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The 2020 men’s Royal Rumble is officially in the record books and, while some fans may not have been thrilled with how the match played out in the beginning, once they take a moment to reflect now that the event is over, I'm sure they’ll realize that it was booked perfectly.
WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar entered at #1 and made quick work of Elias, Erick Rowan, Bobby Roode, and John Morrison before finally facing a bit of a challenge in the form of Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, and Big E. Lesnar then made quick work of Cesaro, Shelton Benjamin, Shinsuke Nakamura, and a returning MVP, before facing off with Keith Lee and Braun Strowman. After eliminating them, Ricochet entered and was taken down before Drew McIntyre joined the fray. Ricochet hit a low blow on Lesnar and McIntyre eliminated Lesnar to a huge pop from the crowd.
While fans weren’t happy with Lesnar making quick work of so many entrants, especially the recently-returned Morrison and NXT’s Lee, it was worth it as, when Kofi Kingston entered the match he got a big reaction, fans quickly remembered Lesnar's history with the New Day member and were eager for him to gain some revenge. More importantly, McIntyre got the biggest pop of the night when he finally eliminated the master of the F5. Lesnar sold it perfectly as well, remaining at ringside for a while before finally leaving and looking destroyed.
The other good booking decision of the match was the interactions between Seth Rollins, AOP, Buddy Murphy, and Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe. The story continued as Rollins eliminated both Joe and Owens with assistance from his stable. After Rollins was eliminated, they continued brawling and Aleister Black joined the melee, which means that he is likely joining the storyline going forward.
The story of this Royal Rumble match was clear: make Lesnar look unbeatable, that he can’t be eliminated, only to have a 'savior' appear and rescue the day. It also got fans invested; those in attendance were ecstatic when McIntyre, the supposed White Knight, finally appeared to slay the beast. It was simply good story-telling all around.
The Rollins/Joe/Owens story was just the small cherry on top.
