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WWE Royal Rumble was a wonderful pay-per-view to begin the wrestling year. The show was filled with some great matches, truly fun Royal Rumble matches, and some very surprising Rumble winners. WWE is off to a great start to 2021. Here is hoping that WWE can continue this momentum into WrestleMania season. It is the road to Tampa, part two.
As we are still trying to figure out why Randy Orton failed to win the Royal Rumble after nearly an hour rest, we should all try to distract ourselves as we present the list of the top five most surprising moments of WWE Royal Rumble 2021:
#5 Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler win the Women’s Tag Team Championship at WWE Royal Rumble 2021
We are getting a Lacey Evans vs. Charlotte Flair match at WrestleMania, aren’t we?
At WWE Royal Rumble, we only had one title change the entire night. It was surprising to see Charlotte Flair and Asuka lose the tag team titles back after just 42 days as champions. Since both Flair and Asuka are involved in other singles feuds, it was only a matter of time until they focused on their newest opponents. It is doubtful they would have held the titles very long, but having it be this short a reign seems to continue the narrative that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships are not valued. Sadly, it seems history pans that theory out.
How the title change actually occurred at Royal Rumble made a lot of sense. Lacey Evans distracted Charlotte Flair enough to cost her team the title. But since Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler have been fighting as well, will their reign last a short period of time as well? The tag team division deserves better, and hopefully, it will deliver as we enter the WrestleMania season.
#4 Drew McIntyre beat Goldberg clean in under three minutes at WWE Royal Rumble 2021
Admit it. You really thought Goldberg was going to destroy Drew McIntyre and win the WWE Championship on Sunday night. Thankfully, that event didn’t happen on Sunday night at the Royal Rumble.
Goldberg has had a lot of success defeating younger WWE stars and take their championships over the last few years. We can think of the sad tales of Kevin Owens and The Fiend as examples. It seemed very possible that Drew McIntyre might just lose the WWE Championship title to the 54-year-old Goldberg at Royal Rumble on Sunday night. But a truly surprising thing happened instead. Goldberg put over McIntyre clean in under three minutes.
Drew McIntyre kicked out of Goldberg’s spears and Jackhammer. It ended with McIntyre hitting the Claymore kick to pull off a clean pinfall victory. It established McIntyre in a positive way as a major star. It was just surprising to see it occur so quickly. Even by Goldberg standards, it was a short match.
For the long term future of WWE, it was a very positive development that occurred at the Royal Rumble. Hopefully, it will push Drew McIntyre to a new level as he heads into WrestleMania.
#3 Bianca Belair wins the Women’s Royal Rumble
It hasn’t always been the place of the Royal Rumble match to use this huge stage to put over a new star. That is why we have had so many two-time winners over the years. In at least one Royal Rumble match on Sunday night, we got the big surprise. The Women’s Royal Rumble was used to put over a new star. It was Bianca Belair’s chance to shine.
The Women’s Royal Rumble was a fantastic match. We had some good comedy with Billie Kay and the 24/7 Championship. We had some fun veteran returns like Jillian Hall, Victoria, and Torrie Wilson. The match even did a really good job of paying off storylines like Lana eliminating Nia Jax. It was the end of the match that helped make some major stars.
The final three were Belair, Rhea Ripley, and Charlotte Flair. Charlotte and Ripley certainly had history from their WrestleMania match last year. But Belair was smart enough to work with Ripley to eliminate the veteran. It created a mini-match with two young stars of WWE, Ripley and Belair. But it was still surprising Bianca Belair, who got the huge win. It is very unlike WWE to pick a fresh talent to jump into a WrestleMania match based on a Rumble win being the first major achievement. But it was great to see it occur in the Women’s Rumble match.
#2 Crazy spots in the Last Man Standing match at WWE Royal Rumble 2021
Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens have had some pretty crazy matches in recent months. But on Sunday at the Royal Rumble, they took their feud to a whole new and dangerous level. Some of the spots in their Last Man Standing Match at Royal Rumble were truly crazy. Who expected Reigns to run over Owens on Sunday night?
It was a mix of dangers in their match. Kevin Owens was thrown onto a table from the third level of the Thunderdome for the second time this year. As he struggled to recover, he was hit by that golf cart. But that didn’t seem to stop Owens. It was his turn to do some crazy spots against Roman Reigns as well.
Kevin Owens slammed Roman Reigns onto an announce table. He followed it up with a Frog Splash to break that table. But that wasn’t even enough for Owens. He raised up a forklift to its highest point and did a Senton Bomb onto Reigns many feet below. How they were both fine after that crazy spot, we will never know.
The match certainly ended with some issues with handcuffs, but the story was already told. Owens looked like an unstoppable monster. Reigns barely survived yet again. And the fans saw another great WWE Championship match at Royal Rumble. Hopefully, one day, these two can fight yet again.
#1 Edge goes the distance to win the Men’s Royal Rumble
Edge, a 47-year old wrestler who hasn’t wrestled in nearly seven months, was a surprising first entry for the Royal Rumble. How long could The Rated-R Superstar truly last in the ultimate endurance test? In surprising fashion, it would seem like a very long time.
The Men’s Royal Rumble was a wonderful ending to an excellent pay-per-view. Edge and Randy Orton got the Rumble off to a physical start that seemed to end with Orton being taken out of the match. It would have made sense for Edge to quickly be eliminated after that event because he got his revenge on his rival. But Edge lasted over 58 minutes on Sunday night in the Royal Rumble.
Much like the other Rumble, the Men’s Royal Rumble match had a good mix of nostalgia as well. We had a return of Carlito. We had Hurricane Helms. We had Kane add to his elimination record. But most shocking of all, we had Christian return from his own retirement to reconnect with his friend and tag team partner yet again.
Christian lasted to be part of the final five of the Rumble, helping Edge eliminate Braun Strowman but was eliminated by Seth Rollins in the process. Edge was able to shockingly eliminate Seth Rollins and begun to celebrate his apparent Royal Rumble victory.
But Randy Orton, after being out for an hour due to "injury", attempted to eliminate Edge at the last minute. It didn’t work and Edge won his second Royal Rumble match. It was his first victory in the Royal Rumble match in 11 years. The possibility of a match with either Drew McIntyre or Roman Reigns will be a great WrestleMania feud.
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