The 38th WWE Royal Rumble is in the books, and it was a solid show, better than it's been in a handful of years anyway. There wasn't anything great on the show I didn't think, but nothing bad either. Picking a best match and worst match is tough because everything was in the 3.5 to 4 star range. I had some gripes about some things but we'll get to that. It was definitely too long a show, that's for sure. Four hours and eighteen minutes is a long time for any PPV.
The show kicked off with the women's Rumble, and I think this was the most fun match for me. Despite less star power than the men's, this match had a lot of exciting young talent, many of them from NXT, and the match cut a good pace that kept everything moving. Iyo Sky, Ivy Nile, Lash Legend, Jordynne Grace, and Stephanie Vaquer all looked very good. Nia Jax got to be the Kane of this match and eliminate 9 women. I was surprised Becky Lynch didn't return, but instead we got Alexa Bliss. As expected Charlotte Flair ended up winning, last eliminating Roxanne Perez of all people. Also Iyo, Roxanne and Liv Morgan all beat Bayley's record from last year, which as I said in my preview has gotten out of hand. If you keep breaking the longevity record it becomes pretty meaningless. They certainly didn't need to do it three times in this one match. Both Rumbles went excessively long, this one at 70 minutes. But it looks like Tiffany vs. Charlotte for Mania most likely, unless the plan is a rubber match with Rhea Ripley. ***3/4
