WWE Royal Rumble 2022: Top Three Moments of the Night
Last night was one of the big four shows that WWE has yearly. The Royal Rumble took place in St. Louis, MO. It was headlined by the men and women’s royal rumble matches, as well Brock Lesnar defending his WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley, and Roman Reigns defending his Universal Championship against Seth Rollins.
The show started out very solid. However, that steam shortly died out. Coming up with the top three moments of the night wasn’t easy, considering there were a lot of headscratchers on an overall solid show but here we go.
(Dis)Honorable Mention: Women’s Royal Rumble Match
The (Dis)honorable mention of the article is the Women’s Royal Rumble match. One of the coolest moments of the night was seeing Mickie James make her entrance with the Impact Knockouts Championship and to her Impact theme song as well. This was a special moment that I hope will be the start of something bigger one day.
Overall, the women’s rumble match wasn’t the best. It featured a nice amount of legends, but they weren’t given much respect at all as they immediately got thrown over the top rope almost instantly. Also, the way it ended was probably one of the biggest headscratchers of the night.
With all the young talent on WWE’s roster, who did they end up giving it to? Sasha Banks, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Naomi, Tamina? The answer was none of them. Instead, we got a returning Ronda Rousey. One positive will be that whether Ronda faces Charlotte or Becky, will be a good match at WrestleMania.
3. Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins: Universal Championship Match
What. A. Match. This was the match of the night for the Royal Rumble and it wasn’t even close. Reigns and Rollins opened the show and they opened it with a giant bang. Reigns made his entrance first, followed by Rollins. Rollins, being the king of the mind games, had to mess with Reigns a little bit.
Rollins came out to The Shield’s entrance music and that wasn’t all. To make matters worse for Reigns, better for us, he came out dressed up in his old Shield attire and he came through the freaking crowd. This drew a loud pop and got a lot of people invested in this match.
The match itself was incredible as well. Rollins hit a Shield Powerbomb on Reigns through the announce table early on. From there it was just a hard-hitting brawl. The ending was a little bit iffy for some, but it was still the match of the night and that wasn’t the last we’d see from Reigns.
2. Men’s Royal Rumble Match
Neither Rumble match was really that great this year. However, the men’s match was extremely solid for most of it. Brock Lesnar ended up coming out at #30 to win the match and solidify himself in the main event of WrestleMania.
This, of course, means that we are getting Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. A lot of people were annoyed at this decision, rightfully so. However, Reigns and Lesnar do always put on great matches and I’m sure WrestleMania’s will be no different.
1. Bobby Lashley Wins The WWE Championship
This was by far the moment of the night. Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar had a banger of a match. Two powerhouses finally squared off in what was probably a dream match for the past 20 years. It was hard-hitting and it was just a really solid match from top to bottom.
The end of the match saw Brock accidentally knock out the ref. Out of nowhere, Roman Reigns enters the fray and spears Lesnar. He then has a stare-down with Paul Heyman before Heyman gives Reigns the WWE Championship and allows Reigns to hit Lesnar with it.
After Reigns hit Brock, he made his way to the back with Heyman by his side. It looks like Heyman double-crossed Lesnar and sided with Reigns. This was a nice little touch and solidified that Reigns and Lesnar weren’t over by a longshot.
Lashley made his way back into the ring to cover Brock for the three-count. Lashley is now the WWE Champion heading into WrestleMania. I don’t think anyone really knows who Lashley will face at WrestleMania, but WWE made the right decision putting the WWE Championship back on him.