Review for WWE Royal Rumble 2020

Royal Rumble 2020 is one of the best Rumbles I have seen in a long while. Usually, I am disappointed and spit poison all over my computer at the winners or losers. This event was just fabulous from top to bottom. Maybe it is because of the winners, but I really enjoyed the two Rumble matches and unlike most WWE PPVs recently, I thoroughly enjoyed rewatching this one.

The Falls Count Anywhere match between Roman Reigns and King Corbin was a good match, but it felt like it took a while to get going. Once it did, the match has some pretty great moments from both of them and the ending was amazing.

My issue with Bayley against Lacey Evans for the Smackdown Women's Championship is that Lacey spent so much of the year being a much reviled heel that I did not want to cheer her in this match. The new heel persona of Bayley is great, but this match wasn't a great showing by either of them.

The Strap Match for Universal Championship between 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan was a pretty great match and it is a shame that we never got the fairytale ending that we all wanted. This match had some scary moments and I think there was a great use of the strap throughout and I don't think Daniel Bryan has looked better in a long time. I am still in two minds as to whether The Fiend works in the rings, but as a character, as a way to set a mood he is utterly terrifying.

The Raw Women's Championship between Becky Lynch and Asuka had a great build and the match did not disappoint. It cannot be understated just how important and how great Becky Lynch is. She is possibly the most over person in the WWE at the moment. The match was fantastic from both and they worked so well together that at any point it looked like either could win and unlike the Bayley/Lacey match I actually cared.

Women's Royal Rumble Match had some great performances particularly by Bianca BelAir and Alexa Bliss who started the match. The saving of Mandy Rose was entertaining as was the performance of the dominant Shayna Baszler. The return of Molly Holly, Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix was great to see... Santina Marella, not so much. I would usually complain about the winner simply not deserving it and though others could have done with the push that the Rumble usually guarantees. However, I had no issue with the winner.

The Men's Royal Rumble Match was simply dominated by Brock Lesnar. I was stunned that he did it and seemed like every single person who entered the ring was of no use against him. The problem with this is that many were eliminated before someone else could enter and so unlike other Rumbles were they would get on the Mic to taunt the crowd, Brock just stood there after eliminating everyone.

However, I knew that whoever eliminated him was going on to win. The match itself was great, but had very few memorable moments apart from the redebut of Edge which was fantastic. There wasn't even a Kofi Kingston miracle saving of himself as usual. The appearance of NXT's Keith Lee was also amazing and he is definitely a talent to keep an eye on for the future.

What was surprising was the amount of NXT women who were involved in the women's match. Of the 30, 7 were from Smackdown, 8 from Raw, 4 Legends and 11 from NXT. It almost makes me wonder whether they only had few on the main roster they could rely on or if they wanted to highlight the talent on NXT. In comparison only 2 from NXT were involved in the Men's match.

The set has a number of Special Features. These include the two Kickoff matches. Shorty G against a returning Sheamus should have been great, instead was just average. If they wanted to show Sheamus being dominant (especially after his promos for his return) then they should have done that. The United States Championship match between Andrade and Humberto Carrillo was great, but I have seen better from both. It seems a shame that in NXT Andrade was pulling out amazing matches and on the main roster just hasn't been able to do that.

Other features are three promo segments, two from Raw and one from Smackdown. These are Brock Lesnar (or more accurately Paul Heyman) announcing that his client would enter the Royal Rumble as Number One. It was a surprising moment, but not necessary to rewatch. Also from Raw, the contract signing between Becky Lynch and Asuka. This was the usual thing and never entertaining. From Smackdown we have The Fiend taunting Kane before being surprised by Daniel Bryan. This was great and I am not sure why WWE did not follow this with some matches between Fiend and Kane, but I suppose there is always time for that when Kane is not too busy being Mayor (no seriously).

Royal Rumble 2020 is the best Rumble I have watched in a long time. Both Rumbles were hugely entertaining with winners who I had no issue with. The matches were all watchable and the Lynch/Asuka and Bryan/Fiend ones were some of the best I have seen. If you have not watched this PPV or love the Royal Rumbles match I would definitely recommend it.