NXT Takeover: Philadelphia & WWE Royal Rumble 2018 Review

NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA

Wells Fargo Center
1/27/18

During the NXT Takeover: Philadelphia kickoff show they announced the winners of the 2017 NXT Awards and presented the winners with their ring bell trophy. 

Here is a list of the winners:
Overall Competitor of the Year: Asuka
Male Competitor of the Year: Aleister Black
Female Competitor of the Year: Asuka
Rivalry of the Year: Aleister Black vs The Velveteen Dream
Breakout Star of the Year: Aleister Black
Match of the Year: Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate (NXT Takeover: Chicago)
Tag Team of the Year: SAnity
Future Star of NXT: Cezar Bononi
NXT Takeover of the Year: WarGames

We opened the show with a really good opening video package narrated by Paul Heyman.

Match #1

The Undisputed Era (c) def The Authors of Pain w/ Paul Ellering via Pinfall (NXT Tag Team Championship)

AOP attack Fish and O'Reilly to start the match and dominate the early portion of the match. There was a funny spot where O'Reilly was on the outside getting beat up by AOP and then got back up on the apron to try and get away from them but due to the beating he faints and takes a Flair flop off the apron. Fish and O'Reilly are finally able to take control when Akam injures his knee while coming off the middle rope, the story of the match from this point on was Fish and O'Reilly working over the injured leg while Akam tried to power through and make a tag to Rezar.

Fish makes a mistake by turning his attention away from Akam which allowed him to find a burst of energy to backdrop Fish and make the tag to Rezar. Rezar comes in a house of fire and is in control for a while until Fish takes him down with an exploder suplex. There is a point where it looks like it could be over for AOP as O'Reilly has Akam locked in an ankle lock and Fish has Rezar in a rear naked choke, but Rezar powers Fish over his head sending him crashing down on O'Reilly to break the hold. The finish comes when AOP hit the Super Collider, but the impact of the move causes Akam to stumble back with his bad leg and this allowed O'Reilly to hit a hurricanrana that sent Akam into Rezar and O'Reilly rolls up Akam to get the win. 

I really enjoyed AOP in this match as they had a different feel about them tonight that I haven't seen before, it was as if they have finally put everything together and finally realize just how good they are and wanted to show that in this match. Akam did a really good job of selling his injured leg. Fish and O'Reilly were really great at chopping down their bigger opponents and capitalizing on the knee injury of Akam, they have fun ways of working on body parts that don't consist of just sitting in a hold for a lengthy period of time. This match solidified for me that AOP is ready for the main roster. Rating: ***1/2

Match #2
The Velveteen Dream def Kassius Ohno via Pinfall

Every time Velveteen comes to the ring it is a true performance and you can always expect something different each time, this time Dream had an entourage that comprised of a man holding a white pillow that had a mouthpiece on it and a woman who placed the mouthpiece into the Dream's mouth. Dream took the fact that he was facing a knockout artist very seriously as he was wearing airbrushed boxing trunks that had both his and Ohno's face on them as well as Muhammad Ali and his famous "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" quote. 

In an interview earlier in the night, Velveteen declared that he would knock out Ohno in the first thirty seconds of the match, but unfortunately, that wouldn't happen. It did look as if Dream had knocked Ohno out at one point, but he got so wrapped up in thinking it was a boxing match and wanting the referee to count that he allowed Ohno to get back to his feet and got nailed with an elbow that knocked the mouthpiece out of his mouth. Dream takes control of a good portion of the match and every time it looks like Ohno might make a comeback Dream takes him back down. 

Dream tries for the cartwheel DVD a bit too early and Ohno is able to elbow out of it, Ohno finally makes a comeback and gets a near fall after hitting a cyclone kick. Dream finally gets back into the match after countering a neckbreaker into a backslide and then stunning Ohno with a big superkick and then gets a near fall after hitting that cool looking DDT. Ohno catches Dream coming off the top with a big boot, but then gets caught by Dream with a bit of a botched DVD for a near fall. Ohno hits a ripcord rolling elbow for a near fall and then tries for his hangman's neckbreaker into a rolling elbow, but Dream counters it into the cartwheel DVD and then hits the Purple Rainmaker Elbow for the win. 

While this wasn't a match of the year contender, it was still another great performance by Velveteen Dream and another match that showed why he has every quality that it takes to be a top star once he gets to the main roster. Ohno once again did a really great job as the NXT gatekeeper and his strikes always look really good. This match could have been a bit better as it had a botch or two, but overall it was a really solid match. Rating: **3/4

Match #3
Ember Moon (c) def Shayna Baszler via Pinfall (NXT Women's Championship)

This was the match I was most looking forward to as I have quickly become a big Shayna Baszler fan after watching her in the Mae Young Classic. In addition to what she can do from bell to bell, I have also become a fan of her calm but confident attitude that she portrays and love how she laughs and smirks after hurting someone. I hope she is apart of the inaugural women's Royal Rumble as she would be a great addition. I was hyped for this match so much that I got my dad to watch it as I wanted him to see just how bad ass Shayna is.

Shayna dominated the majority of this match as early on she attempts to break Ember's arm in the same way that she tried to break Dakota Kai's arm (I can't wait until she does this to Alexa and Alexa can do her double jointed arm thing). Shayna makes the injured arm her main target and works it over for the rest of the match. Ember did an excellent job of selling the arm injury. Ember makes a short comeback and is even able to hit the Eclipse, but when she lands it causes intense pain to her arm and she can't follow up with a cover. At one point it looks like the match may be stopped as the medical team comes out, but Ember gets to her feet and wants to continue. Shayna immediately locks in an armbar and it appears that Ember's title reign may be coming to an end, but she is able to get to the ropes. Shayna drags Ember back into the middle of the ring and locks the armbar back in, Ember keeps clasping her hands and rolling around so that Shayna can't fully lock in the hold, no matter how much she rolls around Shayna keeps hold of the arm. Shayna tries to transition the armbar into a triangle and when she does this Ember rolls in toward Shayna causing her shoulders to be on the mat and then jumps on her legs to keep her from kicking out and after a grueling match, Ember picks up the win to retain her title.

After the match as Ember is being helped to the back, Shayna attacks her and locks her in the Kirifuda Clutch until she passes out and Ember is still doing a great job of selling the arm. 

This was a good match but could have been much better if people cared more about Ember as a babyface.The one thing that stood out for me in this match above all else was Ember's excellent job of selling the injured arm. Shayna was great in her role as the bully who didn't care whether or not she had broken Ember's arm as she was doing whatever she needed in order to get the win. I liked how Ember used Shayna's MMA skills against her by using her position in the triangle to roll Shayna on her shoulders to get the win. I look forward to seeing where this feud goes as I feel this match was just the tip of the iceberg of what these two are capable of against each other. Rating: ***

Match #4
Aleister Black def Adam Cole via Pinfall (Extreme Rules Match)

Adam Cole gets a cut on his hand somewhere in the match that causes it to start bleeding. The bump that Cole took off of Black's shoulders onto the ladder was sick looking. I cringed when Black hit Cole with the Ushigaroshi onto the top of the steel chairs as that looked like it would really hurt. The big table spot with Aleister falling back, off the top through them didn't really do that much for me as I enjoyed the double knees through the announce table onto Cole spot a lot more. Fish and O'Reilly come out as expected and for some reason have their arms bandaged up even though AOP did nothing to their arms in the match earlier in the show. Fish and O'Reilly look to put Black through the announce table, but SAnity (without Nikki Cross which made me sad) make the save and turn the match back into a one on one encounter. The finish comes when Cole looks like he is going to finish things off with a chair shot only to be hit out of nowhere by Black with the Black Mass which gives him the win. 

This match was fine for what it was, but it wasn't any different than an Extreme Rules match that you would see on the main roster and I think Cole and Black could have had a great match without all the weapons. One thing that sucks about WWE is that we always see the same five weapons in every match like this (tables, ladders, chairs, kendo stick, & trash can) why can't they try out a new weapon or two every now and then. It felt like there was a lot of downtime in this match where we were waiting for one of the guys to set up the weapon for the next spot while their opponent just lays there and that hurt the match some. Overall the match was good but didn't quite meet my expectations. Rating: ***3/4

Before we get to the main event I have to mention that throughout the night they showed NXT's newest signings in the crowd this included War Machine, Ricochet, & EC3.

Andrade "Cien" Almas (c) w/ Zelina Vega def Johnny Gargano via Pinfall (NXT Championship)

Almas had a really cool entrance as he came to the ring accompanied by a mariachi band who were wearing masks and he even came out wearing a mask of his own as well as a coat decked out in the colors of the Mexican flag. Zelina Vega had three different outfits on throughout the night and in all three she was looking AMAZING!!! Vega also did a really great job of showing her fiery personality during the kickoff show when she went back and forth with the panel about why Almas would beat Gargano.

This match was absolutely incredible and it far and away exceeded any expectations I originally had and my expectations were high, to begin with. You know a match is really good when your 99% sure of who is going to win the match, but while the match is happening there are multiple times when you're doubting your prediction and it takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions throughout. One thing I will say is that Sami Zayn and Bayley can move over because there is a new underdog babyface in the WWE and his name is Johnny Gargano. I couldn't have asked for a better match than these two put on as they gave the fans a bit of everything in this match. Almas was also really great in this match and has done a great job as NXT Champion and I look forward to seeing who his next challenger is. I loved that they had Candice sitting at ringside and how they got her involved with Zelina. The night ended perfectly as if they hadn't done enough in the match to send the fans home happy they put the cherry on the sundae by having Ciampa return and lay Gargano out with his crutch and setting up the much anticipated Gargano vs Ciampa feud which is sure to be amazing. I'll say the Gargano vs Ciampa feud is already a contender for feud of the year even though it hasn't even started. I already have an idea in mind on how they could make this feud really great. Rating: ****3/4

This was only a good show leading up to the main event, but the main event made it an excellent show. Show Rating: A-

WWE Royal Rumble 2018
Philadelphia, PA
Wells Fargo Center
1/28/18

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch the kickoff show so there will be no reviews for those matches.

Match #1
AJ Styles (c) def Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn via Pinfall (WWE Championship - 2 on 1 Handicap Match)

This was the match I was actually the least interested in as I'm not the biggest fan of handicap matches and definitely don't like the fact that the WWE Championship is on the line in one. I found myself not paying full attention to some of the match. I'll admit that on Royal Rumble shows the non Rumble matches have to do a lot to keep my attention as I find myself zoning out at times as my mind is waiting for the Rumble match. I think WWE is doing too many of the wrong guy being pinned finishes right now and it makes no sense why some of the time another referee catches it and the match is restarted and then sometimes like tonight nothing is done. You would think with the story that they are telling that Bryan would come out and restart the match as Owens and Zayn unfairly lost. This match was pretty good but all three men are capable of putting on way better matches. After the match, KO and Zayn are complaining to Shane McMahon backstage that the wrong man got pinned and Shane was once again being a taint (which is what Anna Bauert from Fightful.com likes to call him) and says he saw everything but he does nothing about it. Rating: ***1/4

Match #2
The Usos (c) def Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin via Pinfall (Smackdown Tag Team Championship - 2/3 Falls Match)
Anytime an Usos match is on the card it is automatically one of my most anticipated matches to watch as they are so damn good at what they do and I just love watching them work and this match was no different. It took me awhile to get used to Gable & Benjamin but I'm finally warming up to them and they are starting to deliver must-see matches as well.

The first fall of this match was fantastic and it was looking like this match was heading toward being a really great match. I loved Gable and Benjamin cutting the ring in half and working over the leg of Jimmy with frequent tags. I also like the little double knee attack combo thing that Gable and Benjamin do. Once Jimmy makes the hot tag to Jey that is when all hell breaks loose and the match really becomes a lot of fun. Gable hits a rarely seen (in the WWE) tiger suplex on Jey. There were quite a few near falls that I fell for and was sure would give that team the win of the first fall. I liked the finish with the multiple superkicks finishing Gable off and giving The Usos their first fall.

I was so pumped up after that first fall and was all ready for the second one and it started out great with Gable and Benjamin hitting their finisher on the floor to Jimmy and then Gable hitting a great looking rolling kick. Just when it looked like Gable and Benjamin were setting up to win the second fall by hitting their finisher on Jey, he rolls Benjamin up out of nowhere for the win and having the Usos win two straight falls. I was like no that can't be it I want to see more as I wanted to see what else these two teams could do. I hope these two have more matches against each other as the Usos could have a great rivalry against them in 2018 just like they did with the New Day in 2017. Rating: ***1/2

Match #3
Shinsuke Nakamura def 29 Opponents to Win 2018 Royal Rumble Match
As I did last year I will talk about the Rumble by using bullet points and breaking it up into sections where I talk about things happening in the match by five entrants at a time.

Entrants #1-5: Rusev, Finn Balor, Rhyno, Baron Corbin, & Heath Slater

• I'll mention this right from the beginning that Jerry Lawler was absolutely terrible on commentary and I'm glad we no longer have to listen to him every week.
• If they don't give Rusev a push right now over on Smackdown they are crazy as he is super over. 
• Just by watching the short exchange they had in this match I want a Rhyno vs Rusev match as they are the definition of hoss.
• Corbin had a hard time getting Rhyno up for the Deep Six.
• Corbin gets the first elimination as he sends Rhyno out.
• I definitely didn't expect Corbin to be eliminated that quickly as he stayed in for quite a while last year.
• I get Corbin being mad and attacking everyone after being eliminated, but did he need to pull them out of the ring to do it (this will be far from the last time I complain about people hanging around outside the ring for too long, just wait until the women's match), he should have just slid back in and laid them out in the ring.
• I really enjoyed the Heath Slater running joke during the early portion of this match where every time someone would come down the ramp they would casually just attack him so he couldn't make it into the ring.
• I think they could've fudged the time a bit between Slater's entry and the next one as it wasn't really compelling tv to just watch three men laid out for 90 seconds.

Entrants #6-10: Elias, Andrade Almas, Bray Wyatt, Big E, & Sami Zayn

• I guess it kind of makes sense why Balor and Rusev were attacked outside as Elias needed the ring to perform another hit song, but I think he still could've done it with them laid out in the ring. 
• I was surprised that of all the people on the NXT roster they chose to use the champion, but I'm not complaining about it. What I will complain about is Zelina not being able to stay at ringside.
• Poor Slater still hasn't made it to the ring at this point and just when it looks like he is about to make it, Bray Wyatt throws him into the barricade. 
• Balor's hate for Wyatt gives him the energy to get back in the ring so he can attack him, only to quickly get leveled with a clothesline.
• There was a funny spot where Rusev kept trying to get back on the apron so he could get back in the ring and Wyatt kept knocking him down, it was like a real-life version of Whack A Mole.
• The funniest spot with Slater trying to get in the ring was when Big E came down and shoved pancakes in his mouth. 
• It looked like we were getting a repeat of Tye Dillinger coming out at #10, but that wasn't to be as he was attacked backstage by KO and Zayn, this led to Zayn taking his spot. I was for sure we would end up seeing KO later on in the match, but for some reason, we didn't.

Entrants #11-15: Sheamus, Xavier Woods, Apollo Crews, Shinsuke Nakamura, & Cesaro

• Sheamus comes out and finally he rolls Slater in the ring, but that would be a huge mistake as Slater eliminated Sheamus with a clothesline over the top in a matter of seconds. Shortly after Slater followed him as he was eliminated by Bray Wyatt.
• Xavier Woods teamed up with Big E and they try to get Elias out, but Big E gets kicked in the head by Rusev.
• We get another exchange with Balor and Wyatt and this time Balor hits Wyatt with a double stomp. 
• Nakamura comes in and attacks everyone before eliminating Zayn with a running knee as Zayn was laid across the top rope.
• We get a nice exchange of punches between Cesaro and Rusev and Rusev is so over that the crowd actually boos when Cesaro of all people hit him.

Entrants #16-20: Kofi Kingston, Jinder Mahal, Seth Rollins, Matt Hardy, & John Cena

• Kofi runs in and runs right into an uppercut from Cesaro that sells incredibly. 
• Apollo gets a bit of time to shine in the match as he presses Cesaro over his head and looks like he might eliminate him, but Cesaro hangs on and eventually eliminates Apollo. 
• Glad to see that we didn't have to watch Jinder in the match for too long, but sucks that he was responsible for eliminating two-thirds of New Day.
• Really cool elimination of Cesaro by Rollins
• The big Kofi spot this year wasn't as cool as previous years, but I did like the idea of having Woods and Big E launch him back into the ring like they were cheerleaders. I like the quick thinking of Almas to throw Kofi over the top on the opposite side of where Xavier and Big E were standing.
• Not sure what the point of having Wyatt and Hardy team up even momentarily was since they are currently feuding with each other and it sucked when Rusev was eliminated by them as he was fun to watch during the match. They eliminated each other just as I thought they would.
• Once Cena entered that's when it was really clear that WWE had learned from their experience back in 2015 as they knew having all the younger talent attack him would generate a big pop.
• It kind of sucked that Cena eliminated Elias right away as I was expecting a bigger standoff between them in the match, but Cena just tosses him away with ease.

Entrants #21-25: The Hurricane, Aiden English, Adam Cole, Randy Orton, & Titus O'Neil

• It was cool to see Hurricane back and have the showdown with Super Cena. This wasn't as great as his 2002 spot, but still funny none the less.
• English doesn't really do anything special when he comes in.
• Didn't expect to see Adam Cole (Bay Bay) in the match and have to question why of all the NXT people they put someone in who not only lost but was "injured" why not have Aleister Black in the match instead.
• Orton comes to the ring still wearing his jacket thing and is a house of fire. Orton hits an RKO on Almas in mid-air and then throws him out. Almas had a great showing in this match as he had the fourth longest time in the match.
• Titus comes down and doesn't do much either

Entrants #26-30: The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Roman Reigns, Goldust, & Dolph Ziggler

• Miz comes in and hits a DDT on Cena and then hits the It Kicks on Cena and Rollins. 
• Rey Mysterio was a huge surprise and he looked like he was in the best shape he's ever been in and felt like he had a pep in his step that he didn't have when he left WWE. He eliminates Cole with a hurricanrana and then hits a 619 on Miz.
• Reigns enters and unloads on everyone before quickly eliminating Titus. The Miztourage prevent Roman from eliminating Miz but he takes care of them quickly with a Superman Punch. Miz must have told Bo to actually dress nicely as he was in a suit that was matching Axel. Rollins hits the Black Out on Miz and then Roman and Rollins eliminate him with a powerbomb over the top onto the Miztourage.
• Just when it looked like Roman and Seth were going to work together, Roman eliminates Rollins. I also have to mention that Rollins's tights were very ugly and tacky.
• Goldust goes after Orton. 
• Ziggler makes his return to a surprisingly loud pop. He ties with Seth Rollins for ugliest gear of the night. Ziggler has his own little superkick party which included him eliminating Goldust with one.
• Nakamura gets Ziggler on the apron and out of nowhere Balor flies through the air with a forearm aiming at Nakamura, but he moves and Balor hits Ziggler and eliminates him.

Final 6: Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Randy Orton, & Rey Mysterio

• We get a face-off between the current generation (Reigns, Balor, & Nakamura) and the Ruthless Aggression Era (Cena, Orton, & Mysterio) before a brawl erupts between the six. I would have switched Reigns to the other side and made it the three that the fans would cheer if they won and the three they would boo out of the building.
• Cena hits Balor with an AA, Orton hits Nakamura with an RKO, and Mysterio hits Reigns with a 619 as the Ruthless Aggression guys stand tall. 
• Reigns hits Orton with a Superman Punch before eliminating him. Balor then eliminates Mysterio after he hits both Reigns and Cena with a 619.

Final 4: Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena, & Roman Reigns

• Balor and Nakamura team up to take down Cena and Reigns and then start fighting each other for a few minutes before Reigns and Cena get back to their feet and level both guys with clotheslines.
• We then get Cena and Reigns going against each other for a few minutes before Balor hits Slingblades and Shotgun Dropkicks on everybody. Balor hits a double stomp on Nakamura and as he gets to his feet Cena grabs him to eliminate him.
• Reigns and Cena beatdown Nakamura before going back to work on each other. Nakamura gets Cena on the apron and then eliminates him with a knee to the head.
• Reigns hit Nakamura with a Superman Punch and looks to get him over the top, but Nakamura locks in a triangle choke and Reigns has no choice but to pull him back in the ring and get out of the hold by powerbombing him.
• Nakamura counters a spear at first with some knee strikes, but eventually, Reigns hits him with it. 
• Reigns looks to eliminate Nakamura but gets hit with a knee strike that stuns Reigns. Nakamura takes this opportunity to throw him over and eliminate him to win the 2018 Royal Rumble.

This was a really fun Rumble and from the final six on there was lots of drama as to who was going to win and whether or not we would have to put up with another year of Roman winning the Rumble. There were some cool surprises and some good comedy moments. I definitely enjoyed this match. Rating: ***3/4

Match #4
The Bar def Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) via Pinfall (Raw Tag Team Championship)
This was supposed to be a tag team match, but it ended up being our second handicap match of the night and I already stated how I don't care for handicap matches. Just like the WWE Championship match this match was fine for what it was but was nothing spectacular. The story of Jason Jordan getting "injured" and appearing to have a "concussion" was the part of the match that if I were WWE I wouldn't be doing right now especially three days after announcing the relaunch of your football league. I'm sure it will turn out to be that Jordan wasn't really injured and just didn't want to face The Bar and most likely Jordan will blame Rollins for the loss. Just as I said about the first match you have to do something really special to keep my attention for the non Rumble matches and this one really didn't for the most part and I will say that it could be because I was coming off the high of watching the men's Rumble match before it that I didn't pay full attention to this match. I hope after this, The Bar can move on to another team that doesn't involve Seth Rollins, perhaps maybe The Revival as I think those two teams could match the greatness that is happening in the Smackdown tag team division. Rating: **3/4

Match #5
Brock Lesnar (c) def Braun Strowman & Kane via Pinfall (WWE Universal Championship)

There was a spot in this match where Strowman knees Lesnar in the head and needless to say I don't think Lesnar knew it was coming and was not a happy camper and gave Strowman a receipt for it right away. I love how Strowman just freely throws Lesnar around like he is a cruiserweight. I find it hilarious how Strowman sells going through a table like its a papercut where it keeps him down for a minute but then he just jumps right back up and goes back to giving his opponents his hands. Strowman gave Lesnar a taste of his own medicine by giving him a German suplex. Lesnar's face when Strowman got up after going through one announce table and having another one thrown on top of him got a laugh out of me.  Just as everyone expected Kane was only in this match so that he could take the pin as he added nothing else to the match as it was a match between Lesnar and Strowman and occasionally they had to swat away the fly that was Kane.

This match definitely kept my attention as it was a lot of fun as it was just three hosses beating the shit out of each other. Braun as always put on an incredible performance, in fact, it's starting to get a bit frustrating that he keeps putting on these amazing matches and doesn't get rewarded with the Universal title because Vince is dead set on having Roman vs Brock at WrestleMania. I really hope they can make it a triple threat match as Braun absolutely deserves to be in the main event of WrestleMania as he has been the MVP of Raw ever since his return post brand split. Rating: ****

Match #6
Asuka def 29 Opponents to Win Inaugural Women's Royal Rumble

As I did last year I will talk about the Rumble by using bullet points and breaking it up into sections where I talk about things happening in the match by five entrants at a time.

Entrants #1-5: Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Sarah Logan, Mandy Rose, & Lita

• I liked how they had both women's champions at ringside and I'm surprised they didn't get involved during the match. I will say that Stephanie was actually somewhere between tolerable and good on commentary and was way better than Lawler was during the men's match. I also enjoyed Maria Menounos as the guest ring announcer and I think she should be inducted soon into the WWE Hall of Fame.
• There was some really good action between Becky and Sasha to start the match off.
• Sarah Logan hits an awesome looking popup headbutt on Sasha.
• I think Steph had to stop Corey when he was going gaga for Mandy as that's probably not the best thing to do in a match that's suppose to be about women empowerment and also after everything that happened with Enzo.
• Mandy hits a nice bicycle knee strike on Sasha.
• Lita comes out and the pants she chose to wore don't look like they would be easy to wrestle in. You could easily tell Lita had some ring rust as she was a bit off with a couple of things. I was worried with both Sasha and Lita in there as they both can be pretty sloppy in the ring.

Entrants #6-10: Kairi Sane. Tamina, Dana Brooke, Torrie Wilson, & Sonya Deville

• Kairi comes in and gets in a good bit of her signature offense including the sliding forearm in the corner on Lita and her top rope elbow on Sasha.
• Tamina comes out dressed in an ugly all white outfit.
• Lita hits twist of fates on Becky and Sasha and then sure enough we almost got an injury as Lita hits the moonsault but almost lands on her head in the process. 
• Lynch eliminates Lita which didn't sit well with the crowd. 
• In the craziest and most bizarre elimination of the night, Dana Brooke of all people eliminates Kairi Sane. This made no sense that they would let someone like Dana Brooke eliminate the woman who outlasted 31 other women to win the Mae Young Classic.It would later be reported that Kairi was Alicia Fox's replacement as she was injured during the rehearsals for the match. 
• Torrie comes in and shows that her in ring work is just as bad as it was before she left. I like Torrie as much as anyone, but I really don't think she was one of the legends that deserved to eliminate anyone as her just being in the match was good enough.
• Sonya comes in and is kicking everyone's butt and then struggles to get Torrie over the top before she eliminates her.

Entrants # 11-15: Liv Morgan, Molly Holly, Lana, Michelle McCool, & Ruby Riott

• Molly comes in and is one the first legend who looks like she could still go today. After eliminating Sarah Logan, Molly hits a Molly Go Round on Sasha.
• Lana comes in and gets beat down by Liv and Sonya before firing back with a hard slap to Sonya and then she tackles Liv. When Lana came out people started chanting for Rusev and this wouldn't be the last person who's husband's name got chanted and if you ask me that was disrespectful to the women as this was supposed to be about them not their husbands. 
• Michelle comes in and boots Lana right in the face before taking care of Liv and Sonya. Sonya gets eliminated after being knocked off the top rope.  In a very short amount of time Michelle eliminates four women and while I will say she deserved to eliminate one or two, I think five eliminations (which was the most eliminations in the match) were too many. I'm guessing who ever was laying this match out was good friends with Taker.
• I noticed that a lot of these women were going up to the top rope which makes no sense in a Royal Rumble match.

Entrants #16-20: Vickie Guerrero, Carmella, Natalya, Kelly Kelly, & Naomi

• I loved that they used Vickie for the comedy spot in the match instead of having some guy dress up in drag. I also like that Vickie called back to her alliance with Michelle McCool trying to bargain with her to not attack her.
• I laughed when Vickie hit Carmella with her own briefcase for some reason. Kind of sad that Carmella is no longer in her onesie as I was starting to like it on her. 
• Carmella has gotten pretty good at throwing those super kicks. Becky hits a really bad looking exploder on Carmella.
• Kelly Kelly comes in and her performance in this match was pretty rough. Kelly goes for a flying headscissors and doesn't even properly wrap her legs around Michelle's head. This would lead to Michelle finally being eliminated by Natalya.
• Nakamura's strategy for his Rumble match was "Knee to Face" well Naomi's strategy was Ass to Face as she comes in and hits everyone with the Rear View. Naomi hits a nice kick to the head of Sasha. After Becky goes on a roll of hitting exploder suplexes on everyone she is finally eliminated by Ruby Riott after lasting 30 minutes.

Entrants #21-25: Jacqueline, Nia Jax, Ember Moon, Beth Phoenix, & Asuka

• Jacqueline comes in and lays out everyone and then tries to work with Natalya to eliminate Kelly, but Kelly is not going anywhere and this spot looks really bad as both Nattie and Jackie look like they are struggling with everything in them to lift her over and Kelly wasn't helping at all. 
• Nia Jax quickly eliminates both Jacqueline and Kelly Kelly and then press slams Ruby and slams her on top of the top turnbuckle horizontally and then pushes her out.
• So at this point a lot of the women were on the outside setting up for the next big spot and it got a tad bit confusing as some of the women were still in the match and some had been eliminated. The women were sliding under the bottom rope a lot during this match and sometimes it wasn't caught on camera, so at times I had to actively think about whether they had been eliminated or not. I didn't really like so many women doing this as it showed that they couldn't stay in the ring the whole time like the guys do, if it were one person doing this then it would be fine but there was too many doing it. I will say that there could be a reason why Sasha kept doing it as I feel they may have used her as the communicator of the match to the other women in the match and needed to roll out to get direction from the referees.
• We get Naomi being knocked off the apron and the women who were at ringside catch her and put her on the barricade and then she just sits there for a bit.
• Ember Moon has a great exchange with Nia and between this match and her performance at Takeover she has finally won me over. Ember was still doing a great job of selling the arm from the previous night. Nia knocks her out of the ring through the ropes. 
• We then get back to Naomi and see her walking along the barricade and then she grabs the chair that Maria Menounos is sitting in and then places her legs in the chair and walks with her hands over to the steps. Naomi lands on the steps and then climbs to the top where she goes for a top rope crossbody and is caught by Nia and is then eliminated. Not sure how I feel about both people who get these cool spots being black, but I guess for Naomi at least she will be remembered for this spot.
• Beth Phoenix gets face to face with Nia and they trade words before exchanging strikes. Beth tries a couple of times to lift Nia to no avail. Natalya comes back in the ring and they both knock Nia through the middle rope. The former Divas of Doom hug and then Natalya turns on her BFF and eliminates her. As much as I don't like Nattie, I did enjoy this reunion of the Divas of Doom. Beth looked great and is another one that could still go today.
• Asuka comes out and I love the new pop up knee strike thing that Asuka has been doing lately. We get a face off of former NXT Rivals, Asuka and Ember. Ember hits a one armed Eclipse. Asuka eventually knocks Ember over the top to the apron and then grabs the injured arm and slams it down on the top rope causing Ember to jump into the air and land on the floor to be eliminated. 

Entrants #26-30: Mickie James, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Bayley, & Trish Stratus

• Mickie comes in a house of fire but then does a stupid top rope Thesz Press on Asuka. STOP GOING TO TOP ROPE IN A RUMBLE MATCH
• Nikki hits a nice beautiful disaster kick on Sasha.
• Nikki gets ganged up on by all the women in the ring and then Brie makes her entrance and comes to her rescue. Brie hits her Knee Mode on all the women in the ring except for Nikki. I was so into the match that I forgot Nia was still in as she attempts to get back in the ring, but gets caught with a double dropkick by the Bellas sending her back to the floor.
• Bayley comes out and she felt like a complete afterthought in this match and I feel so sad for how she has been treated since her feud with Alexa last year as she has become nothing more than someone who can get cheers. 
• Trish comes out and holy crap she looks amazing in the ring as if she had never left and I definitely want her back more often. Trish hits a great looking double Stratusfaction on the Bellas and then a Stratusphere on Bayley.
• We get the face off I was hoping for between Trish and Mickie and Trish even does the finger lick gesture that Mickie did at WrestleMania 22. This would lead to Trish knocking Mickie off the top rope to eliminate her. After seeing this face off, I wish that they would've saved Lita's entrance for later so we could also get a Trish and Lita face off.
• After eliminating Mickie, Trish turns around into a clothesline by Nia. Everyone teams up on Nia and eventually eliminate her.
• We get our second BFF betrayal of the match when Sasha eliminates Bayley. At this point Sasha was really showing signs of being a heel as she turned up the trash talking and it was the first time she had really showed signs of The Boss character since being called up to the main roster.
• Nattie locks Trish in the Sharpshooter for some reason and even wants her to tap out.
• We then get a face off between Trish and Sasha and I never knew I wanted this match until this moment. Trish goes to hit Sasha with Stratusfaction, but Sasha uses this as an opportunity to eliminate her. Trish had a great showing and I can't say enough great things about her.

Final 4: Sasha Banks, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, & Asuka

• Sasha teams up with the Bella Twins to beat up on Asuka and is really playing up the Boss character. Sasha goes for her knees on Asuka who is laid across the middle rope, but as she jumps up The Bella Twins eliminate her. Sasha did a really good job in the match, especially toward the end when she was being the heel. Sasha lasted for 54 minutes.
• The Bella Twins double team Asuka until she starts fighting back. Asuka tries to eliminate Brie until Nikki makes the save and hits the Rack Attack 2.0 on Asuka. Nikki and Brie look at each other and then in our third betrayal of the match, Nikki eliminates Brie.  
• Nikki tries to eliminate Asuka but only gets her to the apron and then Asuka does a really cool head scissors choke on Nikki to bring her to the apron as well. Nikki hits Asuka which causes her to fall back first on the apron and then Asuka kicks the leg of Nikki to eliminate her. Asuka wins the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble.

This was a really fun match and while there were things that could be worked on for next year, such as not having women go to the top rope and also not having a bunch of them rolling to the floor, overall I think the match was a success. I was kinda sad that there was no Eva Marie or Kaitlyn, but now that this is hopefully going to be a yearly thing maybe it will happen next year. Rating: ***1/2

I liked how they debuted Ronda Rousey as it left you with questions as to what's going to happen in the Women's Division both on Raw and Smackdown as Asuka was never able to make her decision on who she wanted to face at WrestleMania. I can't wait to see where the women's division goes from here, will Ronda challenge Charlotte, Alexa, Asuka, or perhaps even Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania?

Overall I thought this was a great show and probably one of the best Rumbles they have had in quite a few years. Both Rumble matches delivered and I really enjoyed the Universal Championship & Smackdown Tag Team Championship matches as well. I liked that they learned from their last time having the Rumble in Philadelphia and played to the crowd they were in front of.  Show Rating: A+

NXT Takeover: Philadelphia & Royal Rumble 2018 Match Rankings
11. Raw Tag Team Championship
10. Velveteen Dream vs Kassius Ohno 
9. NXT Women's Championship 
8. WWE Championship 
7. NXT Tag Team Championship 
6. Smackdown Tag Team Championship 
5. Women's Royal Rumble 
4. Aleister Black vs Adam Cole 
3.  Men's Royal Rumble Match 
2. Universal Championship 
1. NXT Championship