It may have taken ages to get here, but we’ve finally arrived at the first major WWE PPV of the year.
The most important battle royale in wrestling is the Royal Rumble. Every January, 30 men try to fling each other over the top rope and become the last man standing. The triumphant winner goes on to that year’s WrestleMania and gets a shot at any major championship he chooses. For 2018, that match concept is being applied to the women. History will be made as the men and women compete in their own Royal Rumble bouts on the very same show. Alongside those two major battle royal matches, AJ Styles will defend his WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Handicap Match. And Brock Lesnar will engage in a monster mash with Braun Strowman and Kane in a WWE Universal Championship match.
To get a full rundown of everything that happened at the 2018 Royal Rumble, you’ve come to the right place.
Bobby Roode (c) vs. Mojo Rawley (Open Challenge for the WWE United States Championship)
WWE
Winner: And STILL the WWE United States Champion, Bobby Roode!
Highlights: Roode made sure to give a “GLORIOUS!” promo to the hot crowd in Philly. After he was done speaking to the crowd, Mojo’s music hit and he ran out to answer Roode’s open challenge. When the match began, Mojo used his power to overwhelm the champ. Roode fired back at Mojo with chops and a clothesline to even the odds. Mojo tried to come racing at the champ one more, but he was met with an Atomic Drop and a Russian Leg Sweep counter. Roode remained in control for a while afterwards until Mojo caused him to fall to the outside. Mojo used an elbow strike and a nasty tackle to cause maximum discomfort for Roode near the security barrier. Mojo took the champ back into the ring for even more punishment as the crowd booed everything he did. Mojo’s chinlock hold on Roode eventually got countered when Roode escaped and landed a Backdrop Suplex.
Roode tried coming off the top rope to begin his comeback, but Mojo caught him in midair. Roode ended up spinning out of his arms and launched right into his comeback maneuvers. Roode pulled out his best moves on Mojo and almost landed his Glorious DDT, but Mojo shook him off and spiked him with a Spinebuster. Mojo chose to taunt the champ, but he paid for this error after getting slammed with a Spinebuster by Roode. Roode looked to land his finisher once again, but Mojo countered him again and threw him right into the corner ring post. Mojo ran full steam ahead at Roode for his finishing forearm strike, but Roode clocked him with boots to the face. This led right into him finishing Mojo with a top rope variation of his Glorious DDT.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder)
WWE
Winners: The Revival!
Highlights: Anderson and Wilder kicked things off. This didn’t last long as Wilder quickly tagged in Dawson while he had Anderson in his corner, but Anderson quickly escaped their grasp. Anderson and Dawson blasted each other with strikes as they fought to get the upper hand. After some back and forth counters, Anderson tagged in Gallows to aid him in a tag team move on Dawson. Dawson took a breather, tagged in Wilder, and finally took down Gallows. Gallows wasn’t down for long though as he handed out body slams to both members of The Revival. Anderson got back into the fray, but it cost him dearly when The Revival used some dual offense to cut him down. Anderson then ended up on the receiving end of plenty of tandem offense from Dawson and Wilder. The Revival focused their attack on Anderson’s leg while Gallows looked on. Anderson seemed to save himself by kicking Dawson off of him, but Wilder ran in to keep one of the “Good Brothers” down. Anderson countered a Dragon Screw into a pin at one point on Dawson, but it did nothing to help him recover.
Anderson finally managed to take out Dawson and get the hot tag to his bigger partner. Gallows went crazy with nasty kicks and more of his comeback maneuvers on The Revival. A Magic Killer looked to be on the horizon, but The Revival broke it up. Anderson planted a nasty Spinebuster at one point, but it was all for naught. Gallows got taken out on the outside, which led to Anderson getting chop blocked after landing a sick flying kick. Once he got rolled up, The Revival got their win.
Kalisto, Lince Dorado, and Gran Metalik vs. TJP, Gentleman Jack Gallagher, and Drew Gulak (6-Man Tag Team Match)
WWE
Winners: Kalisto, Lince Dorado, and Gran Metalik!
Highlights: Kalisto chose to get things going with Gulak first. Both men engaged in a lock-up session that initially worked out in Kalisto’s favor. Gulak then got the better of the small luchador for a bit before the pendulum swung back in Kalisto’s favor. Gulak escaped a submission by Kalisto and tagged in Jack, which led to Kalisto tagging in Metalik. Both men got engaged in a lock-up exchange of their own that forced Jack to leave the ring for a bit to recover. Jack re-entered the ring, but chose to tag in TJP instead. After a quick dab, TJP ended up facing off with Lince. Lince got the better of TJP and then tagged in Kalisto to help their team keep the advantage. Kalisto took down TJP with some impressive moves and then tagged in Lince to keep the offense of TJP going. Lince laid TJP out and almost finished him with a Standing Moonsault. TJP soon found himself knocked to the outside with his teammates, which led to the luchadors landing a Triple Moonsault onto all of them.
When the bout returned to the ring, TJP finally got control of Lince. Lince tried coming off the top rope to dropkick TJP, but TJP countered him with a quick dropkick. Afterwards, Gulak got tagged in and used some illegal help from Jack to punish Lince. Gulak and his allies did their best to torture Lince all the while. Jack worked over Line’s leg while Gulak helped knock down the opposition from their ring apron position. TJP then came in to land a tag team move with Gulak and continue to ground “The Golden Lynx.” Line tried to make the hot tag after breaking a submission by TJP, but TJP stopped him by draping him over the top rope. Jack them entered the match to shove Kalisto and beat down Lince some more. While Jack was on the top rope, Gulak argued with him about the “No Fly Zone” policy and caused him screw up his follow-up move.
This led to Metalik getting the hot tag and landing some of his best high-flying offense on Gulak. Kalisto ended up getting a blind tag, which then led to Lince landing a Stunner-like maneuver on Gulak and Jack. Metalik took flight through the middle ropes for a big move and Kalisto ended up getting his team the win after finishing TJP with a Salida Del Sol. TJP argued with his team after the such a disappointing loss.