The time has come for the 2018 Royal Rumble, the official beginning of WWE's Road to WrestleMania 34 and one of the company's three biggest events each calendar year. With a women's Royal Rumble in the cards for the first time and five of WWE's seven male titles on the line over the course of the evening, there may be some massive changes ahead.
Check out our predictions and analysis for the show, and find out how to watch the Royal Rumble live.
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2018 WWE Royal Rumble matches
- 30-Woman Royal Rumble*
- Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane
- Raw Tag Team Championship: Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) vs. The Bar
* WWE has announced 18-of-30 entrants for the men and 17-of-30 entrants for the women. It has also ruled that the winners of the Royal Rumble matches can challenge the champions of any brand, either Raw or SmackDown.
2018 WWE Royal Rumble live results
Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado vs. TJP, Jack Gallagher & Drew Gulak (Kickoff Show): The luchadores delivered a tremendous triple moonsault spot off the top turnbuckle and ring post, which served as the brightest moment in the early portion of the two-segment match. Kalisto eventually got the hot tag and rolled a pinning combination into the Salida Del Sol, pinning TJP for the victory. TJP pushed Gulak and Gallagher after the match but cameras cut away. The action was solid at points but nothing in particular to crow about. Grade: C
The Revival def. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson via pinfall (Kickoff Show): A hot tag to Gallows saved an injured Anderson from further damage to his knee, which he sold for the duration of the match. Gallows knocked himself out at ringside by running face-first into the ring post, giving Wilder an opening to take out Anderson's knee and roll him up for the pin. There was little to be excited about in this match, and its slow pace didn't do it any favors. Grade: C-
United States Championship -- Bobby Roode def. Mojo Rawley via pinfall to retain the title (Kickoff Show): Rawley reversed the Glorious DDT twice, throwing Roode shoulder-first into the ring post the second time, but Rawley was unable to connect on a running forearm to Roode's face as the champion instead countered it off the top rope and hit a botched Glorious DDT for the win. A slow, laborious match that did not need to be on the show. Grade: D
WWE Championship -- AJ Styles (c) def. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn via pinfall to retain the title: The first five minutes of the match consisted of Owens and Zayn exchanging rapid tags to get in Styles' head. Owens took it to Styles, but the champion dodging a cannonball led to a tag to Zayn, who quickly ate a top-rope hurricanrana and moonsault into a reverse DDT. The spot of the match came as Owens flipped Styles into Zayn, who caught Styles but ate another hurricanrana. Styles had Owens lacked in the Calf Crusher and near a submission before Zayn broke it up. Owens went shoulder-first through the turnbuckles into the ring post, but the theme of the match was quick tags between the best friends immediately when the momentum felt like it was changing. With the referee distracted, Owens superkicked Styles along the ring apron, and Zayn hit his Blue Thunder Bomb but only got a 2.75 count. Owens was next to break up a pinfall attempt after Styles hit a Phenomenal Forearm on Zayn and looked prepared to retain his title. Zayn tried to reach for a tag of Owens while in Styles' arms but seemed unable to do so; however, as soon as Styles threw Zayn out of the ring, Owens entered on his own and superkicked Styles, but Styles reversed the Pop-Up Powerbomb into a pinning combination to get the 1-2-3. Tremendously booked and wrestled match by three of the company's best performers with a consistent story and edge-of-your-seat action. Grade: A
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn confront Shane McMahon: After the match, the best friends ran up to the SmackDown commissioner screaming about again being screwed by a referee. Owens eventually calmed down and said McMahon simply had to make it right, asking if he saw what went down. McMahon simply replied, "Yep!" and walked away. It was strange that neither McMahon nor SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan was anywhere to be seen during this match considering the entire storyline revolved around them.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship -- The Usos (c) def. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin 2-0 to retain the titles: The first fall took a while to come through in this 2-out-of-3 falls match. Jey Uso was given a bright spot as he jumped over the top rope in succession, splashing Gable and then Benjamin on opposite sides of the ring. Gable & Benjamin kept hitting anticipated pinning combinations but were unable to get The Usos' shoulders down, though Gable did hit a fantastic moonsault onto the brothers outside the ring. Confusing The Usos again, Gable got turned around and ate a superkick followed by a splash but managed to kick out at two. A blind tag led to four total superkicks between The Usos, getting the 1-2-3 on Gable for Fall 1. The challengers immediately separated The Usos with their powerbomb / diving clothesline finisher outside, but just as they were preparing to hit another in the ring, Jimmy Uso rolled up Benjamin for Fall 2 and the shutout win. Gable had jumped from the top rope in an attempt to breakup the fall but missed, leading one to wonder whether this finish was actually botched. The action was solid throughout, but it made little sense for Gable & Benjamin to look so weak unless they are going to be split up soon. Grade: B-
30-Man Royal Rumble Match: See below for entrants. Moments after Baron Corbin eliminated Rhyno, Finn Balor eliminated Corbin, who went nuts at ringside, slamming Balor into the barricade and then into his knee. He next pulled Rusev out of the ring and attacked him outside before laying out the next entrant, Heath Slater. This led to an elongated spot for Elias to do his normal spiel. Slater was beaten up by multiple ensuing entrants, consistently unable to make it into the ring. When Tye Dillinger's music hit at No. 10, cameras found him beat up backstage by Zayn and Owens with Zayn holding back Owens to take the "open" spot. As Sheamus made his way to the ring at No. 11, he chose to help Slater into the match; Slater responded by immediately clotheslining him out of the ring.
Updating (refresh).
| Order of entry | Order of elimination | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rusev | Rhyno (by Corbin, 1) |
| 2 | Finn Balor | Corbin (Balor, 1) |
| 3 | Rhyno | Sheamus (Slater, 1) |
| 4 | Baron Corbin | Slater (Wyatt, 1) |
| 5 | Heath Slater | |
| 6 | Elias | |
| 7 | Andrade Almas | |
| 8 | Bray Wyatt | |
| 9 | Big E | |
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| 11 | Sheamus | |
| 12 | Xavier Woods | |
| 13 | Apollo Crews | |
| 14 | Shinsuke Nakamura | |
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