The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin (2-out-of-3-Falls Match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
WWE
Winners: And STILL the WWE SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions, The Usos!
Highlights: After The Usos lambasted their foes with some fiery mic talk, Jey and Shelton locked up. Shelton overpowered him and tagged in Gable, who almost landed a nasty German Suplex on Jey. Jey tagged in Jimmy, who stopped that suplex from happening and almost aided his twin brother by landing a double Superkick. Gable ran out of the ring just in time to dodge it, though. Once Gable got back into the fray, he used his amateur wrestling expertise to punish Jimmy. Jimmy eventually clobbered Chad with strikes, but his moment of control got cut off by some leg work done by both Gable and Benjamin. Benjamin got back into the ring to stay on top of Jimmy’s now hurt leg. Benjamin and Gable chose to focus all their attention on Jimmy and his weakened limb for a good while. Jimmy tried fending off his foes, but they tore into him with more leg work and tag team maneuvers. Shelton found himself laid out after Jimmy cleaned his clock with an Enzuguri.
Jey then got a chance to lay out Benjamin and Gable with some offense of his own after he got the hot tag. Jey took flight on two occasions (back to back!) while Benjamin and Gable found themselves on the outside. Jey remained in control until he caught a knee from Shelton and a rare Tiger Suplex from Gable. Gable and Benjamin looked to land a big tag team move, but Jey dodged Gable’s flying maneuver. Gable landed up catching a dropkick from Jimmy on the mat. With Jey still in his arms, Benjamin Powerbombed him right into Jimmy in the corner. Jey then got dropped with a Paydirt, but still kicked out of the following pin. Gable went airborne to land a Moonsault onto the challengers on the outside soon after. Some back and forth mayhem ensued, which led to Gable getting clocked with a Superkick and a top rope splash. Gable survived it, which led to some mild confusion as both teams tore each other down with more offense. The Usos ended up getting the first pinfall after Superkicking Gable to death.
When the bout restarted, Gabel and Benjamin landed their big tag team maneuver on Jimmy on the outside. In the inside, Jey got clocked with an Overhead Kick from Gable and almost got taken out with a big move from Shelton. But out of nowhere, Jey rolled up Benjamin to grab the second and final pin.
Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan (c) vs. Cesaro and Sheamus (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
WWE
Winners: And the NEW WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, Cesaro and Sheamus!
Highlights: Rollins and Cesaro started this bout at a breakneck pace with some slick counters. Rollins took out Cesaro with armdrags and a dropkick, which forced Cesaro to tag Sheamus in. Rollins got ahold of Sheamus for a while and looked to tag in Jason, but Cesaro’s distraction caused Jason to accidentally ignore Rollin’s tag. Sheamus and Cesaro took this opportunity to continue working over Rollins. Rollins got free at one point and almost tagged in Jason, but Cesaro knocked him off the ring apron and launched him into the corner ring post. Rollins then came flying through the middle rope at Cesaro and Sheamus, but then looked towards his now fallen partner in shock. While Jason got tended to by the ringside officials, Rollins got torn to shreds in the ring. Jason slowly got back to his feet while Cesaro and Sheamus had their way with a severely weakened Rollins. Cesaro and Sheamus looked to land a big tag team move, but Rollins countered Cesaro and stopped that from happening.
Rollins made a comeback by prepping himself up while Jason still tried to recover on the outside. Rollins used suplexes to plant Cesaro to the mat, but it wasn’t enough to completely topple him. Sheamus eventually made his way into the ring and put in some work, but he too got put down by Rollins’ offense soon after. Rollins came off the top rope to land a Frog Splash onto both Cesaro and Sheamus and finally tagged in Jason. Jason, who was still dizzy from the attack dished out to him on the outside, decided to tag Rollins back in. Rollins fought valiantly for a bit, but it was all for naught as he ate a Brogue Kick and Cesaro and Sheamus’ finishing tag tam maneuver.
AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (Handicap Match for the WWE Championship)
WWE
Winner: And STILL the WWE Champion, AJ Styles!
Highlights: Once the big match introduction concluded, Owens looked to start things off. But he got under AJ’s skin by tagging in Sami instead. Sami went ahead and annoyed AJ some more by tagging Owens back in. Owens wanted to lock up with the champ, but AJ went straight to focusing on punches and kicks instead. Owens tagged Sami back in, who almost got pinned after a quick exchange with the WWE Champion. Owens ended up returning to the match to start brawling with AJ gain, but AJ caught him off guard with a Hurricanrana. AJ tried cutting off Owens from tagging his best friend, but Owens ran outside the ring and ran back in and tag Sami in anyway. Sami ended up catching a phenomenal dropkick from AJ, which forced Sami to call Owens back in. Owens finally managed to bring AJ’s back to the mat by using some stiff strikes. Sami then hopped back into the ring to pick apart AJ with chops. AJ responded with a few of his own, but Sami shook them them off and grounded AJ with a back body drop.
Owens made sure to enter the ring and abuse AJ inside and outside the ring. Owens and Sami punished the champ for several moments during their constant tags strategy. AJ found himself getting back into the swing of things at one point, but Owens cut him back down to size with an Electric Chair Drop. Owens kept AJ grounded with a chinlock, but AJ fought out of it. Owens pulled AJ’s head down to the mat and then went for his Cannonball Splash into the corner, but AJ dodged it at the very last moment. This forced Owens to tag in Sami, who looked to land something big off the top rope. AJ took him down with a nice Frankensteiner off the top, which then led into Owens running right into a Pele. AJ began making a triumphant comeback by dodging a Sami Helluva Kick and clocking him with his Backflip Reverse DDT.
AJ got catapulted out of the corner by Owens, but he amazingly flipped out of it to land a Hurricanrana on Sami. AJ then punished Owens by locking him in the Calf Crusher, but Sami ended up saving him at the very last minute. AJ used his striking combination to knock out Sami, but then he almost got beat with a quick roll up by Owens. AJ kicked out and then forced Owens to ram his shoulder into the corner ring post. Sami got back into the bout and landed a Blue Thunder Bomb on the champ after a a Superkick assist by Owens. When AJ got back to his feet, he found himself getting assaulted with chops and slaps by Sami. Both men struggled on the top rope, which led to AJ tripping Sami and forcing him slam his face into the top turnbuckle. AJ knocked Owens off the ring apron and landed his Phenomenal Forearm on Sami. Owens broke up the following pin, however. AJ and Sami then started one upping each other with forearm strikes. After it looked like a blind tag between Sami and Owens transpired, AJ shocked Owens by flipping out of his Pop Up Powerbomb and nabbing the winning pin.
Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane (Triple Threat Match for the WWE Universal Championship)
WWE
Winner: And still the WWE Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar!
Highlights: Once the champ and his challengers got introduced, Lesnar ran right at Kane and used shoulder strikes to clobber him. Strowman chose to plant both men while they were stuck in the corner and then focus all of his attention on the champ. Strowman landed a stiff knee on Lesnar, which did nothing but piss him off and cause him to land some stiff jabs on Strowman. Kane made a beeline for Kane and grounded him with a Chokeslam. Kane then switched his attention to Strowman for a bit, but their exchange ended once Lesnar came in swinging with a steel chair. Lesnar struck down Kane, but his next chair shot did nothing to weaken Strowman. Strowman rampaged all over his foes on the inside and the outside. He threw Lesnar into the crowd barrier, pulled out a number of tables and set them up in the ring while the crowd roared in approval.
After Chokeslamming Kane in the ring, Strowman got caught off guard by a series of German Suplexes from Lesnar. Strowman shook off the damage done to him and answered Lesnar’s offense by slamming him through a table. When Strowman got back to his feet, Kane shoved him right into a table set up in the ring corner. Strowman quickly recovered from this blow, but he got put back down seconds later by a Kane Chokeslam. As the match continued to break down, Lesnar handed an F5 to Kane in the ring and one to Strowman on the announce table. Lesnar powered up once more and handed another F5 to Kane, this time through another announce table. When Lesnar turned back around, he was shocked to see that Strowman was back on his feet. Strowman planted Lesnar with two Powerslam’s, but was unable to land a third one after Kane used a steel chair to force him outside the ring. Kane looked to land a Tombstone Piledriver, but Lesnar slipped out his grasp, shoved him into Strowman, and then F5’d Kane right into the mat for the 1-2-3. A pissed off Strowman screamed at Lesnar while the champ stared him down with his championship still intact.
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WWE Royal Rumble 2018: The Results & Highlights You Need to Know