WWE Royal Rumble 2022 - 5 takeaways from the show
WWE Royal Rumble 2022 was one of the company's best assembled cards in recent memory. They had two unpredictable Royal Rumble matches featuring the men and women. The Women's Rumble offered multiple returning stars and possible winners, while the Men's Rumble had the victor a complete mystery.
The company added two world title matches that had their own hooks to them. Roman Reigns put his 500-plus day reign as Universal Champion against his former Shield brethren Seth Rollins, while Brock Lesnar defended the WWE Title against Bobby Lashley in a dream match years in the making.
2022 #RoyalRumble Stats: A THREAD ⤵️
@RondaRousey joins @WWEAsuka as the only Superstars never eliminated from a Women's #RoyalRumble Match! https://t.co/5ecwy3UMP6
Becky Lynch appeared to continue her dominance as RAW Women's Champion against the up-and-coming Doudrop. Finally, Edge and Beth Phoenix made history by becoming the first Hall of Fame couple to team up to face The Miz and Maryse. It was a lineup that offered a lot of noteworthy matches and moments. Here are the five biggest takeaways from WWE Royal Rumble 2022.
5) Men's Royal Rumble Match falls flat
#TheBeast @BrockLesnar won the 30-man #RoyalRumble Match and punched his ticket to #WrestleMania 38!
FULL RESULTS: ms.spr.ly/6019ZhbrJ https://t.co/PKHpuumfSm
Brock Lesnar winning the Men's Rumble Match was one of the most newsworthy moments of the evening. Unfortunately, that was a rare success from the nearly hour-long contest. This was an edition that felt overall less than and was difficult to figure out any possible winners during the first two-thirds of the matchup.
AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura started things out to continue their rivalry from a few years ago. Johnny Knoxville was a highlight in the first half, but he wasn't there for long. Omos came in and dominated for a bit, but he was also disposed of after a bit. The next few entrants were all tag team performers or midcarders. Things didn't pick up until Drew McIntyre made his return at #21.
Some competitors that could have possibly won were next, like Kevin Owens and Big E. Kofi Kingston's yearly near elimination was botched, which hurt the timing a bit. Bad Bunny made his return at #27 and showed off his skills again. Shane McMahon made his return as well, but it was all about #30 Brock Lesnar at the end of the night.
Lesnar completely dismantled the competition and eliminated every single competitor that was in the ring. His final showdown with Drew McIntyre was a nice callback to the 2020 Men's Rumble and their WrestleMania 36 main event, but this was too brief to amount to much. Unfortunately, this main event failed on so many levels.