Royal Rumble (2019)

Royal Rumble (2019) was a professional wrestling show made by WWE. It took place on January 27, 2019, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, and could be watched live on the WWE Network and pay-per-view. It was the thirty-second Royal Rumble event held by WWE. The company has said that 48,193 people were in Chase Field to watch the show, but wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer said that this is not true and that only a little more than 40,000 people were there. Golden Crisp was the sponsor of the show.

Ten matches happened at the show, including three on the pre-show. The last match was the men's Royal Rumble match and it was won by Seth Rollins. Becky Lynch won the women's Royal Rumble match, but lost the first match which was against Asuka for the SmackDown Women's Championship. In other important matches, Brock Lesnar kept the Universal Championship by beating Finn Bálor, Daniel Bryan kept the WWE Championship by beating AJ Styles, and Ronda Rousey kept the Raw Women's Championship by beating Sasha Banks.

Storylines
It has been a tradition for the winner of the Royal Rumble match to get a WrestleMania match for a world championship. This year, the winner of the men's Royal Rumble would get a match at WrestleMania 35 for either the WWE or the Universal Championship, while the winner of the women's match would get a match for either the Raw or the SmackDown Women's Championship.

The show had ten matches with three on the pre-show. The matches were organized as part of stories where wrestlers played faces (heroes), heels (villains) or tweeners (somewhere in between). The winners of these matches were chosen by the writers of the stories from WWE.

In December 2018, WWE had a show called TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs where a team called Fabulous Truth (whose members were Carmella and R-Truth beat a team called Mahalicia (whose members were Alicia Fox and Jinder Mahal) in the final of a tournament called the Mixed Match Challenge. For winning the tournament, Carmella would be the last to enter the women's Royal Rumble match, while R-Truth would be the last to enter the men's. For weeks after TLC, there were announcements that several other wrestlers would enter the Royal Rumbles.

At Crown Jewel in November, Brock Lesnar beat Braun Strowman to win the Universal Championship which was not held by anyone before the match. At TLC, Strowman beat Baron Corbin to earn another match against Lesnar for the championship. On the January 14 episode of the weekly WWE show called Raw, Corbin spoke badly about Strowman to him. So, Strowman chased Corbin into a parking lot and then, Corbin hid in a limousine car. Strowman broke the car's glass and door when Mr. McMahon, the chairman of WWE,  came out and said that it was his car. Mr. McMahon then fined Strowman $100,000. Strowman argued with McMahon, who cancelled the match between Strowman and Lesnar. Later on that episode, Corbin, John Cena, Drew McIntyre, and Finn Bálor all said that they wanted to face Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. Mr. McMahon then organized a fatal four-way match between them, but Bálor had to fight Jinder Mahal first and the winner would be a part of the fatal four-way. Bálor won and then also won the fatal four-way match so he could get a Universal Championship match against Lesnar, but he could not compete in the Royal Rumble anymore.

At TLC, Daniel Bryan beat AJ Styles to keep the WWE Championship. On the January 1 episode of the weekly WWE show called SmackDown,  Styles beat Randy Orton, Mustafa Ali, Rey Mysterio, and Samoa Joe in a fatal five-way match to earn another match against Bryan for the championship.

At TLC, Asuka beat Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat Tables, Ladders & Chairs match to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. On the January 1 episode of SmackDown, Lynch, Flair, and Carmella all said that they should face Asuka at the Royal Rumble. Triple H, the COO of WWE, then organized a triple threat match between them. Lynch won so she could get a SmackDown Women's Championship match against Asuka.

At TLC, Ronda Rousey beat Nia Jax to keep the Raw Women's Championship. On the January 7 episode of Raw, Rousey was interviewed by Alexa Bliss on "A Moment of Bliss" and said that she wanted to face Sasha Banks next because she could be a true test to how good Rousey is. Jax interrupted the interview and said that she wanted a rematch with Rousey. Banks then came out and she and Jax organized a match between each other. Banks won so she could get a Raw Women's Championship match against Rousey.

At Crown Jewel, Shane McMahon won the WWE World Cup. He replaced The Miz as a finalist because Miz got into a fight before the final and got injured, so he could not compete. After this, the Miz started asking McMahon to start a tag team with him and said that they could be the best tag team in the world. McMahon eventually agreed to do this. On the January 8 episode of SmackDown, Miz told the Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) that he and McMahon wanted a match for their SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the Royal Rumble and the Bar agreed to the match.

On the TLC pre-show, Buddy Murphy beat Cedric Alexander to keep the Cruiserweight Championship. On the December 26, 2018 episode of WWE's weekly show 205 Live (only for Cruiserweights who are wrestlers under 205 pounds), Drake Maverick, the GM of 205 Live, organized a fatal four-way match for Murphy to try to keep his title his title at the Royal Rumble. On the next episode of 205 Live, Kalisto beat Lio Rush and Akira Tozawa beat Drew Gulak so they could be a part of the WWE Cruiserweight Championship match at the Royal Rumble. On the next episode, Hideo Itami beat Alexander to take the last spot in the fatal four-way.

On the December 25, 2018 episode of SmackDown, Rusev beat Shinsuke Nakamura to win the United States Championship. On the January 1 episode, Rusev and his wife/manager Lana celebrated the win, but Nakamura attacked Rusev (Lana was also hurt during the fight). On January 15, a match between Rusev and Lana was organized for the Royal Rumble.

Event

 Pre-show 
Three matches happened on the pre-show, which aired for free on the WWE network and WWE's social media accounts.

Firstly, Drake Maverick, the manager of a tag team called AOP (Akam and Rezar), announced that Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, who were the Raw Tag Team Champions, would fight Scott Dawson (from a team called The Revival) and Rezar (from AOP). If Dawson and Rezar won, the Revival and AOP would have both gotten a Raw Tag Team Championship match. Bobby Roode and Chad Gable beat Dawson and Rezar.

In the second match, Shinsuke Nakamura won the United States Championship from Rusev who had Lana as his manager.

In the third match, Buddy Murphy kept the WWE Cruiserweight Championship by beating Akira Tozawa, Hideo Itami, and Kalisto in a fatal four-way match.

 Main show 
Seven matches happened on the main show.

In the first match, Asuka kept the SmackDown Women's Championship by beating Becky Lynch.

In the second match, The Miz and Shane McMahon won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship from the Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro).

In the third match, Ronda Rousey kept the Raw Women's Championship by beating Sasha Banks.

The fourth match was the women's Royal Rumble match which Becky Lynch won by last eliminating Charlotte Flair. She got a women's championship match for WrestleMania 35.

In the fifth match, Daniel Bryan kept the WWE Championship by beating AJ Styles.

In the sixth match, Brock Lesnar, who had Paul Heyman as his manager, kept the Universal Championship by beating Finn Bálor.

The seventh match and the main event was the men's Royal Rumble which Seth Rollins won by last eliminating Braun Strowman. He got a men's championship match for WrestleMania 35.

 Results 

 Women's Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations 
Each color represents the show/brand that each wrestler is a part of. NXT is the show that wrestlers perform on before they make it to Raw, SmackDown, or 205 Live with NXT UK being a part of the brand for British wrestlers. Free agents are wrestlers who were not a part of a show/brand. Becky Lynch is in gold because she won.

DrawEntrantBrand/StatusOrderEliminated byTimeElimination(s) Lacey EvansFree agent11Charlotte Flair29:202 NatalyaRaw23Nia Jax56:012 Mandy RoseSmackDown9Naomi25:501 Liv MorganRaw1Natalya00:080 Mickie JamesRaw2Tamina11:380 Ember MoonRaw24Alexa Bliss52:230 Billie KaySmackDown4Lacey Evans09:251 Nikki CrossFree agent3Billie Kay and Peyton Royce09:000 Peyton RoyceSmackDown5Lacey Evans08:381 TaminaRaw7Charlotte Flair08:221 Xia LiNXT6Charlotte Flair04:480 Sarah LoganRaw8Natalya and Kairi Sane05:380 Charlotte FlairSmackDown29Becky Lynch50:015 Kairi SaneNXT15Ruby Riott17:001 Maria Kanellis205 Live12Alicia Fox08:120 NaomiSmackDown10Mandy Rose01:281 Candice LeRaeNXT14Ruby Riott09:350 Alicia FoxRaw13Ruby Riott06:551 Kacy CatanzaroNXT16Rhea Ripley10:450 Zelina VegaSmackDown18Rhea Ripley11:420 Ruby RiottRaw20Bayley13:083 Dana BrookeRaw17Rhea Ripley07:170 Io ShiraiNXT22Nia Jax13:210 Rhea RipleyNXT UK21Bayley07:553 Sonya DevilleSmackDown19Alexa Bliss04:260 Alexa BlissRaw25Bayley and Carmella12:592 BayleyRaw27Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax14:273 Becky LynchSmackDownWinner13:202 Nia JaxRaw28Becky Lynch11:593 CarmellaSmackDown26Charlotte Flair07:121

 Men's Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations 
Each color represents the show/brand that each wrestler is a part of. NXT is the show that wrestlers perform on before they make it to Raw, SmackDown, or 205 Live with NXT UK being a part of the brand for British wrestlers. Free agents are wrestlers who were not a part of a show/brand. Seth Rollins is in gold because he won.

DrawEntrantBrand/StatusOrderEliminated byTimeElimination(s) EliasRaw5Seth Rollins15:071 Jeff JarrettFree agent1Elias01:200 Shinsuke NakamuraSmackDown8Mustafa Ali17:461 Kurt AngleRaw2Shinsuke Nakamura03:150 Big ESmackDown4Samoa Joe06:010 Johnny GarganoNXT9Dean Ambrose13:501 Jinder MahalRaw3Johnny Gargano00:300 Samoa JoeSmackDown14Mustafa Ali23:433 Curt HawkinsRaw7Samoa Joe04:091 Seth RollinsRawWinner43:263 Titus O'NeilRaw6Curt Hawkins00:050 Kofi KingstonSmackDown12Drew McIntyre08:530 Mustafa AliSmackDown23Nia Jax30:002 Dean AmbroseRaw13Aleister Black12:421 No Way JoseRaw10Samoa Joe00:020 Drew McIntyreRaw22Dolph Ziggler20:064 Xavier WoodsSmackDown11Drew McIntyre00:030 Pete DunneNXT UK17Drew McIntyre11:130 AndradeSmackDown27Braun Strowman22:311 Apollo CrewsRaw15Baron Corbin05:470 Aleister BlackNXT16Baron Corbin06:091 Shelton BenjaminSmackDown20Braun Strowman09:210 Baron CorbinRaw19Braun Strowman07:192 Jeff HardySmackDown21Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre07:550 Rey MysterioSmackDown25Randy Orton12:301 Bobby LashleyRaw18Seth Rollins00:130 Braun StrowmanRaw29Seth Rollins14:375 Dolph ZigglerRaw28Braun Strowman11:341 Randy OrtonSmackDown26Andrade06:001 Nia JaxRaw24Rey Mysterio03:111

 References 

Category:2019 in American television
Category:2019 in sports
Category:Royal Rumble
Category:Sports in Phoenix, Arizona
Category:2010s in Phoenix
Category:2019 in the United States
Category:January 2019 events