showcase their strengths. We're all still waiting for more of the NXT women to make their way to the main card, but everyone keeps getting better and better.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) def. John Cena and Seth Rollins
There are almost no words to describe how wonderful this match was. If you haven't seen this match yet, stop what you're doing and find a way to watch it right now. I'll wait. This may very well stand up as match of the year.
What we learned: Barring something spectacular at next month's Fast lane PPV, Brock Lesnar will enter WrestleMania as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and will complete the one-year journey he began in 2014, when he snapped the Undertaker's WrestleMania undefeated steak and embarked on his destruction tour as perhaps the greatest monster wrestling history has ever known. Sunday's absolutely unbelievable triple threat championship match was an instant classic. It was legendary. Three of the best performers in the world leaving everything on the table. It was exhilarating.
Wheeeeeee I'm gonna go watch it again.
Roman Reigns wins the Royal Rumble Match
The favorites heading into the Royal Rumble were Roman Reigns (the man who has been earmarked as the next big thing) and Daniel Bryan (the sentimental favorite who surprisingly made it back in time for the Rumble after missing most of last year due to injury). A late favorite was The Rock, who showed up in Philadephia prior to the event (but ultimately did not enter the Rumble). The dark horses were Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt.
In the end, the final four was Reigns, Big Show, Rusev and Kane. Reigns eliminated Kane and Show at the same time for the win and the title shot. After it appeared Reigns had won the match, The Rock came out and saved Reigns from a beatdown from Kane and Big Show. Once the ring was cleared, Rusev appeared again, having never been eliminated. Rusev speared him and tossed him for the win. Then he embraced his cousin, The Rock, and the two of them stared down Triple H and Stephanie McMahon to end the show.
What we learned: Daniel Bryan was eliminated by Wyatt just about halfway into the match and the crowd never really got over it, as was to be expected. Then again, Bryan wasn't even IN the Rumble last year and still wound up winning the main event at WrestleMania, so it's not out of the question that he could still somehow find his way into the title match. Not likely, I suppose, but still possible.
Surprise entrants for the match included Bubba Ray Dudley, who is probably back for one last run, as well as the Boogeyman and Diamond Dallas Page, who are almost certainly one-offs. Zack Ryder returned from wherever he's been for the past year.
Damien Mizdow and The Miz furthered their dissent, as Mizdow for the first time brazenly disobeyed Miz to get a moment in the spotlight. It's truly the end of the beginning for that team.
Wyatt received both the longevity run and the eliminations run for this year's Rumble, going over 40 minutes. Rusev also got a long run. Ziggler and Wyatt both got unceremoniously dumped before the final four by the team of Kane and Big Show, which made sense from a storyline standpoint but was a total bummer and buzzkill to everyone in attendance (and likely most people watching).
Reigns winning felt like a foregone conclusion since about SummerSlam and was a clear inevitability once it became apparent The Rock was not entering the match. Reigns now has a shot at the WWE title at WrestleMania and given how badly the crowd treats him over the next month, it wouldn't be surprising if plans changed. In fact, a perfectly valid end-around would be Reigns getting screwed out of his title shot and having to team with The Rock against the Authority. Or even a face vs. face match between Rock and Reigns to attempt to legitimately pass the torch.
Right now, Reigns vs. Lesnar isn't an inspiring choice for the main event. The most likely scenario is probably that it becomes Reigns vs. Brock vs. Rock. And of course, Seth Rollins still holds the Money in the Bank briefcase. He could cash in and set up a true blood feud main event against Reigns.
The point is, a whole lot can change in 60-plus days. And right now the majority of the fanbase seems pretty underwhelmed at this WrestleMania main event.
Did I say underwhelmed? Whoops! I meant furious.
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