Star Rating Every Match at WWE Royal Rumble 2019

Royal Rumble 2019 is now in the history books, and what a night it has been. It was a very good show, to say the least, and most matches were very well received by the crowd at Chase Field Stadium.

The three matches on the pre-show and the seven matches on the main show, which included two one hour long Rumble matches, made the event a fairly long and grueling one, but, credit to WWE who did a great job to keep it as interesting as it can.

Here, we rate each of those ten matches at this marquee event. This is just an opinion, the perception of a match varies from person to person. So, let's delve in to see how each match on the second biggest WWE event of the year fares on a scale of 5 stars:

Pre-Show Matches

#1 Chad Gable and Bobby Roode vs Scott Dawson and Rezar

Rating: 2.5*

Roode attacks Rezar as Maverick looks on

This match was said to happen so that if the makeshift team of Dawson and Rezar won, their respective teams would get a future opportunity at the Raw Tag Team Championships. Now, coming to the match itself, it was very basic. Gable and Dawson had a good showing at the beginning followed by some good standard tag team action.

The finish came due to the miscommunication between Dawson and Rezar after which Gable and Roode hit their Moonsault-Neckbreaker finisher to pick up the victory. This means that we shall get to see new teams in the tag team title picture which is good for the struggling tag team division on Raw.

This was also the only unannounced match on the Royal Rumble card. Overall, by kickoff show standards, this was a decent contest.

#2 Rusev (Champion) vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship

Rating: 3*

This was another good match wrestled by these two which unfortunately had a lame finish. The match had the two strike each other with everything in their arsenal and was back and forth throughout. At one point, Nakamura was able to lock in an armbar, which was out powered by Rusev.

The finish came in too soon. The crowd was just getting invested in the match. This had Nakamura try to expose the turnbuckle, Lana report this and then get accidentally knocked off the apron by Rusev, which was enough to give her an ankle injury. Nakamura took advantage of this and nailed Rusev with a Kinshasa behind his head for the win.

Another observation was that Nakamura's choice of wardrobe reminded me of someone, especially with his back turned. The combination of red and black on a bodysuit with long hair reminded me of the greatest performer in Royal Rumble history - the Big Red Machine, Kane. Whether this was done on purpose or was just a coincidence, I don't know.

#3 Buddy Murphy (Champion) vs Akira Tozawa vs Hideo Itami vs Kalisto in a Fatal Four Way Match for the Cruiserweight Championship

Rating: 3.5*

Cruiserweights in WWE are always a delight to watch. Unfortunately, not too many people watch their show. This match showcased the awesomeness of the 205 Live wrestlers. Four of the top performers of the division had a top-notch performance.

The match was full of leaps, dives, and what not. Hideo played the cocky heel in this match by moving out of the ring when the match started. The match gave time to each and every competitor to shine, and was especially notable for Murphy's amazing step up knee strikes. The finish came when Buddy Murphy nailed Hideo Itami with Murphy's Law for the pinfall.

This was a very good match which unfortunately ended just when it was just starting to shift gears into awesomeness. However, these wrestlers are capable of even better.

Main Show Matches

#4 Asuka (Champion) vs Becky Lynch for the Smackdown Women's Championship

Rating: 2.75*

This was an interesting choice for an opening match. After weeks of build, Becky Lynch and Asuka finally got to face off in a one on one contest. This was an above average wrestling match, an there were some interesting moments from it. These include both women performing each other's submission hold and performing their own submission holds on the ropes.

Becky's character work and demeanor were solid throughout as usual. Despite, both the competitors being babyfaces, the crowd sided with Lynch. The finish came as a bit of a shock when Asuka defeated Lynch by making her tap in the middle of the ring.

This was a decent opener, but, far from the best match these two women have had. It was nowhere on the level of Asuka's NXT title defenses or some of Becky's matches against the likes of Charlotte. However, it served its purpose on the show and helped make Becky's triumphant entry into the Rumble even more surprising.

#5 The Bar (Champions) vs Shane Mcmahon and The Miz for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships

Rating: 3.75*

This was an unexpectedly good match. Unlike a usual Shane Mcmahon match, this had no weaponry involved. Also, this was much more than a spot fest. It was a well laid out tag team match.

The Bar's tag team heel work was awesome as usual. Miz, despite his inexperience as a babyface, sold pretty well. Shane pulled out all the stops after the hot tag. There was a fascinatingly long Cesaro spin, which is rare these days, and it impressed me the most.

The finish involved the Miz causing Sheamus to accidentally Brogue Kick Cesaro after which the almost 50-year-old Shane nailed Cesaro with a shooting star press for the victory.

After the match, Miz and Shane celebrated with Miz's dad, a WWE way of trying to tap emotion. The crowd reacted very well to this match throughout and the pacing kept it entertaining throughout. Although the result might irritate some, the match in itself was entertaining.

#6 Ronda Rousey (Champion) vs Sasha Banks for the Raw Women's Championship

Rating: 4.25*

This match was spectacular. It had an average start, but, picked up very well from there. It was a hybrid of a submission match and a strike fest which turned out pretty well. Sasha showcased her training with innovative submission moves, mainly targeted at Ronda's right arm.

The story from here was of Ronda's perseverance and Sasha's determination to topple her. There were two suicide dives from Banks, a superplex and a lot more. There was also counter after counter to submissions, all of which were brilliantly done.

The finish had Ronda counter Sasha's submission into a slam and then hit her with Piper's Pit to pick up the win, which in the process effectively put Banks over as she did not tap.

This, in my opinion, was right up there with Ronda's match with Charlotte, if not better. It was also Sasha's best match since her NXT classic with Bayley.

#7 30 Women Royal Rumble Match

Rating: 3.25*

This was a thoroughly entertaining match with a lot of memorable spots. Unlike last year's version, this featured more up and coming NXT stars rather than legends. The elements that particularly entertained me were Natalya's, Charlotte's and Ember Moon's enduring performances, Kacy Catanzaro and Naomi's unique Kingston styled saves, and the Zelina Vegas and Hornswoggle spot.

The match had Becky replace Lana after she was unable to compete and triumphantly toppled Charlotte to become the winner. This was what all of us wanted and WWE gave it to us in the best way possible. Every storyline used to build to this match was utilized skillfully and came out very well together.

The only probable downside from this match could be, just like its predecessor, it became very predictable by the end. Despite the regular action, the storytelling made this match a delight to watch.

#8 Daniel Bryan (Champion) vs AJ Styles for the WWE Championship

Rating: 3.75*

This match was extremely well wrestled as expected. It was a great wrestling match in the traditional sense of a wrestling match. Daniel and AJ, being two of the best technical wrestlers on the planet put up what seemed to be an excellent match wrestled by calling spots instead of being an intricately planned one.

We got to witness some rare wrestling maneuvers such as a dragon suplex, a double under-hook slam and lots more. AJ's nose started bleeding early in the match, and Bryan masterfully included this into the story of the match by holding his nose as well while applying the LeBell Lock.

Despite all this, it had a very lame finish. Rowan came out in street clothes, shedding his Bludgeon gimmick, and went on to interfere after the referee got knocked out by hitting Styles with a move resembling the choke slam, which allowed Daniel to pin him and retain. The finish did not eat up the match entirely but did sabotage it to a considerable degree.

#9 Brock Lesnar (Champion) vs Finn Balor for the WWE Universal Championship

Rating: 3*

Finn Balor might as well be the dumbest wrestling character in history. Anyone who knows Finn knows that he is much stronger as the Demon than he is as the Man, but for some reason, he considers using his Demon avatar in a match with nothing on the line against Baron Corbin, rather than in a Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar. This is just ridiculous booking.

Regardless, this was a decent match which had Brock be driven into the corner of an announce table, which caused him much pain throughout the match. Finn performed three consecutive spectacular leaps over the top rope on to Brock.

He then hit the Coup de Grace on Brock but, was unsuccessful in getting the three count. Brock then locked him in the Kimura lock and made him tap. He then furiously laid waste to him with a couple of German Suplexes and an F5 after the match. So is Balor really being pushed?

#10 30 Men Royal Rumble Match

Rating: 3.75*

This was one of the better Rumble matches we have seen. It was full of unexpected twists and turns. We had comedy in the form of Titus O'Neil, No Way Jose and Curt Hawkins which was enhanced by Jerry Lawler and JBL's commentary. We also had a lot of surprise entrants, out of which Jeff Jarrett was the most notable one.

The match saw top-notch superstars like Dean Ambrose and Bobby Lashley get eliminated when they were least expected to. Also, who on this planet would have thought that Nia Jax of all people would ambush R Truth and replace him? We also got to witness some extremely rare intergender violence (not implying it is a good thing). All this made for a wonderful Royal Rumble experience.

However, like the Women's match after the shocking elimination of Drew McIntyre, and Seth Rollins being laid out, the winner became fairly easy to predict. Overall, this match was in every way weird, but, never in a cringe-worthy way, rather mostly in a delightful way.

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Edited by Gabby Duran