WHEI Royal Rumble (2019)

The logo for WHEI Royal Rumble (2019)

 LWL

 205 Live

 NXT UK

**WHEI Royal Rumble (2019)** was a professional wrestling pay per view produced by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for their Raw, SmackDown, LWL, 205 Live, and NXT UK brands. It took place on Wednesday, February 6th, 2019 from Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY. It was the fourth pay per view to include multiple brands in Season 3. It was the first event in the WHEI Royal Rumble Chronology, and the thirteenth pay per view of Season 3 overall.

## Background

The card consisted of matches that resulted from scripted storylines that played out on WHEI's Raw, SmackDown, LWL, 205 Live, and NXT UK brands. Storylines played out on the War Hawks' weekly shows on Twitch *Monday Night Raw*, *Friday Night SmackDown Live*, *LWL: Lethal Wrestling Legends*, *205 Live*, and *NXT UK*. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters as they built tension that lead to a match or series of matches heading into the event.

Royal Rumble is considered one of WWE's biggest events, and therefore is also considered one of WHEI's. It marks the start of the "Road To WrestleMania". The event, along with SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the aforementioned WrestleMania make up the "Big Four". The main attraction of the event is the Royal Rumble Match. A 30 person over the top rope battle royal, where the last person standing receives a Championship Match of their choice at WrestleMania. Despite the WWE giving their female competitors their own Royal Rumble in real life, the ability to do so is absent from WWE 2K18. As a result, the War Hawks announced at 6 woman, tri-branded battle royal for the event to serve as the equivalent with the winner receiving a Women's Championship Match of her choice at WrestleMania. With the Royal Rumble itself, due to the brand split being in effect, the match will be tri-branded.

In addition to the battle royals, each brands' World Championship will be on the line.

The primary feud heading into the event on the Raw brand was between Tomasso Ciampa and Shinsuke Nakamura with the two feuding over the WHEI Universal Championship. At Armageddon Ciampa defeated Nakamura to win the title. One week later Juggernaut announced that the two would face off in a rematch fo the title at the Royal Rumble.

The primary feud heading into the event on the SmackDown brand was between Daniel Bryan and Braun Strowman with the two feuding over the WHEI Championship. At TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs Bryan defeated Eric Young in a TLC Match to retain the then WHEI WWE Championship while Strowman lost his United States Championship to Cody Rhodes. The following SmackDown, Strowman challenged Bryan to a match at the Royal Rumble, Bryan accepted and the match was made official.

The primary feud heading into the event on the LWL brand was between Matt Hardy and Xerios with the two feuding over the LWL World Heavyweight Championship. At End Of The Line Xerios defeated Jeff Hardy to earn the right to face Matt at the Royal Rumble since he didn't lead team LWL to victory at Survivor Series. A few days later at a house show Matt defeated AJ Styles to win the LWL World Heavyweight Championship, thus making their match a title match, which was later confirmed by LWL General Manager Stephanie Hudson-Lytle.

The primary feud heading into the event on the 205 Live brand was between "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher and Heath Slater with the two feuding over the WHEI Cruiserweight Championship. After weeks of Gallagher dominating the division 205 Live General Manager Heath placed him in a match with Slater for the Rumble to give him the opportunity to win a singles title. Just before the pay per view, it was announced this match, along with the United Kingdom and LWL Leading Lady Championship Matches, would be moved to the pre show to accommodate the other two women's title matches. Ironman said he would've included the LWL title match but there wasn't enough room for that and a women's battle royal.

The primary feud heading into the event on the NXT UK brand was between Dave Mastiff, Zack Gibson, Mark Coffey, and Pete Dunne. With the four of them feuding over the WHEI United Kingdom Championship. After several months of Mastiff dominating the division, NXT UK General Manager Nic Nitro scheduled him to defend his title at the Royal Rumble against the four of them. Just before the pay per view, it was announced this match, along with the Cruiserweight and LWL Leading Lady Championship Matches, would be moved to the pre show to accommodate the other two women's title matches. Ironman said he would've included the LWL title match but there wasn't enough room for that and a women's battle royal.

Another feud on the Raw brand was between Asuka and Nikki Bella, with the two feuding over the WHEI Raw Women's Championship. The Raw following Armageddon, Nikki attacked Asuka from behind and challenged her to a match at the Royal Rumble. Guardian made the match official, but stated she would be keeping an eye on the Nikki and her twin Brie as she had been warned about their antics.

Another feud on the SmackDown brand was between Paige and Many Rose, with the two feuding over the WHEI SmackDown Women's Championship. After TLC, Rose tried to take all the credit for Absolution, stating that she was the reason it was successful. Paige pointed out that while she had brought gold into the group, Rose had done nothing. However she also stated that she was a fighting champion and that they were friends, so she said she would get a title opportunity at the Royal Rumble, as well as a chance to prove herself.

Another match on the LWL brand was between Lita and Alundra Blayze with the two feuding over the LWL Leading Lady Championship. Just before the pay per view, it was announced this match, along with the United Kingdom and Cruiserweight Championship Matches, would be moved to the pre show to accommodate the other two women's title matches. Ironman said he would've included the LWL title match but there wasn't enough room for that and a women's battle royal.

The main feud for the women's division was between 6 women feuding over a spot at WrestleMania for a women's championship of their choice. Since they are unable to do women's royal rumble matches in 2K18, it was decided to do a smaller battle royal instead. The same night as Survivor Series Sherania announced that her participants would be Naomi and Natalya. A couple of weeks later Ironman announced Becky Lynch and AJ Lee as SmackDown's representatives, while Guardian announced former Women's Intercontinental Champion Beth Phoenix and Sasha Banks as Raw's representatives.

The main feud overall involved the 30 Man Royal Rumble Match. It was announced the match would be tri-branded and that the winner would be allowed to choose the Championship they wish to go for.

## Event

### Pre-show

The first match on the preshow was for the WHEI Cruiserweight Championship with "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher defending against Heath Slater. In the middle of the match while Slater was in control The Brian Kendrick came out and caused a distraction to help Gallagher but he failed to capitalize. After a botched attempt to distract the referee on Gallagher's behalf, Slater took advantage and hit Gallagher with Lifting DDT to win the match and the Championship.

The second preshow match was a Fatal 4 Way Match for the WHEI United Kingdom Championship between champion Dave Mastiff, Zack Gibson, Mark Coffey, and "The Bruiserweight" Pete Dunne. After a great match between the four of them with lots of back and forth action Dunne hit Mastiff with the Bitter End to win the match and the championship.

The final pre-show match was between Lita and Alundra Blayze for the LWL Leading Lady Championship. After a short match with lots of counters, Lita countered a Suplex attempt by Blayze into a Twist Of Fate to win the match and retain the championship.

### Preliminary matches

The pay per view itself opened with Xerios challenging Matt Hardy for the LWL World Heavyweight Championship. After a long and hard fought match and an even longer journey, Xerios hit a bloodied Hardy with a Darkness Falls Chokeslam to win the match and FINALLY capture the LWL World Heavyweight Championship.

After that was a match for the WHEI Raw Women's Championship between champion Asuka and Nikki Bella. After an excellent back and forth match with both women hitting their finishers several times Nikki ended the match after hitting a third Rack Attack 2.0 to win the match and the championship.

Next was a match for the WHEI Championship between Daniel Bryan and Braun Strowman. After a surprisingly technical match for someone of Strowman's size, he hit a Reverse Chokeslam on Bryan to win the match and his first World Championship.

Then was the WHEI SmackDown Women's Championship Match between Absolution members Paige and Mandy Rose. After an impressive showing by both women with multiple finishers and one VERY close near fall, Rose hit the Angel's Wings to win the match and the championship. After the match, Rose and Paige shook hands, indicating they were still friends and the title remained within Absolution.

Following that was a match for the WHEI Universal Championship with Tomasso Ciampa defending against Shinsuke Nakamura. After a brief match in which both men hit all of their signature moves, Ciampa hit a Project Ciampa to win the match and retain the championship.

The penultimate match was a tri-branded 6 Woman Over The Top Rope Battle Royal for a Women's World Championship Match at WrestleMania between Beth Phoenix, AJ Lee, Naomi, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Natalya. After a long period where no one was eliminated, in quick succession, Beth, Naomi, and Natalya were eliminated by AJ, Natalya, and AJ respectively. Soon after Sasha was eliminated by AJ as well, leaving it down to the two SmackDown representatives. In the end Becky tossed out AJ to win the match and head to WrestleMania.

### Main event

The main event of the show was the 2019 Royal Rumble Match. Edge from Raw and Big E from SmackDown started at #1 and #2 respectively. Mr. Perfect was #3 followed by Alexander Wolfe at #4 and Batista at #5. Big E quickly eliminated Batista and Wolfe. WHEI Champion Braun Strowman was #6 shortly after, Big E eliminated Edge before being eliminated himself by Matt Jackson who was #7. Strowman was eliminated by Perfect, while Jackson was eliminated by #8 John Cena '06. In the end it came down to Drew McIntyre and Bobby Roode and McIntyre tossed him out of the ring to win the match and receive a Championship Match of his choice at WrestleMania.

## Results

### Royal Rumble Entrants & Eliminations

Red background - Raw

Blue background - SmackDown

Gold background - Winner