WWE Royal Rumble: Controversy as simmering rivalries dominate the ring

ROMAN REIGNS failed to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship as simmering rivalries dominated a night of high drama and controversy at WWE Royal Rumble 2016 in Orlando.

As WWE’s annual 30-man elimination marathon drew to a close, Reigns was one of three men still in contention for the title, along with his old team-mate from The Shield, Dean Ambrose, and WWE’s head honcho Triple H.

As the face of The Authority, Triple H had done just about everything within his power to stop Reigns being champion in the first place, but the WWE official had been missing in action since taking a beating by Reigns at the end of December’s Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay per view event.

There was no sharp suit and tie here though as we were treated to a throwback performance by the snarling in-ring Triple H aka The Game. An enthralling Royal Rumble came to a climax when he managed to flip first Reigns and then Ambrose over the ropes to claim a historic victory.  

It is the second time that Triple H has won the Royal Rumble, some 14 years since his first triumph in 2002, and it is the 14^th WWE world title of his career.

We can now expect his rivalry with Reigns to burn a path all the way to a showdown at WrestleMania XXXII in Texas on April 3.

Another title to change hands was the WWE United States Championship, where champ Alberto Del Rio lost to Kalisto for the second time in recent weeks as the two men kept up their habit of trading the belt at every given opportunity.

There were no surprises in the Tag Team Championship, where The New Day saw off the challenge of the re-emerging Usos, or the Divas title bout, where Charlotte quashed a spirited performance by former best friend Becky Lynch thanks to some all too familiar distraction tactics by her dad, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.

There was raucous approval from the 15,170 WWE fans crammed into the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida as the evening began with the WWE Intercontinental Championship clash between holder Dean Ambrose and scowling former champ Kevin Owens. Ambrose won a bruising encounter that saw the use of kendo sticks, tables and steel chairs but both men also had a part to play in the night’s main event.

Please see below for a full, detailed report on all of the evening’s bouts including a breakdown of every fighter who appeared in the 30-man Royal Rumble.

WWE Intercontinental Championship (Last man standing match): Dean Ambrose (champion) vs Kevin Owens

If you were looking for fireworks, this was the bout that came with a health warning. You couldn’t wish for two more combative or skilful opponents slugging it out in the squared circle. The Lunatic Fringe Ambrose snatched this title from Owens at Tables, Ladders and Chairs, WWE’s final pay per view of 2015, and a last man standing match up was the perfect scenario for a feisty rematch. Within the first few minutes the two were brawling outside of the ring, Ambrose throwing Owens over the announce table into Michael Cole and his co-commentators. Next up was some tit for tat with a kendo stick before Owens slammed Ambrose into a barrier and helped himself to several steel chairs from under the apron.

After a disrespectful break sitting in the centre of the ring, Owens was caught by a clothes line and also a back body drop that saw him crash down onto a couple of chairs. Outside the ring again, Owens slammed Ambrose into the apron and the edge of some steel steps. Next up Owens was reaching for more furniture, stacking some tables at the ring’s perimeter. But an attempt to take Ambrose to the top rope backfired and Ambrose countered, slamming a steel chair over the head of Owens where it stayed as the Canadian stumbled round the ring.

The crowd were lapping it up as Ambrose delivered a Dirty Deeds, smashing Owens’ head into a steel chair on the canvas. Owens beat the 10 count by rolling out of the ring onto his feet, which merely allowed Ambrose time to set up a table ringside. He placed his opponent on the table, climbed back into the ring and launched an elbow drop from the top rope which saw both men crash through the table. Back in the ring, and with Owens screaming ‘I hate you’, Ambrose set up another table but this time Owens capitalised and dropped his man from a great height onto the tabletop.

A Pop Up Power Bomb saw Ambrose counted to nine but Owens merely punished his resilience by smashing a chair across his back. Owens then arranged several chairs near a corner and yelled at Ambrose ‘you did this’ before laying the champ across four chairs and climbing to the top rope. But with Owens’ back turned, Ambrose leapt to his feet and shoved his stocky opponentl in the back, sending him flying out of the ring and into the stack of tables he’d arranged earlier. There was no coming back for the winded challenger who was counted out, sprawled across the broken wood and metalwork.

Result: Dean Ambrose retained his title after Kevin Owens was counted out.

WWE Tag Team Championship: The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods, champions) vs The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso)

When The New Day appear you know you’re in for 10 minutes of showmanship before a slap is thrown in anger. The champs didn’t disappoint, with Xavier Woods revealing he’s over the death of Francesca – his beloved trombone, snapped in two recently by Chris Jericho – and he introduced Francesca 2 to a baying crowd. The trio may not be the most technically gifted WWE stars but their chemistry works in the WWE Universe as they continue to be the team the fans love to hate. By contrast, it was an emotional return to big-time action for the Usos.

The challengers missed six months of 2015 after Jey Uso injured a shoulder, but their popularity never wavered through that period. Just last month the pair won the WWE fans’ vote to be named Slammy Tag Team Of The Year. For the brothers it was all about maintaining concentration amid The New Day’s playing up to the crowd, to the sound of Woods on trombone. As expected it was an acrobatic encounter. A flying Jey Uso took out Kofi outside of the ring but on the canvas a 300lb Big E powered into Jimmy on the ropes taking both men out onto the floor.

Kofi avoided a countout by touching his foot to the ropes, but was soon under attack from Jey Uso again who seemingly had the title firmly within reach. But it wasn’t to be. Big E took a sneaky tag on a stunned team-mate Kofi who was atop Jey Uso’s shoulders. Big E then swiftly entered the ring to catch Jey as he leapt toward Kofi from the top rope, delivering a Big Finish for the win.

Result: The New Day retained their title after Big E pinned Jey Uso.

WWE United States Championship: Alberto Del Rio (champion) vs Kalisto

It was a leaner and meaner Alberto Del Rio who returned to the WWE fold last October to wrestle this title away from John Cena at Hell In A Cell. In the past fortnight he temporarily lost his grip on the belt after a surprise defeat by Kalisto on Raw but grabbed it back days later on Smackdown – with a helping hand from King Barrett outside the ring. Kalisto gives away several inches in height to just about every WWE star out there, but his athleticism and top rope acrobatics make him a tricky opponent.

The bout began with Kalisto attempting to execute some of his high flying manoeuvres but the champ’s gameplan was very obviously to keep his man grounded. The muscular Mexican made his height and weight advantage count, throwing his diminutive challenger around the ring and the perimeter with ease. At one stage he tried to unmask Kalisto but the Luchador escaped Del Rio’s clutches. A spinning DDT from the second rope was a Kalisto high point as he attempted a fightback, but he was soon being dragged round the canvas again by a spiteful champ. Kalisto almost unleashed a surprise, a Salida Del Sol from the top rope to pin Del Rio but the champ reached for the rope to break the hold. Del Rio then exposed the steel turnbuckle in a corner but it proved to be his own undoing.

Kalisto narrowly avoided being thrown into the metal before Del Rio’s forehead bounced off the corner. With the champ clearly stunned it allowed Kalisto to unleash another Salida Del Sol and this time it was decisive, Del Rio failing to beat the three count.

Result: Kalisto executed a successful Salida Del Sol to be crowned the new champion - again.

WWE Divas Championship: Charlotte (champion) vs Becky Lynch

The battle of the besties – or former best friends to be more accurate. Charlotte won the Diva’s title at Night Of Champions last September with Becky Lynch very much in her corner. But Charlotte’s heel turn this year included her unleashing an in-ring beating onto Becky following her non-title defeat in the first RAW of 2016. The Orlando crowd cheered ‘Let’s go Becky’ almost as one as she took the fight to the unpopular champ. Two clothes lines and a sidekick to the jaw left Charlotte reeling but the champ countered with a neckbreaker as the two continued to anticipate each others’ moves.

But while Becky was getting the best of things inside the ring, there was always a suspicion that Charlotte’s dad Ric Flair would somehow get involved if his daughter was in trouble. So it proved. His first dastardly act was to plant an unwelcome kiss on Becky’s lips round the ring’s perimeter, allowing Charlotte the time and opportunity to catch her challenger off guard. Becky was soon back in control though and after Charlotte sent her own dad flying with a mistimed Baseball Slide, Becky slapped on the Dis-Arm Her. But as the crowd cheered her to the edge of victory, Flair threw his jacket into the ring and over Becky’s head. She released her grip and stood to remonstrate with Flair, but that allowed Charlotte to unleash a Spear and take the win.

 After the win Charlotte continued to taunt her opponent, stamping on a prone Becky and slamming her face to the canvas. But as she celebrated with her dad, Sasha Banks appeared to loud cheers – but she too punished the beaten Becky, kicking her out of the ring. After appearing to exchange a friendly goodbye with Charlotte, she executed a Banks Statement on the champ as she was exiting the ring, teeing up a new rivalry for the title in weeks to come.

Result: Charlotte retained the Divas Championship with the help of interference from dad Ric Flair.

30-man Royal Rumble for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, defended by Roman Reigns.

For the first time a champion had to enter WWE’s most daunting arena to do the seemingly impossible, defend his coveted WWE World Heavyweight Championship against 29 opponents. The task was made all the harder for Roman Reigns as he had to compete in the ring from the bell after being drawn at No 1 by a vengeful WWE chief Vince McMahon. The rules for such an exhaustive and demanding event are straightforward. From the opening bout a wrestler is eliminated if he is thrown over the top rope to the outside of the ring and his feet hit the floor. The evening starts with two men in the ring, and they are joined at regular intervals by the rest of the card until all 30 men have appeared. The winner is the last man remaining in the ring after 29 fighters have been ejected. Traditionally, the winner also books themselves a place to fight for the title at WrestleMania – but here it was all about the big prize.

The title had been on the line before at the Rumble, but that was way back in 1992 when Nature Boy Ric Flair entered at No 3 and battled for over an hour to claim the then vacant title. Reigns had set a new record in 2014 by dismissing 12 opponents, the most eliminations at one Rumble. Rey Mysterio set the endurance record in 2006 when he won the title after scrapping for 1hr 2min 12sec in the ring.

The crowd settled as WWE’s most famous countdown got underway. Arriving as No 2 to grapple with Reigns in the opening bout was Rusev, who managed to eject the defending champ early on but it was through the second rope so didn’t count. Reigns re-entered and tossed Rusev out for the elimination.

The buzzer for wrestler No 3 produced one of the biggest cheers of the night as we witnessed the much awaited arrival of AJ Styles to a WWE arena. As Styles and Reigns set about each other, No 4 Tyler Breeze made his entrance. As the crowd chanted ‘AJ Styles’ he held up Breeze and a punch from Reigns to Breeze’s jaw saw the debutant exit.

No 5 was Curtis Axel from The Social Outcasts, who immediately set upon Styles, but he was very soon being ejected by WWE’s new hero. The buzzer sounded for entrant No 6 and in walked veteran Chris Jericho to make his ninth appearance in the Royal Rumble. He set about roughing up Reigns first, then Styles. As the three battled we saw the arrival of competitor No 7, the Demon Kane. He was making is 17^th appearance at a Royal Rumble and it’s no surprise he holds the record of 42 eliminations for the event.

Kane enjoyed taking large lumps out of each fighter in the ring, but Styles fought back from the top rope with some headbutts. Entry No 8 was Goldust who set on Kane before being caught by a bloody nosed Jericho. With five men still in the ring star No 9 Ryback burst onto the scene. He targeted Jericho but was nearly flipped himself by Goldust.

With all six men still in place, The New Day’s music blared out and Kofi Kingston became competitor No 10. Ryback unleashed a back drop on Styles which had the crowd wincing but again with no eliminations the huge frame of No 11 Titus O’Neill powered into the ring. His first action was to eject Goldust but there were no further casualties by the time No 12 R-Truth appeared.

Always confused, Truth took a ladder from under the canvas and placed it in the centre of the ring but realised he was in the wrong event. His punishment was to be grabbed by the throat by Kane and thrown over the ropes. Kofi Kingston, an acrobatic survivor over the years, was thrown over the ropes too but landed on the shoulders of The New Day team-mate Big E so was technically still active.No 13 arrived in the form of Luke Harper from the Wyatt Family and he became the seventh man in the ring. At this point there was an ambush which threatened to end Reigns’ night prematurely.

WWE overlord Vince McMahon had the League Of Nations – Sheamus, Rusev and Alberto Del Rio - pull Reigns through the ropes and unleash a beating ringside. Amid the controversy Stardust entered at No 14 while Rusev splashed Reigns through an announce table. In the ring, Kofi Kingston was eliminated by Chris Jericho as No 15 Big Show strolled to the arena. Big Show was quick to seek out some victims and he soon faceplanted Titus O’Neill and punched Ryback out in quick succession, while a stretcher attended to Reigns who hadn’t officially been eliminated.

Entry No 16 was the man who gravity forgot, Neville, for his first Royal Rumble appearance. Meantime, Reigns was being escorted to the back of the arena by medical staff as he clutched his injured arm while No 17 Braun Strowman entered and eliminated Kane before squaring up to Big Show. Strowman claimed his second huge victim, choking the Show into submission before rolling him over the ropes.

No 18 saw the re-apparance of Kevin Owens, losing challenger from the Intercontinental Championship earlier. His trading of punches with Styles brought a mammoth cheer from the crowd but that tuned to a collective groan of disappointment as AJ Styles’s 28-minute debut came to an end at the hand of Owens.

Next up at No 19 was Owens’ conqueror from earlier, Dean Ambrose. The two immediately renewed their personal battle, again to big approval from the crowd. That encounter had produced the cheers but there was a roared greeting for No 20, the extremely popular former NXT champ Sami Zayn, another big rival of Owens.

Zayn unloaded on Owens and although he was caught from behind, countered and eliminated his bitter rival of old. With two thirds of the card now revealed, No 21 saw the third member of the Wyatt Family, Erick Rowan, enter the fray. Now the family members got to work.

Luke Harper hit Neville with a Clothes Line and the Brit fell out of the contest with Stardust following almost straight after. As Strowman squeezed the breath out of Jericho, Mark Henry arrived at No 22. The World’s Strongest Man was soon slammed into the canvas by Strowman and all three Wyatt Family members ganged up to eject the 400lb giant from the ring.

Zayn was next to be dumped out by Strowman but competitor No 23 was about to change the complexion of this Rumble. With his punchy guitar entrance theme blaring out, The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar marched into battle, soon targeting Strowman with some clubbing blows. He then drew first blood from the Wyatt Family, eliminating Rowan as Ambrose and Jericho looked on.

Entrant No 24 Jack Swagger raced into the ring but was just as quickly bouncing out again after an F5 from Lesnar, who continued to punish the remaining two Wyatt Family members as the crowd counted down to No 25. Cue a very vocal Miz, who arrived but headed for the announcer’s table after being intimidated by Lesnar’s attention. Lesnar continued to bully the Wyatts, rolling out a staggering Harper, but with Miz still not in the ring, Alberto Del Rio arrived as competitor No 26.

Lesnar continued to charge into Strowman and finally knocked the giant off balance and over the ropes. No 27 entered next, the head of the family now decimated by Lesnar, Bray Wyatt. But as he landed ringside, his three eliminated family members also reappeared and cornered Lesnar.

He threw out the trio one by one and hit Bray with a Suplex. But more interference eventually saw Bray get hold of Lesnar to deliver a Sister Abigail before the rest of the family threw The Beast out of the ring to jeers from the crowd.

Five men now remained: Ambrose, Jericho, Wyatt and Del Rio with The Miz hiding ringside. Entrant No 28 was Dolph Ziggler, at which point The Miz finally joined in. With six men now in the ring, competitor No 29 was revealed to be Sheamus, but as he walked down the gangway he was attacked from behind by a returning Reigns. With the 2012 Royal Rumble champ floored, Reigns flew into the ring, taking out The Miz and Del Rio leaving No 30 as the last man due.

A Superman punch to Wyatt landed as the final entrant’s music began crash around the arena – that of WWE Authority figure, Triple H. The 13-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, also known as The Game, hadn’t been seen at a mainstream WWE event since Reigns put him into hospital a month ago, and he didn’t look in the mood for a friendly chat.

The two men unloaded on each other in the centre of the ring, allowing Sheamus the time to recover his senses and join in the fun. Tripe H sidestepped a flying kick from Ziggler, who crashed out of the running. As Bray Wyatt attempted to put a Sister Abigail on Triple H, he was caught by a Sheamus Brogue Kick and the Irishman eliminated the final member of the Wyatt family.

Trips and Jericho then demonstrated some trademark moves as they took centre stage, but Ambrose stepped in to end Jericho’s 50-minute-plus participation in this WWE marathon.

So then there were four, split into two very distinct camps. With Triple H was the man he originally backed to beat Reigns to the title, Sheamus. The champ meantime had former Shield buddy Dean Ambrose for company. Don’t forget, Ambrose had already won a title match earlier in the evening and his resilience was truly astounding. He set about Sheamus but was soon floored by a Brogue Kick and his day appeared to be done. But the Irishman mistimed a high kick and ended up on the wrong side of the ropes after Ambrose ducked his attention.

Reigns arrived with a Superman Punch and Sheamus hit the floor. But that was to be the moment where the battered champ lost his title. As he looked own upon the stricken Irishman, Triple H seized the opportunity to rush up behind Reigns and flip him over the ropes. So now we knew for certain we would end this boisterous evening with a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Triple H and Dean Ambrose weighed each other up from opposite corners of the squared circle, before the Lunatic Fringe Ambrose summoned up the energy to unload a barrage of punches on the man who was effectively his boss.

The crowd were loving every contact, screaming ‘Let’s go Ambrose’ as The Game appeared to have no answer. Ambrose avoided a Pedigree and managed to get Triple H clinging to the outside of the ropes, spearing into his midriff. But Triple H countered with a knee to Ambrose’s face and as he was temporarily stunned, the WWE official leant through the ropes to flip his opponent over his shoulder and out of the competition.

It was a thrilling win for The Game whose only previous Royal Rumble victory had been way back in 2002. He was soon joined in the ring by wife and Chief Brand Officer of the WWE Stephanie McMahon as he celebrated his triumph to the familiar soundtrack provided by Lemmy and Motorhead.

Result: Triple H snatched his second Royal Rumble win to claim his 14th career WWE World title.