WWE delivered the predictable to the absolutely stunning at the Royal Rumble.
Charlotte Flair returned after more than a year away after sustaining a devastating knee injury to win the Women’s Royal Rumble match and Jey Uso eliminated John Cena to complete one of the biggest surprises in the history of the event in front of more than 65,000 fans at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday.
Both now get to pick which world champion they will face at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas on April 19-20. Uso is expected to pick World Heavyweight champion Gunther and Flair will likely select WWE Women’s champion Tiffany Stratton.
Uso was part of a star-studded final six with Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Logan Paul, John Cena and Seth Rollins.
Rollins and Reigns were eliminated by Punk after the two rivals spent too much time focused on attacking each other. Punk was then quickly dumped out of the ring by Logan Paul. Cena and Uso would combine to make sure Paul was eliminated, leaving the two babyfaces in the ring.
Cena, who is beginning his retirement tour, thought he had the match won as he lifted Uso up for an Attitude Adjustment on the apron. But Uso slipped off and knocked a stunned Cena off from behind.
The only surprises were YouTuber and rapper IShowSpeed replaced Tozawa — who was taken out by an eliminated Carmelo Hayes. Speed helped Bron Breakker eliminate Otis before eating a monster spear from the Intercontinental champion and getting eliminated. A.J. Styles, who has been out since October with a Lisfranc injury returned at No. 21 and TNA world champion Joe Hendry took part in his first Royal Rumble.
On the women’s side, Flair became the first woman to win two Royal Rumbles after making her return. Flair, who entered at No. 27 soaked in the loud crowd reaction with a slow walk to the ring. She got off to a hot start, even reversing a stalling double suplex from former TNA star and newest WWE signee Jordynne Grace and Stephane Vaquer into a double DDT. and scored quick eliminations of Michin and Piper Niven.
The Queen, Nikki Bella, Nia Jax and Roxanne Perez were the final four women in the match. Jax knocked Bella to the outside and Flair eliminated Jax. The 14-time world champion then hit a big boot to send Perez to the floor to win the match.
The biggest surprise was Alexa Bliss, dressed in her gear from her time with Bray Wyatt with “F(r)iend 4 Ever” on the back and creepy doll Lilly, making her return since leaving WWE in January of 2023 to have a baby with Ryan Cabrera. It was the first huge surprise of the match and got a big reaction at No. 21.
Bella, who recently finalized a divorce with Artem Chigvintsev, coming back to WWE for the first time in three years was the other big surprise.
Perez, who entered at No. 3 broke Bayley’s record for the longest time spent in a women’s Royal Rumble match at more than 67 minutes.
On the rest of the card, Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE championship in a violent ladder match with Kevin Owens. It ended with Rhodes countering Owens’ package pile driver attempt on the announce table. He Alabama slammed the challenger through a ladder set up between the ring and the announce table. It left Owens in a heap and allowed Rhodes to climb and retrieve his title as Sami Zayn check on the challenger.
DIY also retained their WWE World Tag Team championships in a two-out-of-three falls match with Motor City Machine Guns with help from outside interference from the Street Profits.
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