Best & Worst of the Royal Rumble 2022: Unexpected superstar to get a big push, 2 Big mistakes made in the men's match

The road to WrestleMania began at the Royal Rumble 2022 in what turned out to be an incredible show. Apart from a few hiccups, it's safe to say that things were handled quite well.

A shoutout to the mixed tag team match between The Miz, Maryse, Edge, and Beth Phoenix. The only reason we didn't include it in the list was that it had little to no consequence on the show and served as more of a cool-off match before the men's Rumble.

They thrived despite this, so a lot of respect goes out to the four veterans.

Looking at the rest of the show, here are the best and worst bits of the 2022 Royal Rumble:

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#3. Best: The RAW Women's Championship match at the Royal Rumble

Becky Lynch had yet another incredible defense of the RAW Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble 2022 against Doudrop.

The two women had a match that was years in the making. And it turned out to be one of the best women's title matches in recent months and perhaps one of Becky Lynch's best matches since her return.

A lot of people underestimated Doudrop being in that spot, but she was as responsible for putting on a good match as Becky Lynch was. The two women had natural chemistry in the ring that simply can't be taught, and what ensued was a highly-physical contest with good storytelling.

Becky Lynch was directly responsible for costing Bianca Belair and allowing Doudrop to earn a number one contender's spot. However, the challenger would get the better of her on multiple occasions on RAW.

The two women went toe-to-toe, and Doudrop was close to dethroning Big Time Becks. Unfortunately, for the Scottish star, she isn't the main focus and priority of the women's division right now.

Becky Lynch finished her with a beautiful manhandle slam from the turnbuckles, effectively ending her rivalry with Doudrop.

Doudrop could be rewarded by this performance. She could get an unexpected push and receive more accolades than even Nia Jax did.

It will be interesting to see how WWE handles her, as she has proven herself to be an obvious force to be reckoned with in the women's division.

#2. Worst: The Men's Royal Rumble match

We're not going to allow the predictable men's Royal Rumble match spoil what was an otherwise great event. Unfortunately, the men's match wasn't up to par this year.

The issue is that there were two big mistakes made.

Firstly, the lack of surprises, and secondly, the predictability of it. It became obvious that Brock Lesnar was going to win, and one can't help but feel that so much more could have been done with the men's Royal Rumble match.

Brock Lesnar won and is heading to WrestleMania 38 to face Roman Reigns, although the match itself isn't official just yet.

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#2. Best: Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins have such great chemistry that they have already set the bar for match of the year candidate in 2022 at the Royal Rumble. The match was the right pick to open the show, and they even surpassed their epic Money in the Bank 2016 match-up.

The storytelling in the match was second to none, and Roman Reigns continued to show why he's the best in the world. He lost to Seth Rollins via disqualification after refusing to let go of the Guillotine hold despite Rollins' hands being on the ropes.

It was an incredible contest, and it made many want to see a Reigns-Rollins match at WrestleMania over a Reigns-Lesnar one.

#1. Worst: The awfully quick eliminations in the Women's Royal Rumble match

The Women's Royal Rumble was arguably better than the men's edition this year. The unfortunate aspect of it was that so many competitors were announced in advance, with WWE choosing to draw in viewers through pre-announced returns rather than surprise ones.

Ronda Rousey is the fifth women's Royal Rumble winner. We assume that it will be to set up a match against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 38. The negative of the match, however, were the short appearances for the likes of Melina, Molly Holly, Kelly Kelly and Summer Rae.

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#1. The dream match between Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar

Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar was a dream match that was finally delivered after years of anticipation. It ended with controversy after Brock Lesnar hit Bobby Lashley with the F-5, only for the referee to get knocked out.

This led to Roman Reigns popping out of nowhere and using Paul Heyman's assistance to cost Brock Lesnar the match, allowing Bobby Lashley to pick up his second WWE Championship.

Either Reigns or Lesnar was losing at the Rumble, and it's good that Bobby Lashley benefited from it all in the end.