Royal Rumble (2022)

The 2022 Royal Rumble was the 35th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, January 29, 2022, at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and was the first Royal Rumble to air on the livestreaming service Peacock. It was also WWE's first PPV to be livestreamed on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia.

Traditionally, the Royal Rumble match winner receives a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2022 event, the winners of both the men's and women's matches received a choice of which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania 38. The men could choose to challenge for either Raw's WWE Championship or SmackDown's Universal Championship, while the women had the choice between the Raw Women's Championship and the SmackDown Women's Championship. NXT's men's and women's championships were dropped from the options after NXT reverted to being WWE's developmental territory in September 2021.

Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Brock Lesnar won the men's Royal Rumble after losing his WWE Championship to Bobby Lashley earlier in the night, becoming the first former world champion to win the eponymous match on the same night he lost the title. This also made him the ninth two-time Royal Rumble winner, first winning it in 2003, and he set a record for the longest time between Royal Rumble wins (19 years) as well as the least time spent in the match before winning it (2:30). The women's Royal Rumble was won by Ronda Rousey in her first WWE appearance since WrestleMania 35 in April 2019. In the opening bout, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns by disqualification; however, as titles do not change hands by disqualification unless stipulated, Reigns retained. Notably, '' Jackass'' actor/stuntman Johnny Knoxville and reggaeton singer Bad Bunny appeared in the men's Royal Rumble and reigning Impact Knockouts World Champion Mickie James appeared in the women's. This was also the final WWE event for Spanish commentator Carlos Cabrera, as well as employee Shane McMahon.

The event received mixed to negative reviews from fans and critics, with the men's Royal Rumble being widely panned.

Production

Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick event, produced every January by WWE since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views (PPV), along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, originally dubbed the "Big Four", and as of August 2021, it is considered one of the "Big Five", along with Money in the Bank. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2022 event was the 35th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on Saturday, January 29 at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands. In addition to airing on PPV worldwide and the WWE Network in international markets, it was the first Royal Rumble to air on Peacock after the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock in March 2021. Additionally, this was WWE's first PPV event to livestream on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, as is was announced that The Walt Disney Company and WWE inked a multi-year deal to make Disney+ Hotstar as its exclusive home for WWE Network in Indonesia on January 27.

The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2022, the men and women could choose which world championship to challenge for at WrestleMania 38; the men could choose Raw's WWE Championship or SmackDown's Universal Championship, while the women could choose the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship. In September 2021, NXT was rebranded as "NXT 2.0" and reverted to being WWE's developmental territory. While NXT's championships—the NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship—were eligible choices for the Rumble winners in 2020 and 2021, they were not eligible choices for the 2022 Royal Rumble.

Storylines

The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, ''Monday Night Raw'' and ''Friday Night SmackDown.''

At Day 1, Brock Lesnar defeated Bobby Lashley, Seth "Freakin" Rollins, Kevin Owens, and defending champion Big E in a fatal five-way match to win Raw's WWE Championship; this was originally scheduled as a fatal four-way match, but Lesnar was added due to his scheduled match against SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns being canceled as Reigns tested positive for COVID-19. On the following episode of ''Raw'', Lesnar reunited with Paul Heyman, who announced that Lesnar's first challenger for the title would be determined by a fatal four-way match between Big E, Lashley, Owens, and Rollins. Lashley won the bout to face Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble.

At Day 1, Beth Phoenix appeared to aid her husband and fellow WWE Hall of Famer, Edge, when he was being attacked by Maryse while he was engaged in a match with The Miz; Edge ultimately won the match. On the following ''Raw'', Miz and Maryse berated Edge and Phoenix, with the latter challenging Miz and Maryse to a mixed tag team match at the Royal Rumble. Miz accepted, despite Maryse's displeasure.

At Day 1, Becky Lynch defeated Liv Morgan to retain the Raw Women's Championship. On the following ''Raw'', Morgan confronted Lynch, wanting another rematch. Bianca Belair interrupted, also wanting a championship match due to her unsettled rivalry with Lynch that began at the 2021 SummerSlam. A brawl then ensued. Later backstage, Doudrop confronted WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville, demanding a title match herself as she was tired of Belair and Morgan always receiving opportunities. Pearce and Deville scheduled a triple threat match between Belair, Morgan, and Doudrop for the following week with the winner facing Lynch for the Raw Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble. The match was won by Doudrop, thanks to Lynch attacking Belair.

At Day 1, '' Jackass'' actor and stuntman Johnny Knoxville announced that he would be participating in the men's Royal Rumble match. On the following ''SmackDown'', Sami Zayn encountered Knoxville backstage and claimed that Knoxville was not qualified to compete in the Royal Rumble match, nor did he earn the opportunity to be in it. After Zayn lost his match that night, Knoxville ran down to the ring and threw Zayn over the top rope. Ring announcer Mike Rome then announced that Knoxville had officially qualified for the Royal Rumble match, much to Zayn's displeasure.

On the January 7 episode of ''SmackDown'', as Roman Reigns did not have a challenger for his Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, WWE official Adam Pearce informed Reigns that he had selected his opponent. Reigns dismissed Pearce, stating he had already defeated everyone on the SmackDown roster. Later that night, Raw's Seth "Freakin" Rollins confronted Reigns in his locker room, laughing hysterically at Reigns, seemingly confirming he was Pearce's selection. On the January 10 episode of ''Raw'', Rollins confirmed that he would be challenging Reigns for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble in an interbrand matchup. On the January 21 episode of ''SmackDown'', Rollins and Kevin Owens defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) by disqualification thanks to interference from Reigns, thus barring The Usos from ringside during the Universal Championship match as per the stipulation; had Rollins and Owens lost, Rollins would have forfeited his championship opportunity.

On the January 7 episode of ''SmackDown'', SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair revealed 18 of the women who would be competing in the women's Royal Rumble match, including WWE Hall of Famers and veterans, and notably, reigning Impact Knockouts World Champion Mickie James, marking the first time WWE openly acknowledged one of Impact's championships on their canonical programming. Additionally, Flair declared that she would also participate in the match, stating that she would be the first reigning women's champion to win the Royal Rumble. While the winner traditionally earns a championship match at WrestleMania, Flair stated she would instead select her WrestleMania 38 opponent if she won.

Event

Preliminary matches

The pay-per-view opened with Roman Reigns defending the Universal Championship against Seth "Freakin" Rollins, with The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) barred from ringside. Reigns entered first, followed by Rollins, who came out to The Shield's former entrance theme and gear and walking in through the crowd to taunt Reigns. Rollins drove Reigns through the announce table with a powerbomb. Rollins performed a Stomp on Reigns for a nearfall. Rollins performed a Pedigree on Reigns for a nearfall. In the closing moments, Reigns applied the guillotine choke on Rollins, who grabbed the rope to void the submission; however, Reigns refused to release Rollins and was disqualified. Rollins won the match but Reigns retained the title, as they do not change hands by disqualification unless stipulated. Following the match, Reigns viciously assaulted Rollins with a steel chair.

Next was the women's Royal Rumble match where the winner earned a women's championship opportunity at WrestleMania 38. Sasha Banks started the match along with Melina, in her first WWE match since 2011. Banks eliminated Melina early as well as Kelly Kelly (No. 4) only for Queen Zelina (No. 7) to eliminate Banks. Instead of entering in the match, Sonya Deville (No. 11) sat at commentary. Cameron, in her first WWE appearance since 2016, entered at number 13. Deville then officially entered the match and eliminated Cameron, due to her ties with Naomi, who Deville had been feuding with on ''SmackDown''. Naomi entered at number 14 and eliminated Deville, who later returned the favor to help eliminate Naomi. Ivory entered at number 18 in her Right to Censor gimmick and was quickly eliminated by Rhea Ripley (No. 16). Impact Knockouts World Champion Mickie James entered at number 20 and was eliminated by Lita (No. 26). Alicia Fox and Sarah Logan made their surprise returns at number 21 and 25, respectively, but were eliminated by the returning Bella Twins, Brie Bella (No. 19) and Nikki Bella (No. 24). Summer Rae, who appeared on ''SmackDown'' prior to the event, reignited her rivalry with Natalya (No. 12) as she returned to the ring for the first time in over 6 years at number 23, but was eliminated by Natalya. Mighty Molly entered at number 27 and was attacked by Nikki A.S.H. (No. 22) and was quickly eliminated. Ronda Rousey made a surprise return at number 28, her first appearance since WrestleMania 35 in April 2019. The final four were Flair, Rousey, Bianca Belair (No. 8), and Shayna Baszler (No. 30). Belair and Baszler were both eliminated by Flair. As Flair tried to eliminate Rousey, Rousey caught Flair and eliminated her to win the match and earn a women's championship opportunity at WrestleMania 38.

After that, Becky Lynch defended the Raw Women's Championship against Doudrop. In the end, Lynch performed the Man Handle Slam from the top rope on Doudrop to retain the title.

In the fourth match, Brock Lesnar (accompanied by Paul Heyman) defended the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley (accompanied by MVP). At the start of the match, Lesnar and Lashley performed German suplexes on each other. Lashley delivered two spears on Lesnar, who rolled outside the ring. As Lashley attempted to perform a spear on Lesnar through the barricade as he did at Day 1, Lesnar moved out of the way and Lashley crashed through the barricade. Back in the ring, Lesnar performed multiple German suplexes on Lashley. As Lashley applied in the Hurt Lock, Lesnar tried to free himself by pushing Lashley into a turnbuckle, inadvertently incapacitating the referee. Lesnar performed an F5 on Lashley which accidentally incapacitated the referee again. In the end, Roman Reigns entered the ring and performed a spear on Lesnar. Reigns signaled for Heyman to hand him the WWE Championship belt which he did, double crossing Lesnar. Reigns then struck Lesnar over the head with the belt after which, Heyman walked off with Reigns, thus realigning with Reigns once again as his special counsel. Lashley pinned Lesnar to win the title for a second time.

In the penultimate match, Edge and Beth Phoenix took on The Miz and Maryse in a mixed tag team match. During in the match, while the referee was focused on Miz, Maryse struck Phoenix from behind with her purse for a nearfall and also managed to perform a hurricanrana on Edge from the top rope. Miz performed the Skull Crushing Finale on Edge for a nearfall. In the end, Edge and Phoenix performed a double spear on Miz and performed a pair of Glam Slams on Miz and Maryse to win the match.

Main event

The main event was the men's Royal Rumble match for a world championship match at WrestleMania 38. AJ Styles and Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura started the match. Johnny Knoxville entered at number 9 and went after Sami Zayn (No. 8). After Knoxville took a couple of finishers from other wrestlers, he was eliminated by Zayn, who was then eliminated by Styles. Omos entered at number 11 and eliminated a few entrants. The others ganged up on Omos to eliminate him, including Styles. Happy Corbin (No. 15) and Madcap Moss (No. 19) helped each other in eliminating some competitors. Drew McIntyre made a surprise return from injury at number 21 and eliminated Corbin and Moss as revenge for them injuring him a few weeks earlier. Kofi Kingston entered at number 24 but was eliminated in 20 seconds due to a botched spot; he attempted to land on the outside barricade but both feet accidentally hit the floor. In his first appearance since WrestleMania 37 the previous year, reggaeton singer Bad Bunny entered at number 27 as a surprise entrant and eliminated Sheamus (No. 18) and Dolph Ziggler (No. 16). Shane McMahon, also in his first appearance since WrestleMania 37, entered at number 28 as a surprise entrant and eliminated Kevin Owens (No. 22). Brock Lesnar then entered as the surprise number 30 entrant and eliminated Randy Orton (No. 29) and Bad Bunny, bringing the final four to himself, McIntyre, McMahon, and Riddle (No. 20). Lesnar eliminated Riddle and McMahon before having a staredown with McIntyre, the same man who eliminated Lesnar in the 2020 Royal Rumble. McIntyre missed a Claymore Kick and Lesnar threw McIntyre over the top rope with an F5 to win the match and earn a world championship match at WrestleMania 38, becoming the fourth person to win from the No. 30 spot (after The Undertaker in 2007, John Cena in 2008, and Triple H in 2016). This made Lesnar the ninth two-time Royal Rumble winner, his first win being in 2003. This also made him the first person to lose their world championship and then win the eponymous match in the same night. Among the other multi-time Royal Rumble winners, Lesnar also set a record for the longest time between Royal Rumble wins at 19 years. He also set the record for the least amount of time spent in the Royal Rumble before winning it. He was in the match for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, beating Edge's 2010 record by 5 minutes and 7 seconds.

Reception

The men's Royal Rumble match was widely panned by fans due to what they felt was a lack of surprises and star-power, with some listing it among the worst Royal Rumble matches in WWE history. Writing for ''Sports Illustrated'', Bryan Alvarez described the match as "boring", calling it a "pretty by-the-numbers generic Rumble" as "the most notable thing about the match was how quickly they were rushing everything to get the show off the air by midnight ET even though the history of the Royal Rumble has shown that fudging the intervals is not something WWE has ever avoided, and doing it here would have left more time for the big moments at the end." Brent Brookhouse of ''CBS Sports'' gave the men's Royal Rumble match a grade of F, stating that the match was an "unmitigated disaster," and that it "easily ranks among the five worst of all time, if not lower." He said that "the match dragged badly and the crowd was lost because of it - and further lost when Kingston's big spot went wrong." Finally, he stated that "McMahon and Bad Bunny in the final five is just the wrong call beyond any doubt."

Wesley Roesch of Wrestling Inc. ranked this event the "worst 2022 Premium Live Event," stating that the finish to the Reigns-Rollins match was "disappointing" and that there was "ultimately no payoff with the feud." He also stated that the mixed tag team match and the Raw Women's Championship match were "solid filler matches but nothing special," and that Rousey was "a predictable winner" for the women's Royal Rumble match. Roesch stated that Paul Heyman joining Roman Reigns was "a nice twist," but Brock Lesnar's loss to Bobby Lashley led to the men's Royal Rumble match being "the most disappointing match of the night," stating that once Lesnar lost to Lashley, "everyone knew that Lesnar would enter and win the Royal Rumble," which he described as having "a lack of surprises and dull or botched spots," making that match "one of the worst in years."

Aftermath

On the following episode of ''Raw'', Ronda Rousey pondered which title to challenge for as she had heated history with both reigning champions. After Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch confronted Rousey and demanded she make her choice that night, Rousey responded that she would reveal her choice on ''SmackDown''. There, Rousey announced that she would challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 38.

This ended up being the last WWE event for Spanish commentator Carlos Cabrera, as well as Shane McMahon, as both were released on February 17 and February 2, respectively.

Raw

Also on the following episode of ''Raw'', Brock Lesnar revealed that he would be challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38. However, he also challenged Bobby Lashley to a rematch for the WWE Championship that night due to the controversial finish of their Royal Rumble match. Lashley declined, however, WWE official Adam Pearce added Lesnar to the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber. Seth "Freakin" Rollins was also added to the Chamber match due to technically defeating Reigns at the Royal Rumble. Lesnar won the Elimination Chamber match to regain the WWE Championship, thus converting his Universal Championship match against Reigns at WrestleMania into a Winner Takes All Championship Unification match.

As Ronda Rousey was leaving the ring, Lita appeared and challenged Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Championship at Elimination Chamber, which was made official.

SmackDown

Drew McIntyre also continued his rivalry with Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss on ''SmackDown'' due to them almost ending his career at Day 1. A Falls Count Anywhere match between Moss and McIntyre was scheduled for Elimination Chamber.

On the following episode of ''SmackDown'', Universal Champion Roman Reigns addressed the WWE Universe, only to be interrupted by Goldberg, who acknowledged Reigns, but only as his next victim. A match between the two for the title was made official for Elimination Chamber. It was originally scheduled to take place at WrestleMania 36, with Goldberg as champion, but Reigns pulled out of the event due to concerns over COVID-19, and was replaced by Braun Strowman, who defeated Goldberg to win the title. On the February 18 episode of ''SmackDown'', Reigns and Goldberg relied on catchphrases and sports references to build heat to their title match.

Results

Women's Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations

: – Raw
: – SmackDown
: – Hall of Famer (HOF)
: – Impact Wrestling (Impact)
: – Unbranded
: – Winner

Men's Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations

: – Raw
: – SmackDown
: – Celebrity entrant
: – Unbranded
: – Winner

Notes

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Rumble (2022)
2022 in Missouri
2022 WWE Network events
2022 WWE pay-per-view events
Events in St. Louis
January 2022 events in the United States
Professional wrestling in St. Louis
Royal Rumble