It's been a long while since I last watched a WWE PPV, so what better way to get back into the fray than Royal Rumble, one of my favorite PPV concepts, maybe because it has an element of whodunit (you are constantly trying to guess the "killer" / winner). And this year's Rumbles both had surprising winners....well, the surprise was not so much that they won - when they entered it was highly likely - but the fact that they entered at all. For the record, I was predicting probably Rhea Ripley for the women; for the men, because most of the big stars were in other matches, I had no idea and even thought they might go for a "publicity stunt" angle and give it to Johnny Knoxville or the Bad Bunny when they appeared! Both Rumble matches had a good flow, with no dull spots (though hardly any iconic moments, either) Becky Lynch vs. Doudrop was better than expected, with some wince-inducing offence by Doudrop. The Beast vs. Beast clash between Brock Lesnar (with a goatee and a smirk) and Bobby Lashley (who is indeed a perfect physical specimen) almost lived up to the hype until a lame finish. Even the mixed tag-team match was surprisingly good, with Maryse pulling off some moves out of nowhere. A fun (if long) show. 7/10.

During WWE day one, people like me would have been jumbled with the result of final match where Brock won. That was corrected this time.

There were comparatively fewer matches played during this time. I wish there were more.

The match involving reigns was let down.

The royal rumble which paves your way into wrestlemania was delightful to watch like always.

I believe the best men won.

I'm a little bit behind on WWE PPV's and i'd read that this years Rumble was terrible. I think people need to calm down because despite some bad booking this was a fine show.

Brock Lesnar VS Bobby Lashley for the WWE championship was excellent. I always enjoy watching Lesnar, it's just fun seeing him wreck dudes and Lashley is a beast. It was cool to see someone actually look like Lesnar's equal for a change.

Roman Reigns VS Seth Rollins was my match of the night. Seth shows again why he is one of the best wrestlers in the world and Regins is still an awesome powerhouse heel. I would have liked to see Rollins win this though because Roman's title reign needs to end.

The men's Rumble match was decent with pretty much everyone you can think of getting involved. Frustrating and annoying to see guys as talented as Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode getting eliminated so early and easily for seemingly no reason. Do the WWE bookers not listen to the massive crowd reaction these guys get?

I also wish they would stop having Lesnar make overwise powerful wrestlers look like geeks.

The women's Rumble match was good too but suffered from the same weird booking. Why was Sasha Banks out so soon yet jobbers like Niki Ash are in for most of the duration?

Becky Lynch VS Doudrop was terrible. Lynch is so good yet she struggled to get a decent match out of Doudrop, i'm sure she's a nice person in RL but she can not wrestle. Lynch VS Sasha Banks or Liv Morgan would have been so much better.

This does not deserve such a low score, i'd give it a solid 7/10.