WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Match Results From Houston
Big night at Minute Maid Park...
It was a rather eventful night at the 2020 WWE Royal Rumble, with a number of newsworthy moments. Guest Rumble entries, hard-hitting action, and a few other surprising moments took place inside Houston's Minute Maid Park on Sunday night.
*Kickoff Match: Sheamus def. Shorty G in 12:35
Gable suffered a nasty wound to his ear very early in the bout, resulting in an alarming amount of blood spillage. Told the typical story of a monster heel overpowering an underdog babyface, with Gable trying to create hope by working Sheamus' legs. Ankle locks and a rolling German suplex were used by Gable, before Sheamus finished with the Brogue Kick.
*WWE United States/Kickoff Match: Andrade def. Humberto Carillo in 14:20
A pretty good match, though it had a tough act to follow after Monday's ladder match between Andrade and Rey Mysterio. Carrillo did get to kick out of the corner double knee strike, and he made a comeback with a super hurrachanrana. Another rana was countered into a sunset pin for Andrade.
*Falls Count Anywhere: Roman Reigns def. King Corbin in 21:20
The two brawled all over the arena, with, thankfully, a scarcity of dog chow on hand. Reigns put Corbin through the tables on international row with his Samoan drop, but soon Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler ran interference. The Usos countered for Reigns, complete with Jimmy diving off a balcony onto the horde. A port-o-john got involved, and Reigns pinned Corbin on top of the Houston Astros dugout with a spear.
*Women's Royal Rumble: Charlotte Flair won in 54:20, last eliminating Shayna Baszler
Only seven announced entrants going in, but lots of shine was given to number two entry Bianca Belair, who took the match's duration title. Beth Phoenix was a guest entrant, and somehow lost a frightening amount of blood from the back of her head, yet stayed in the match until the very end. Baszler, entering at number 30, ran roughshod for a bit, but was thrown out in the end by Flair.
*SmackDown Women's: Bayley def. Lacey Evans in 9:20
Crowd was a little down for this one, having just sat through an hour of action. Evans' daughter was in the front row for moral support, for what was a rather basic, formulaic match. Evans missed the double-jump moonsault, and Bayley rolled her over into the pin.
*WWE Universal/Strap Match: The Fiend def. Daniel Bryan in 17:35
No red lights, so yay. Many on Twitter were calling this The Fiend's best match, and it's not hard to argue, as he and Bryan told an effective, mostly realistic story of man vs. beast. Bryan was welted up and a bit bloody from being whipped by the strap, but still managed to find resourceful counters to the Mandible Claw. Fiend hooked one more Claw, dropping Bryan with a side slam and using it to score the pin.
*Raw Women's: Becky Lynch def. Asuka in 16:25
Asuka played the aggressor, which made sense, given that the story was Lynch's inability to beat her, along with her ongoing apprehension about trying again. Asuka displayed such control that Lynch actually had to beg the ref to not stop the match in favor of the challenger at one juncture. Lynch fought back, and during a brief skirmish where the ref was almost bumped, Asuka cued up the mist, only to be kicked in the ribs just before she could spew it. Lynch then quickly hooked the Disarm-Her, drawing the submission.
*Men's Royal Rumble: Drew McIntyre won in 1:00:50, last eliminating Roman Reigns
Lesnar made like he was playing SmackDown Slobberknocker Mode, running through almost every early entrant within the allotted window between buzzers. He made it up to 13 eliminations, before Drew McIntyre Claymore'd Lesnar out, with an assist from Ricochet. The other big story was the return of Edge, hitting the ring at number 21, and looking like the Edge of old (gray goatee aside). Final four were McIntyre, Edge, Randy Orton, and Roman Reigns, with McIntyre dropping Reigns with the Claymore, and throwing him out to win.
*Kickoff Match: Sheamus def. Shorty G in 12:35
Gable suffered a nasty wound to his ear very early in the bout, resulting in an alarming amount of blood spillage. Told the typical story of a monster heel overpowering an underdog babyface, with Gable trying to create hope by working Sheamus' legs. Ankle locks and a rolling German suplex were used by Gable, before Sheamus finished with the Brogue Kick.
*WWE United States/Kickoff Match: Andrade def. Humberto Carillo in 14:20
A pretty good match, though it had a tough act to follow after Monday's ladder match between Andrade and Rey Mysterio. Carrillo did get to kick out of the corner double knee strike, and he made a comeback with a super hurrachanrana. Another rana was countered into a sunset pin for Andrade.
*Falls Count Anywhere: Roman Reigns def. King Corbin in 21:20
The two brawled all over the arena, with, thankfully, a scarcity of dog chow on hand. Reigns put Corbin through the tables on international row with his Samoan drop, but soon Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler ran interference. The Usos countered for Reigns, complete with Jimmy diving off a balcony onto the horde. A port-o-john got involved, and Reigns pinned Corbin on top of the Houston Astros dugout with a spear.
*Women's Royal Rumble: Charlotte Flair won in 54:20, last eliminating Shayna Baszler
Only seven announced entrants going in, but lots of shine was given to number two entry Bianca Belair, who took the match's duration title. Beth Phoenix was a guest entrant, and somehow lost a frightening amount of blood from the back of her head, yet stayed in the match until the very end. Baszler, entering at number 30, ran roughshod for a bit, but was thrown out in the end by Flair.
*SmackDown Women's: Bayley def. Lacey Evans in 9:20
Crowd was a little down for this one, having just sat through an hour of action. Evans' daughter was in the front row for moral support, for what was a rather basic, formulaic match. Evans missed the double-jump moonsault, and Bayley rolled her over into the pin.
*WWE Universal/Strap Match: The Fiend def. Daniel Bryan in 17:35
No red lights, so yay. Many on Twitter were calling this The Fiend's best match, and it's not hard to argue, as he and Bryan told an effective, mostly realistic story of man vs. beast. Bryan was welted up and a bit bloody from being whipped by the strap, but still managed to find resourceful counters to the Mandible Claw. Fiend hooked one more Claw, dropping Bryan with a side slam and using it to score the pin.
*Raw Women's: Becky Lynch def. Asuka in 16:25
Asuka played the aggressor, which made sense, given that the story was Lynch's inability to beat her, along with her ongoing apprehension about trying again. Asuka displayed such control that Lynch actually had to beg the ref to not stop the match in favor of the challenger at one juncture. Lynch fought back, and during a brief skirmish where the ref was almost bumped, Asuka cued up the mist, only to be kicked in the ribs just before she could spew it. Lynch then quickly hooked the Disarm-Her, drawing the submission.
*Men's Royal Rumble: Drew McIntyre won in 1:00:50, last eliminating Roman Reigns
Lesnar made like he was playing SmackDown Slobberknocker Mode, running through almost every early entrant within the allotted window between buzzers. He made it up to 13 eliminations, before Drew McIntyre Claymore'd Lesnar out, with an assist from Ricochet. The other big story was the return of Edge, hitting the ring at number 21, and looking like the Edge of old (gray goatee aside). Final four were McIntyre, Edge, Randy Orton, and Roman Reigns, with McIntyre dropping Reigns with the Claymore, and throwing him out to win.
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.
