Reviewing the Seventh Annual Women's Royal Rumble

I absolutely, positively love the Royal Rumble! It's my all time favorite event in WWE. The easy answer to give when asked about one's favorite WWE event is definitely WrestleMania, but for me, it's the Rumble. The reason is because of the Rumble match. It matches the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs when it comes to chaos; so much happens in that match that impresses and shocks fans. I still remember really wanting the women to have that same chaos of their own, and in 2018, it finally happened.

This year, the Women's Royal Rumble entered its seventh year. Seven years. Can you believe it? What seemed like a pipe dream has been going on for so long now. I was extra excited for this year's Women's Rumble match, because I figured we'd see some great surprises, and this year was no exception.

This wasn't that big of a surprise, but it was definitely amazing! The Women's Rumble kicked off the event, and after Natalya entered at #1, we would see Naomi make her return to WWE after nearly two years! We saw this coming; Naomi had wrapped up her run in TNA Wrestling (under her real first name, Trinity) following their Hard to Kill event just weeks prior, where she lost her Knockouts World Championship to Jordynne Grace. Even better, Naomi's TNA run was actually mentioned on commentary; a far cry from when Vince had the announcers unfairly demean both Naomi and Sasha Banks for leaving WWE in response to being underutilized by creative for too long.

Naomi's tenure was a long one; she lasted one hour, two mintues, and 10 seconds. That's only two seconds less than Rey Mysterio during his Rumble win in 2006, and it surpassed Rhea Ripley's victorious tenure from last year by just over a minute.

Moments later, at #5, we saw a very epic surprise: the aforementioned reigning TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace made her entrance! I literally marked out when I heard her music and saw her appear! I knew that when Mickie James entered the Rumble two years ago as Knockouts World Champion that this couldn't be a one-off for that open forbidden door. We didn't see it open last year, but there it was open for Jordynne Grace to appear that night! What I really loved was seeing Jordynne and Naomi huge and embrace each other, a big callback to their title bouts in TNA earlier this month.

So yeah, we are going to see more of this now. Mickie James two years ago, and now Jordynne Grace this year. The wheels in my brain are really turning with some forbidden door possibilities now that this has now happened more than once. Could we see that door open to women in Ring of Honor? Or even, get this, All Elite Wrestling?! Just imagine women such as Willow Nightingale, Kris Statlander, Thunder Rosa, and Taya Valkyrie making surprise appearances in the Women's Royal Rumble!

Jade Cargill in the Women's Rumble; wowee wow wow! This was another one fans expected, but even so, it was so iconic! The match's progression saw Nia Jax absolutely just tear it up; she actually racked up eight eliminations, which tied Shayna Baszler's record for most eliminations in a single Women's Rumble. As for Jade, the former inaugural AEW TBS Champion, made her entrance at #28, which slightly surprised me, as I expected her to be #30. Jade had two eliminations, but they were quite memorable. She ousted Nia Jax and ended her reign of terror, and ousted Naomi, ending her long tenure, which was followed by a very epic face to face between Jade and Bianca Belair! Methinks Nia will be Jade's first major opponent at a PLE--either the Elimination Chamber event or maybe even WrestleMania.

Speaking of #30, that spot was taken by another happy surprise entrant: the returning Liv Morgan. I had a bit of a feeling that we'd see Liv back from injury at this event, especially since I saw pics of her supporting the Green Bay Packers during the week we faced the Kansas City Chiefs (bless you, Liv!). Liv had two eliminations, with one of them being Jade Cargill (Zoey Stark was the other). I was actually hoping that Liv's return would actually see her win the Rumble match, after all, they kinda owe her for that way too short title run.

Instead, as I expected, Bayley emerged as the last woman standing, joining Asuka, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, Ronda Rousey, and Rhea Ripley on the list of Women's Rumble winners. I mentioned that Naomi's time was the Women's Rumble record. It was, until Bayley broke it in the same match. Bayley lasted one hour, three minutes, and three seconds, just 53 seconds longer than Naomi. Chances are this will be used to further the implosion of Damage CTRL, which would allow us to receive Rhea vs Becky in the other title match.

We didn't receive a lot of NXT entries this year, only Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton. I kinda figured we'd see Tiffany, but instead of Roxanne, I figured we'd see current NXT Women's Champion Lyra Valkyria appear. I read days prior that there was a plan to have Sonya Deville return at the Rumble, but that didn't happen; methinks she's not fully cleared yet. A lot of fans expected Sasha Banks to return because Naomi did, that didn't happen, though I do think if Sasha returns, it'll be at WrestleMania. If there was one downer (though I can live with it), it's that no alums appeared. We usually get treated to about two or three alums, but none appeared. I'm still waiting for Candice Michelle to appear at the Rumble, and I do have a long list of alums I want to see in future Rumbles.

So overall, this was another great Women's Royal Rumble. I am happy with what I saw, it was absolutely epic to see the forbidden door opened again, and I was happy to see Jade, Naomi, and Liv make their entrances. It'll be another year before I drink in this wonderful madness again, but for now, I'll just continue to enjoy this wild road to WrestleMania!