The tagline for this year’s WWE Royal Rumble was “Remember the Rumble,” and this year was certainly one to remember. The card boasted four tremendous undercard matches and the most unpredictable Rumble match in recent memory. WWE definitely made sure that Wrestlemania season started off with a bang that included some amazing matches.

The first match of the evening was a singles match for the Raw Women’s Championship between the challenger Bayley and the reigning champion Charlotte Flair. Although it may not have been an iconic match in the history of women’s wrestling, it was still a great contest for both women. They put on a great showing and proved that they had some solid chemistry with one another. In the end, Flair ended up retaining with a Natural Selection on the apron for the win. This was a good move by WWE for two reasons. One, it kept Charlotte dominant on pay-per-view, and two, it saved Bayley’s crowning moment for Wrestlemania.

Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns went head to head once again as they battled in a No Disqualification match for the Universal Championship. Just to ensure that Owens’ best friend Chris Jericho didn’t get involved, he was suspended above the ring in a shark cage. This match blew away all expectations and it delivered in great capacity. Some of the bigger spots were Owens frog splashing Reigns through a table, Owens utilizing brass knuckles that Jericho dropped down to him, and Reigns Superman punching Owens into a pyramid of chairs. However, Reigns was once again denied of glory as Braun Strowman came in and got his revenge from a spear delivered to him by Roman a few weeks ago. He hit Reigns with a running powerslam through a table, allowing Owens to successfully retain. Another smart move by the company. Reigns has no business being a world champion, but it would’ve made sense for Owens to win without interference. His reign has been subpar at best and that’s because all of his defenses have been successful due to interference.

The next contest was in the Cruiserweight division. Rich Swann defended his title against the self proclaimed “King of the Cruiserweights” Neville. This match did exactly what it had to. They both showed that the Cruiserweights can potentially be a serious division by putting on a great match. Neville then went on to win his first main roster championship by making Rich Swann tap out.

In the final singles match of the night, John Cena went head to head with WWE Champion AJ Styles in an attempt to claim his sixteenth world championship. This was easily match of the night, even though it had some stellar competition. Somehow, these two were able to top their classic from Summerslam. With finishers, unique moves, and false finishes galore, this is absolutely an early match of the year candidate. Styles proved that he is one of, if not the best wrestler in the world and Cena proved that he is still a capable wrestler. Cena ended up hitting two consecutive Attitude Adjustments to pick up his sixteenth world championship. Styles might’ve been the better pick here, but it will be interesting to see what WWE does with the title going through Wrestlemania season.

The final match of the evening was the annual Royal Rumble match. In recent memory, there was always a clear winner in mind. This year however, there were about four to five potential winners that could’ve punched their ticket to Wrestemania by winning the match. The match ended up being pretty average. Better than years past, but nothing special. There were a few cool moments such as “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger coming out at number ten, Goldberg eliminating Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker eliminating Goldberg. Braun Strowman ended the night with the most eliminations and Chris Jericho was the iron man of the match, lasting in it for over an hour. Sami Zayn and The Miz also had good showings throughout the match. Roman Reigns’ music hitting at the thirtieth and final entrant was greeted by nothing but boos and negative chants. It was on odd decision considering that spot could’ve easily belonged to Samoa Joe who has been primed to make the jump from NXT to the main roster for months. Randy Orton was the victor at match’s end, eliminating Roman Reigns last to pick up the win. It was a questionable decision to say the least. If WWE was really looking towards the future, why would they have a veteran like Randy Orton take the win over guys like Sami Zayn, Bray Wyatt, or a debuting Samoa Joe. It didn’t make sense to a lot of people. Randy will likely be challenging for the WWE Championship, which means he’ll be facing the likes of John Cena, AJ Styles, or Bray Wyatt more than likely. This Rumble was solid, but it really lacked a shock factor that it usually brought. No surprise out of this world entrants, no legends, no extraordinary spots. WWE really had a chance to do something special with this Royal Rumble, but they blew it. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either.

Overall, this show was absolutely fantastic. Even though the Rumble left much to be desired, the undercard proved enough make the show something special. Two match of the year candidates in the form of Reigns vs Owens and Cena vs Styles came from it. It was a great night of fantastic wrestling, and hopefully the WWE can figure out a way to make interesting feuds going into Wrestlemania.