Saturday, January 27, 2018

ROYAL RUMBLE 2018 LIVE WWE



Welcome to Watch ROYAL RUMBLE 2018 LIVE WWE. The WWE Royal Rumble 2018 pay-per-view is scheduled for January 28, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.

With WWE setting a course for the Road to WrestleMania 34, the 2018 Royal Rumble is of grand importance for the company as it hopes to rebound from some slow and repetitive booking over the last few months.



Royal Rumble 2018 Match Details
WWE Champion
AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman vs Kane

Raw Tag Team Championship
Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) vs The Bar

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (c) vs Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin

United States Championship
Bobby Roode (c) vs. TBA (Kickoff Show)

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs The Revival (Kickoff Show)

Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik vs TJP, Jack Gallagher & Drew Gulak (Kickoff Show):

Possible Major WWE Royal Rumble Spoiler
According to PWInsider, The Undertaker and Michelle McCool were both seen in Philadelphia, the site for Sunday's Royal Rumble. McCool initially showed interested in participating when the Women's Royal Rumble match was announced last month. According to the report, WWE did reach out to her about an appearance.

The first-ever 30-Woman Over-The-Top Royal Rumble Match
In the historic event, the same rules that apply to the Men's Royal Rumble Match will apply to the Women's. Thirty Superstars will enter, one at a time, at consistent intervals. An elimination occurs when a Superstar is sent over the top rope with both feet touching the floor, and the last woman standing will receive a Championship Match at WrestleMania. With 30 spots available in the ground-breaking contest, the competition promises to be as fierce as it gets. 16 Superstars have officially declared so far including: Asuka, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, Bayley , Naomi, Natalya, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Mickie James?, Tamina Snuka, Lana, Carmella, Becky Lynch, Dana Brooke, Alicia Fox.



The 2018 30-Man Over-The-Top Royal Rumble Match
A tradition dating back to 1988, the Royal Rumble Match starts with two participants, and new Superstars entering the ring every two minutes. This continues until all 30 Superstars have entered the bout. Elimination occurs when a Superstar is thrown over the top rope and both of his feet hit the floor. The last Superstar in the ring will be declared the victor. So far, the following the Superstars have been announced for the gigantic match: John Cena, Finn Balor, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Miz, Elias, Baron Corbin, "Woken" Matt Hardy, Bray Wyatt, Aiden English, Rusev, Titus O'Neil, Apollo Crews, Tye Dillinger, Big E. Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods




WWE Championship 
WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn — 2-on-1 Handicap Match for the WWE Title: There is certainly a line between honor and hubris, and WWE Champion AJ Styles is straddling it. After losing non-title singles matches to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn on the Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 editions of SmackDown LIVE, respectively, thanks in large part due to interference in both bouts, The Phenomenal One took drastic action, and, in a moment of frustration, challenged his foes to a 2-on-1 Handicap Match! SmackDown LIVE General Manager Daniel Bryan thought it was a brilliant idea, not only making the Handicap Match official, but announcing that the WWE Title Match would happen at Royal Rumble, much to the shock of all parties involved, including SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon. Will Styles add to his incredible legacy by overcoming such a daunting challenge to retain the WWE Title at Royal Rumble? Or will Owens & Zayn continue to run roughshod over Team Blue by benefitting from their numbers advantage and add the WWE Championship to their arsenal?


Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman vs Kane (Triple Threat Match)
Though a knockdown drag-out showdown between Strowman and Kane on the Dec. 11 episode of Raw was meant to decide Lesnar's pay-per-view opponent, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle should have known that the hard-hitting bout was destined to descend into all-out chaos. On the other hand, perhaps he did have such an instinct because, after the match ended without a winner, Angle can now offer the WWE Universe a colossal free-for-all pitting the three forces of nature against each other in one historic clash. Certainly, Lesnar has earned every bit of his place of prominence by outbattling some of the biggest names of WWE to stand alone at the top of the mountain. Enter Braun Strowman, an absolutely dominant Superstar who has left a path of destruction in arenas all over the world. Moreover, when he battled The Beast for the Universal Championship at WWE No Mercy, there was no fear in his eyes nor in his actions. However, despite The Monster Among Men's penchant for brutality, it would be a huge mistake to discount the 320-pound-plus demon in the room. After all, Kane is the most sinister Superstar in the fray and boasts an extensive history of in-ring destruction. Nothing is off limits for Kane when it comes to getting the best of his adversaries, and the ruthless Big Red Machine will certainly be at his most sadistic while battling for the Universal Title.


Raw Tag Team Championship
Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) vs The Bar: Sheamus & Cesaro finally get their title rematch at the Royal Rumble, though the Rollins/Jordan team looks to be together for a while and likely needs the championship in order for their program to make sense. Then again, they could also drop the titles and immediately start a feud.



SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (c) vs Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin (2-of-3 Falls Match): The rematch to the rematch, this one should be the end of the feud (if The Usos retain) or just the start should we get new champions at the show. The stipulation leads one to believe it might be the latter.



United States Championship 
Bobby Roode (c) vs. TBA (Kickoff Show): The U.S. Open Challenge returns as Roode will defend his title against a yet-to-be-announce opponent on the kickoff show.


Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. The Revival (Kickoff Show): Though The Revival got a squash win over unnamed jobbers two weeks ago, it appears as if they will be squash match fodder themselves here.

Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik vs TJP, Jack Gallagher & Drew Gulak (Kickoff Show): With no cruiserweight championship match on the show, this was booked.

Royal Rumble predictions
Men’s Royal Rumble
Geno Mrosko: I quite like it when pro wrestling creates moments of extreme emotion, even if that emotion is rage to the point of outright animosity. I kind of really want Roman Reigns to win this match, show up on Raw the next night, and tell the crowd he’s going to go on to WrestleMania to win the Universal title and they’re just going to have to deal with it. Pick: Roman Reigns
Sean Rueter: Geno’s closing line’s got me wishing my boy Dave would return and walk alone inside this pit of danger, but alas, that’s even less likely than Daniel Bryan winning this thing. With a bunch of open spots, I feel like we could in line for a surprise, though. And sometimes the most surprising thing to do is go with a guy who’s been mentioned as a possible winner of this match since he was called up. Pick: Shinsuke Nakamura
Kyle Decker: This Rumble is wide open for the taking and I love it. I really don’t have a clear idea who I think is going to win. I believe they stray away from Reigns and set up his title match after this show. But that still leaves everyone from SmackDown and pretty much everyone from Raw as well if they have them challenge for AJ’s title. All that said, I’ve narrowed it down to two people: Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton. Much like Cain mentions below, Nakamura has not been being built as a big title contender. In fact, last we saw, he was left laying due to the Randy Orton. A Viper win would leave me underwhelmed, but AJ vs. Randy is a match I bet they want to do and disappointing finishes involving guys who have been there before seems like a Rumble tradition at this point. Pick: Randy Orton
Cain A. Knight: In my view it comes down to one of Reigns, Cena, or Nakamura. Reigns is the best bet of them all to challenge for the title at WrestleMania, but the upcoming Elimination Chamber event is a good way to set that up. Nakamura stands out as an interesting opponent for Styles, but his booking has been iffy and I don’t think Vince will choose someone who struggles with promos in English. I’m convinced that Cena is fighting Undertaker at WrestleMania and I have no clue how a Rumble win gets him there. It’s still probably going to be Cena, but I think Vince might decide to troll Philadelphia as hard as possible after what happened in 2015. That means the final buzzer goes off and Daniel Bryan’s music hits, and Dolph Ziggler returns doing a parody of Bryan and eliminating iron man Shinsuke on his way to victory. Pick: Dolph Ziggler
Reverend Kain: I write this knowing full well that I’m likely to be wrong, but it’s the Royal Rumble and it feels particularly wide open this year. Yeah, Roman Reigns is headed for his inevitable fourth coronation against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, and that makes him as valid a choice as anybody, but I got a feeling, with Elimination Chamber as a Raw PPV, that the winner is gonna challenge for the WWE Championship. And so I’m gonna go big. Literally big. As in the Big Show. He’s very large, and thus hard to eliminate, and a feud against AJ Styles would rule. Fighting mad Big Show ready for what would likely be his last big run, the best wrestler in the world at his size challenging the best wrestler in the world at AJ’s size? I’m not even sure he’s ready to come back yet but weirder things have happened. Let’s do it! Pick: Big Show
Women’s Royal Rumble
Geno Mrosko: I don’t think they’ll go with Ronda Rousey here, for a number of reasons, not least of which that she’s probably not available. If she is in for WrestleMania, though, and the rumors of her getting in Charlotte’s business prove true, that leaves a Raw star to win. It’s probably going to be Asuka but I’ll go with another favorite here. Pick: Nia Jax
Sean Rueter: There’s only one star big enough to win the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble, and she doesn’t have an “R” anywhere in her name. She’s not a Billionaire Dollar Princess, either. And I don’t care that she hasn’t been built up recently. Or that she’s never successfully defended a title on the main roster. She moves the needle and the camera loves her, which makes her a prefect choice to grab another piece of history. Pick: Sasha Banks
Kyle Decker: This all comes down to the Rousey question: Will she be there? If she’s in the match, she’s winning the match. No doubt in my mind on that one. But her recent claims that she won’t be there due to filming a movie has given me enough pause not to pick her. Obvious, that could be a big work, and good on her and WWE if that’s the case for making us doubt. If she’s not there, my guesses would be Asuka from Raw or Becky Lynch from SmackDown. Of those two, I’d choose Asuka since she’s the one they’re building as dominant. Pick: Asuka
Cain A. Knight: I don’t think WWE has included a 1-on-1 women’s match on the card at WrestleMania since 2007. So the winner here needs to be a really big deal, at least in Vince’s eyes, to get that spotlight. As much as I would love to see Becky, Sasha, or Bayley win this, there’s isn’t much in their booking that says Vince thinks they are huge stars. And Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss doesn’t sound like a very good match. I can squint and see a scenario where Naomi wins the Rumble and challenges Charlotte. Aside from that, this one pretty much screams out part-time winner in the form of either Ronda Rousey, Stephanie McMahon, or Trish Stratus. If this match actually main events the Rumble PPV, that’s a pretty good indication that Rousey will be involved. Pick: Ronda Rousey
Reverend Kain: Man, I don’t know. Like, for real. Although I’d assume that if the winner of the men’s Rumble, as I’m presupposing, is going to challenge for the WWE Championship, that means the women’s Rumble winner is probably going after the Raw title. Not a hard and fast rule, but I feel like they’d want that balance. Which in turn narrows it down further, because there are only two women on Raw who seem any kind of likely, Asuka and Nia Jax. So it’s been a while but I’m going to resort to a tactic I’ve used before and literally flipping a coin... Pick: Asuka

Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman vs Kane
Geno Mrosko: The rumors say one thing, that this match has a clear winner, but I’m going to go within the confines of kayfabe with this pick. Really, Braun Strowman should never lose. Pick: Braun Strowman
Sean Rueter: Do it for your fellow old guys! Take that big red belt back to Knoxville County, future Mayor Universal champ! Pick: Kane
Kyle Decker: It’s a shame how little I’m into this match at this point. May as well keep rolling with Brock until WrestleMania and have him lose it in a match that has more fanfare than this one. Pick: Brock Lesnar
Cain A. Knight: For a long time I’ve said there’s no such thing as a Brock Lesnar match that I don’t want to watch, but man, this one sure comes close to breaking that rule. WWE has probably picked the 2 guys who I have the least interest in seeing in the ring with Lesnar. Kane was a joke in 2014 when challenging Daniel Bryan for the title and the joke only got worse in 2015 when he was challenging champion Seth Rollins. Now here we are a couple years years later and he is going over guys like Balor and Rollins. It’s ridiculous and needs to stop. Then there’s Strowman, who was abysmal against Lesnar at No Mercy and demonstrated that he doesn’t belong in a top spot. This whole thing just sucks. I hope Lesnar pins Strowman with a single F5 or less, but it seems more likely that’s why Kane is here. Pick: Brock Lesnar
Reverend Kain: It should be Braun, but it will not be Braun. But hey, at least it isn’t going to be Kane! Could you imagine Kane as top champion in the year of our lord two thousand and eighteen? Shudder. Pick: Brock Lesnar

AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
Geno Mrosko: I just can’t imagine they would ever actually try to go forward with the idea of a WWE co-champion situation. But there’s a first for everything! Pick: Owens & Zayn
Sean Rueter: Could Kami win the belt? YEP! Will they? Pick: AJ Styles
Kyle Decker: It always seems the champions do better when the odds are worse. Pick: AJ Styles
Cain A. Knight: This story has taken a turn for the worse with Daniel Bryan now making decisions that are hard to justify, and I have no idea what direction Vince will go with the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. I’m interested in Owens and Zayn as co-champs but I don’t think it will happen. With Styles failing to defeat both Owens and Zayn on SmackDown this past week, it’s probably a good bet that Styles will overcome those odds at the Royal Rumble. Pick: AJ Styles
Reverend Kain: Owens and Zayn think they want some, but they do not, in fact, want some. Ipso facto... Pick: AJ Styles

The Usos vs Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
Geno Mrosko: Jey Uso’s recent arrest doesn’t seem to have done much to deter WWE from booking the SmackDown tag team champions like normal but the babyfaces have been chasing and coming up short in ways that make you think they’ll get the big win at a big show. Pick: Gable & Benjamin
Sean Rueter: If Chad and Shelt-y can’t win here, with a stipulation designed to protect them from feigned injuries, blind referees and other issues which seem to plague the so-called Land of Opportunity, they’re kind of done. I doubt they hold onto the belts for long, but they’ve put in the work and should get a run. Pick: Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin
Kyle Decker: This should be a blast of a match. I think the Brothers Uce (yes, I know that’s completely redundant) retain and carry the torch for the tag division a bit longer. Pick: The Usos
Cain A. Knight: The Usos defending their titles in a 2 out of 3 falls match is always a good idea. Gable and Benjamin as their dance partners makes it that much better. This match should be fantastic and even with Jey Uso’s recent troubles, I think the Usos still retain and hold the straps en route to another pre-show match at WrestleMania. Pick: The Usos
Reverend Kain: I gotta think we’re cycling back towards New Day around WrestleMania, especially if the plan is still to get them the tag title reigns record and that means a title change here since the Usos respect your boys now. Plus it just seems like a good time to see how America’s Greatest Alpha handles the spotlight. Why not? Pick: Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin

Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan vs Cesaro & Sheamus
Geno Mrosko: If Jason Jordan is injured as has been rumored, and the goal of getting to Rollins vs. Jordan is really the goal, as has also been rumored (and seems clear based on creative for the two on television of late), it’s probably a good time to get the titles off them. Pick: Cesaro & Sheamus
Sean Rueter: This is mostly just me hoping for a scene on Monday where JJ take credit for the win despite not being in the match that much, while Philly mercilessly boos him, and a lot of people claim its not the “right kind of heat”. Pick: Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan
Kyle Decker: They’re going to have get the belts of the odd couple of Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan eventually, especially if they’re going to feud at Mania. However I think there’s still a bit more mileage out of this team being the awkward team before they finally drop the gold. Pick: Rollins and Jordan
Cain A. Knight: Some rumors suggest that Jason Jordan could be hurting right now, and considering how packed this card is, this match might be kept short. The thing that perplexes me the most is how The Bar lost two consecutive matches to Titus Worldwide this month yet there was no follow-up to that on Raw 25. So I guess The Bar will win the titles and then defend them against Titus Worldwide? I have no idea. But now that Seth Rollins has the Curb Stomp back, he needs to get out of the tag scene ASAP. Pick: Sheamus & Cesaro
Reverend Kain: Let’s have a round of applause for Jason Jordan’s dad, everybody! I reckon we have a couple more weeks of winter Jordan getting on Rollins’ nerves before we actually see the title change hands. Pick: Jason Jordan & Seth Rollins

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