Brock Lesnar wins the Mens Royal Rumble and Ronda Rousey wins the Womens Royal Rumble

Who could have imagined Brock Lesnar’s return at the end of Summer Slam 2021 would have kickef off such an entertaining rivalry that is not only long-lasting but involved both the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship?

If you watched Paul Heyman’s interview on WWE’s The Bump a few hours before the PPV, this outcome was basically spoiled for you. How so? Kayla Braxton asked Heyman how he feels about no longer being in Roman Reigns’ corner and he emphatically replied “I miss my Tribal Chief.” Heyman is has been at the center of the proverbial lovers’ quarrel involving Reigns and Lesnar 6 months and counting now.

If you thought Heyman turning on Reigns and rejoining Lesnar a few months ago spelled the end of their relationship, The Advocate has found ways to keep you guessing. At this point the big question to be answere now is where do Heyman’s loyalties lie. He’s switched sides at the drop of a hat with no warning several times now.

It’s worth noting reports surfaced a few days back WWE planned to have Lesnar vs. Reigns headline Wrestlemania 38. Of course, that meant one of them would be losing their title and obviously it wasn’t Reigns. Lesnar teased a potential unifying title match at ‘Mania involving himself and Roman Reigns but WWE reportedly has zero plans in making their match a title vs. title match. What that means is one of them will drop their title before ‘Mania.

WWE reportedly has all of the WM38 title matches set but you can’t discount WWE’s favorite phrase lately: “Card Subject To Change”.

 

That brings me to the WWE Championship match involving Lesnar and Bobby Lashley.

The finish aside, the match exceeded expectations. There is one more PPV event before Wrestlemania and I wouldn’t put it past WWE give them a rematch there. Lashley won the match yes but he did have some unexpected help from Roman Reigns. No doubt he’s gonna want another match with Lesnar to prove he can clearly beat him. Not saying it has to happen before ‘Mania or even be for a title but it needs to happen at some point this year.

 

 

Seth Rollins went old school to say the least.

He didn’t just come out to The Shield’s music and entrance style but he also went DEEP into The Shield’s playbook with moves like The Buckle Bomb and a solo version of The Shield’s trademark Triple Powerbomb.

The finish is less important than the fact this rivialry IS going to be revisited at some point down the road. Maybe, just maybe Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose could be convinced to come back to WWE so things can go full circle. Maybe make it a Triple Threat Match or even just have Ambrose/Moxley as the Special Enforcer. His absence was felt during that match to say the least.

Speaking of Moxley. He recently returned to TV on AEW after a long absence. During his time away, he got himself sober and in better shape from how it looks. He has a few indie matches booked already so we should see a lot of him in the months to come.

 

I pulled this list and the one for the Mens Royal Rumble off WWE’s Facebook Page.

Two superstars who were rumored to have been planned to make their WWE return but ultimately didn’t were Asuka and Kairi Sane. Asuka has been out due to an injury and WWE made the determination at the last minute not to include her. Sane is apparently working for WWE in Japan as an ambassador. Due to travel constraints related to the pandemic, it was simply too difficult to bring her in on short notice. I do think we will see them return before ‘Mania so we’ll see how things go over the next two months.

The one return that wasn’t too much of a surprise–but certainly was a welcome return–was of course Ronda Rousey. She went on to win the match–eliminating Charlotte Flair–and wasted no time the following night on RAW reminding Becky Lynch she has unfinished business with both Women’s Champions. Whoever Rousey picks will likely main event the first night of Wrestlemania.

Rousey appears to be getting built as a babyface which is fine since both Lynch and Charlotte are both Heels. Rousey revealed at the end of RAW she will announce her decision on the September 4 episode of Smackdown. Chances are pretty good Lynch will make her way back to Smackdown to find out in person.

Could WWE rehash WM35 and make it a Winner Takes All Triple Threat Match involving all three women? Yes they could but I don’t think they will do it again because they don’t NEED to do it again. What’s more likely is Rousey’s match will main event Night 1 while whoever she didn’t pick will be a part of Night 2.

We already have a fairly good idea of who two potential challengers might be: WWE Hall of Famers Lita and Beth Phoenix. Both plan to be around for a while and Lita clearly has unfinished business with Charlotte. On the other hand, Phoenix vs. Lynch would be a pretty badass matchup to watch. I would be VERY surprised if both are not a part of WM38 to say the least.

This year’s Women’s Royal Rumble also saw the returns of Cameron and Sarah Logan.

Cameron and Naomi both came into WWE together though the latter would go on to become a 2-time Smackown Women’s Champion. Cameron on the other hand was released before the brand split without accomplishing much. Given she was eliminated by Sonya DeVille and the latter’s months-long beef with Naomi, we may not have seen the last of her.

Sarah Logan was a part of the mass WWE releases two years ago though shortly after her release she became pregnant. For those who don’t know, she’s also the wife of Viking Raider Erik. We’ll have to wait and see if her return was a one-off or the start of something more longterm. She along with Liv Morgan were a part of the Riott Squad stable. Ruby Riott was released by WWE near the end of 2020 and debuted on AEW as Ruby Soho. If Logan does return to WWE, we could see her team with Liv Morgan to go after the Women’s Tag Titles.

…That’s assuming the Bella Twins don’t come back for those titles. They’ve made it no secret if they came back for one more run, it would be to win the Womens Tag Titles. If the match doesn’t happen at Wrestlemania 38, it could potentially happen at Summer Slam.

 

WWE reportedly had difficulty filling the Mens Royal Rumble roster in particular. That’s not hard to believe given most of their biggest names were involved in other matches on the card. It helps explain why WWE so heavily promoted Johnny Knoxville’s involvement in the match as well.

Drew McIntyre being in the match was not certain and more so given apparently, he’s been dealing with neck problems since 2018. This is why he has been off TV recently. It was nice to see him back. Even nicer was the surprise in-ring appearance of former 24/7 Champion Bad Bunny. WWE kinda dropped a huge hint he might be in the match last week when his upcoming tour was promoted on RAW. His tour begins in March but we could certainly see him at ‘Mania if his Royal Rumble appearance is any indication.

After the match, two backstage photos showing Rey Mysterio giving the mask he wore during the Royal Rumble match to Bad Bunny backstage surfaced online. Mysterio’s face was covered with towel and for those who don’t know, Luchador Kayfabe demands they do not show their real face publicly while in character. Mysterio knows everyone knows what his face really looks like by now but kudos to him for keeping Luchador Kayfabe going.

Word broke after the weekend WWE originally planned to have Riddle win the match but changed it to Lesnar at the last minute. Riddle being in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship is likely WWE’s way of making up for that.

One bit of surprising news that broke is Shane McMahon was released by WWE after the Royal Rumble. Not the McMahon I know many have wished for 20+ years was released but this is pretty noteworthy given Shane-O-Mac once severed his ties with WWE back in 2009 and went off to do his own thing. When he suddenly returned in 2016, he made it clear he was only back as on-screen talent. That meant he wasn’t entitled to any special treatment from anyone including his father. Shane did suffer a number of major injuries over the last 8 years and as a reminder, he’s now 52 years old. It’s very unlikely we will see him work another match ever again but we may see him pop up again down the road.

 

We now have the first two Wrestlemania 38 matches set.

Lesnar wasted no time declaring he will challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. He will also be a part of the Elimination Chamber match so we’ll have to wait and see who pins Lesnar since he’s not winning that match. WWE kinda put themselves in a tight spot with storylne wise having Lesnar in the title picture for the both top titles in the company at the same time. There will not be a title vs. title match at ‘Mania and that’s why I said it will be interesting to see who of the other 5 in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match gets the honor of pinning Lesnar. Lesnar vs. Reigns will likely main event Night 2.

The bigger match storywise is probably Rousey vs. Flair and that match will likely main event Night 1. Rousey eliminated Charlotte to win the Royal Rumble match. Passing on challenging RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, who pinned her at WM35 was quite the swerve but there may be a big non-story reason for this. For those who might not know, Charlotte is engaged to former WWE Superstar and current AEW Superstar Andrade.

Charlotte’s done everything there is to do in WWE and Vince has been bending over backwards to keep her happy to keep her from leaving. Lynch made it clear during her recent Broken Skull Sessions appearance their relationship within the business is beyond repair. She didn’t get into it during the interview but Lynch clearly knows Charlotte might not be in WWE for too much longer. If she loses the title at ‘Mania, that could be her final match in WWE. We’ll have to wait and see.

 

 

WWE reportedly has all title matches on the card decided on. The bigger, more difficult task is probably gonna be filling both nights with quality non-title matches. WWE is clearly trying not to lean too hard on specialty matches and probably doesn’t want to rely on Hall of Famers not named Edge, Beth Phoenix or Lita who are still in ring shape being available for ‘Mania. This is also why speculation is mounting longtime NXT Superstar and 2-time NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa may be heading to the main roster soon. CIampa resisted going to the main roster to now because of Triple H but things are obviously different now.

Speaking of NXT. Dolph Ziggler hinted he may head to NXT at some point in the near future to challenge Bron Breaker for the NXT Championship. AJ Styles and Riddle separately paid NXT a visit for a feud in recent months so it wouldn’t be too farfetched of an idea for Ziggler to do the same. While Ziggler is a former WWE Champion, he is more known for his multiple Intercontinental title reigns.

Wrestlemania 38 is April 2 and 3 but the Elimination Chamber PPV is being billed as “the last premium event before Wrestlemania”. The problem is there is a whole month between both PPVs. We’ll have to wait and see what WWE has planned for March at this point.

 

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