Royal Rumble in the Jungle

I have been watching professional wrestling for as long as I can remember. I remember watching the weekly episodic shows on Monday nights and the recaps on Saturday morning. I remember the special occasion where a large group of friends and family would get together and watch the Pay-Per-Views and out of all of the pay-per-views, Wrestlemania is the grandest stage of them all. When it comes to wrestling, Wrestlemania may be the biggest show but the Royal Rumble has always been my favorite pay-per-view. Since the 80s, the Royal Rumble has been the most exciting pay-per-view. The premise of the Royal Rumble is where you have 30 superstars (some of whom are big surprises or

veterans only coming to participate in the Rumble), in a battle royal style match, that come out every 2 minutes and try to throw their opponents over the top rope. Sometimes it takes teaming up with someone who is normally your enemy or it might be just trying not to get thrown out by the biggest and the baddest in the company.

The 2017 Royal Rumble has been cataloged in the annals of WWE history and now we are left to discuss the best (or worst) things that over 52,000 watched in person and millions around the world witnessed. Cena pulled out a mixed bag of Canadian Destroyers, deadlifts, powerbombs, and AA’s (two back to back with one of the most impressive flip AA’s I have seen) while Styles released a malay of hurricanranas, ushigoroshis, an enzuigiri, and one precisely placed Pele’ kick to no avail. John Cena battled his way to win

the World Championship; in what is, in my opinion, one of the best matches of their careers. This allowed Cena to now be tied with “the Nature Boy” Ric Flair as the 16 time

Speaking of Ric Flair; the battle between Bayley and Ric’s daughter, Charlotte Flair, that also took place before the big Royal Rumble match was epic. Even though Bayley succumbed to Charlotte’s Natural Selection finishing move on the apron just minutes after Bayley bombards Charlotte with a series of axe-handle splashes before she evokes her inner Macho Man Randy Savage and beautifully drops an elbow off of the top turnbuckle. Here in recent years, the Divas locker room has produced some of the most entertaining matches and the Divas have proved to show the most pound for pound athleticism in the world. I’m not afraid to say that.

I am also not afraid to say that this past Sunday housed one of the best Royal Rumble matches that I have ever seen…and I’ve seen them all. From the first Royal Rumble match back in 1988 until now, there was not a time when I was not at full attention. Big Cass came to the ring as the first participant. Chris Jericho (of course) hid on the side lines for most of the match which was not a surprise. The big man Braun Strowman allowed his size and power to eliminate more superstars than anyone else. He eliminated everyone from the Big Show to the chinless wonder James Ellsworth. His eliminations may have outnumbered everyone else but no one had quite the same impact as Brock Lesnar; whom entered the competition at number 26. Oh except for maybe when Goldberg showed up and showed everyone who was boss. Oh or maybe when the Dead Man himself, The Undertaker, showed up as participant number 29. Oh…I forgot when the regrettable

number 30 participant; also known as the superstar whom the McMahon’s refuse to admit has failed to win over the crowd: Roman Reigns. Thankfully it all evened out when Brock Lesnar was eliminated by Goldberg while Goldberg surprisingly was elimiated by the Undertaker who was then upsettingly thrown out by Roman Reigns. It then comes down to Roman Reigns and Randy Orton to which, thankfully, Randy Orton tossed the trash out and became the 2017 Royal Rumble winner.

As I stated earlier, I am not afraid to say that this was probably the best Royal Rumble that I have seen…possibly ever.

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*Royal Rumble photo attributed to and by Bryan Horowitz – FlickrUploaded by Bulimaster, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24298725

*John Cena photo attributed to and By Krystal Bogner from Adelaide, Australia – John Cena, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50035210

*Charlotte Flair photo attributed to and by TheRafa2016 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55746471

*Randy Orton photo attributed to and by Gregory Davis – DSC02406, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6052053

*Brock Lesnar photo attributed to and by simononly – http://www.flickr.com/photos/simononly/6922654376/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19161591