WWE Royal Rumble 2020: 5 Booking mistakes that were made 

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The Royal Rumble is the start of the Road to WrestleMania and after Charlotte and Drew McIntyre won their respective matches last night, the WWE Universe already has a solid picture of what the two Championship matches at WrestleMania may look like.

There also wasn't a single Championship change on the show, even though there were four titles defended. Somehow The Fiend, Becky Lynch, Bayley, and Andrade all walked out of Houston, Texas with their Championship reigns intact.

It was a night that made stars with the likes of Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler standing out in the Women's Royal Rumble. Also, in arguably the moment of the night, WWE Hall of Famer Edge made a miraculous return to in ring competition. The Rated R Superstar proved the rumors were true and that he still has what it takes to wrestle a few more matches following his retirement due to a neck injury in 2011.

It's hard to argue that last night's show didn't deliver, but despite this, there were a few booking mistakes that the company made throughout.

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#5. Charlotte Flair racks up another win

Last night's Women's Royal Rumble match predictably came down to Shayna Baszler and Charlotte Flair and even though Flair had been seen as the favorite throughout the build-up to the match, there was hope that Baszler would be the woman that WWE decided to gamble on. The company made the same mistake back in 2014 when Batista won the Royal Rumble. He was an obvious favorite and fans rejected his victory before it even happened.

It could also be argued that this is a win that Flair didn't need. Last year she walked into a main event at WrestleMania because she was Vince McMahon's favorite, why would this year be any different?

Flair is already a 10-time Champion who has broken records throughout her career, this was an accolade that she didn't need. Baszler could have used to kick-start her main roster career, but once again WWE booked it differently.

#4. Andrade should have dropped the United States Championship

Andrade was relegated to the kick-off show as part of The Royal Rumble after a fantastic Ladder match for the U.S. Championship on Raw a few days ago. Humberto Carrillo was his challenger on the night. Many fans thought Carrillo had a decent shot to win the Title since he's rumored to be someone that Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman want to back.

It was a match that deserved to be on the main show, but instead, Andrade retained the Championship in what turned out to be a wasted match from WWE. The bout was simply there to take up the time on the 2 hour kick-off show.

Zelina Vega wasn't as involved as usual since Andrade seemingly didn't need her and it appears that the tease of the stars splitting has completely been forgotten. The United States Champion was easily able to continue his reign with a cheap victory over Carrillo.

The fact that he needed to steal a victory means there will be a rematch but at the same time, it means that Carrillo has to wait for his first WWE title.

#3. Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai

There were a number of surprise entrants in last night's Women's Royal Rumble match, but interestingly both Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox were chosen as entrants for this year's match. The two women are currently part of a bitter rivalry on NXT after Kai turned on her long-time friend back at War Games.

Kai entered the Rumble first at number 15 and lasted just a minute and 32 seconds before she was eliminated by Chelsea Green. Tegan Nox then entered the Rumble match at number 28 and lasted just over three minutes before she was then eliminated by Shayna Baszler.

WWE missed a golden opportunity here to have Nox come in and cost Kai the victory as a means for revenge. Other option would have been to send Kai back out when Nox was in the ring and cost her the chance to go to WrestleMania, which would have added to the issues between the two women.

Instead, the company completely overlooked the feud and let Kai and Nox wrestle in the Rumble independent of one another.

#2. Matt Riddle?

Brock Lesnar tied the elimination record at a Royal Rumble when he was able to take out 13 men. The likes of Kofi Kingston, Robert Roode, Braun Strowman, Keith Lee, MVP, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Rey Mysterio all fell victim to The Beast, before he was eliminated by Drew McIntyre.

Throughout Brock Lesnar's reign of terror, the WWE Universe expected Matt Riddle to make his way to the ring and be the man to finally overcome Lesnar. If he wasn't the one to eliminate him from the match, at least a face to face would have sufficed. Riddle has not been shy about making it known he wants to defeat and retire Brock Lesnar one day.

Instead of an altercation with The Beast, Riddle made his way to the ring in the number 23 spot and lasted just 41 seconds before he was eliminated by King Corbin. It was a waste of a spot. If Riddle was going to have such a poor showing then it perhaps would have been a better idea to have not included him in the match at all.

The Miz, Erick Rowan, Nakamura, Shelton Benjamin, Cesaro, John Morrison, Robert Roode, and MVP were the only men to fare worse than Riddle and with the exception of The Miz, all these men were fed to Brock Lesnar.

#1. Where were Otis, Tucker and Buddy Murphy?

It was revealed ahead of the Men's Royal Rumble match that Bobby Lashley and Rusev had been taken out because they were brawling in the backstage area. So that off screen altercation opened up two more slots for WWE to include some surprise entrants. Heading into the night there were only 3 open spots after 27 Superstars declared for the match.

Interestingly, even on the Kickoff show, Otis and Tucker were still part of the graphic for The Rumble. Otis made an appearance as part of the Women's Royal Rumble match, but he and his Heavy Machinery partner Tucker were no where to be seen in the Men's match.

Buddy Murphy was also shown at ringside with Seth Rollins when he entered at number 30, but he didn't enter the match even though he officially announced he would compete.

There was a time when no announcements were made. The stars would be shown drawing numbers on the night instead. This added much more anticipation to the event and stopped fans counting on their fingers throughout the night to see if there were any surprises left.

If plans are subject to change when added to the match, don't announce them at all, leave some things as a mystery in future.