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With the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches, WWE went in various directions
While
every WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view card has other meaningful matches,
the Royal Rumble matches themselves are the true highlight of the annual
event. Both the men's and women's sides had outstanding results in
2021, which saw the winners last for a full hour before winning their
shot at a WrestleMania world title.
Bianca
Belair fought on the women's side from position No. 3, outlasting 29
other women before removing Rhea Ripley for the last time. Although the
fresh blood on the WWE roster is portrayed by Belair, a legend who won
the men's side when Edge last eliminated Randy Orton to win his title
shot. Winning Edge was the second time he won a Royal Rumble match, an
effort 11 years from the day after his previous victory.
The
enduring memories of the 2021 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view will be
those two matches, but the card was packed from top to bottom with
exciting and satisfying action.
The whole way through the game, CBS
Sports was with you, offering outcomes and ratings as the action went
down. Read on and scroll down for highlights from the broadcast and
everything you need to know coming out of the Royal Rumble.
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2021 WWE Royal Rumble results, grades
Women's Royal Rumble: As No. 1 and 2, respectively, Bayley and Naomi began. Before Bayley had to contend with her No. 3 competitor entrant, Bianca Belair, there were no eliminations. Billie Kay settled in at the announcement table after coming out at No. 4 rather than joining the ring before the night's first NXT entrant, Shotzi Blackheart. Before Shayna Baszler dumped Blackheart for the first elimination of the match, the contestants started to pile up as no eliminations were scored. "The first true surprise entrant of the night was former powerhouse Jillian Hall, forming an alliance with Kay to form "Billie and Jilly." Victoria also made her return, joining the match at No. 10. Before Hall was eventually the second woman out, competitors started to pile up in the ring with eliminations difficult to come by, followed by Kay, and the match settled into a more familiar pattern after Rhea Ripley joined the match and she and Baszler began cleaning out the ring.
The
music hit Ric Flair—with Charlotte in the ring already—even though Ric
was just there to accompany Lacey Evans to the ring, wearing the same
robe as Charlotte had worn earlier that night. Immediately before an
angry Flair turned her attention back to the rest of the competitors,
Charlotte and Evans fought. Her return was also made by Mickie James,
coming in at no. 19. Another return came with Alicia Fox at No. 21, but
R-music Truth's hit right after and he revealed that before being
pursued by 24/7 title seekers, he was at the wrong Royal Rumble, only to
be pinned by Fox to win her the 24/7 belt.
Ripley,
scoring multiple eliminations, managed to impress. Despite her No. 2
entry into the match, Belair also kept hanging around. Naomi was thrown
from the ring at the near-elimination venue, but landed on her back with
her feet in the air, and used Belair to climb her way back into the
ring. At No. 27, Alexa Bliss entered and Ripley removed her from behind
as she was preparing to turn like in recent weeks. Nia Jax entered and
she and Baszler went late before competing with each other on a run of
eliminations to thin the field and Jax finally eliminated Baszler and
was eliminated by Lana before Natalya entered the No. 30 spots to finish
the field.
Natalya, Belair, Flair, and Ripley came down to the
final four of the match. First, Belair eliminated Natalya and then
Ripley and Belair teamed up to knock Flair out of the game, leaving
Ripley and Belair as the game's final two women. In an extended segment
with several near eliminations, the two fought back and forth until
Belair managed to knock Ripley from the ring with a clothesline to win
the contest. This was a bit of a rocky match in places, with many of the
bigger issues being production issues than in-ring, although some
stretches dragged a bit.
Belair is a fantastic winning choice and
going down to Belair and Ripley showed how promising the women's
division's future is for WWE to move forward. Belair has also set a
record in a women's Rumble match for the longest entry.
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Royal Men's Rumble: Entrant No. 1 Edge assaulted Entrant No. 2, Randy Orton, before Orton had made it to the ring. They kept battling around the ringside until at No. 3 Sami Zayn entered and took out Edge's neck, helping Orton work him over. At No. 4, Mustafa Ali joined the attack, with Edge facing increasingly long odds before Jeff Hardy entered to help even things up. When Dolph Ziggler entered the match and immediately eliminated Jeff Hardy, the first elimination game. Carlito was the first entrant to the surprise, entering the match at No. 8. Orton was seen to have been assisted by officials to the back, limping after Edge's assault.
The
first NXT star to make his way into the match was Damien Priest, coming
in at No. 14 and making his first Royal Rumble appearance. On his way
to the ring, The Miz demolished Bad Bunny's DJ booth, causing Bunny to
walk to the ring, distracting Miz and John Morrison and allowing both to
be removed by Priest. Bunny then struck Miz and Morrison from the top
rope to the outside on a crossbody. One of the favorites going into the
match, Daniel Bryan, made his entrance at No. 17. At No. 18, Kane
returned, chokeslamming several of the current contestants before being
tossed by Priest and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Ricochet.
A
big entrance was made by Bobby Lashley, running through Dominik
Mysterio and Priest, eliminating both before a big Big E showdown that
saw both men brawl and trade counters before The Hurricane's surprise
entrance, which Lashley and Big E quickly threw away. Christian entered
the match at No. 24 with Edge still in the match. Christian helped
Lashley be eliminated by Riddle, Bryan, and Big E. When Amos reached
into the ring and pulled him to the floor, Big E was eliminated from the
match. Rey Mysterio was also eliminated by Omos, giving AJ Styles some
huge support.
At No. 29, his first game since the Survivor Series,
Seth Rollins made his comeback, after which he took time off to be with
Becky Lynch for the birth of their child. The final entrant in the match
was Braun Strowman. Strowman went on an elimination spree, taking the
final six to Rollins, Riddle, Edge, Christian, Bryan, and Strowman—even
though when he was brought to the back, Orton had not yet been
eliminated. After hiding out on the outside of the ring, Rollins
eliminated Bryan and then eliminated Riddle to bring the match down to
Strowman, Rollins, Edge, and Christian. Edge and Christian partnered to
eliminate Strowman and Rollins was eliminated by Edge, apparently
winning the match, Orton, however, raced back into the game and hit an
RKO. However, when Edge reversed and tossed Orton to the floor, Orton's
attempt to remove Edge backfired, winning the Rumble from the No. 1
spot, lasting more than 58 minutes to win his second Royal Rumble. This
dragged much less than the Royal Rumble of the women earlier and didn't
seem like it depended on too many entrants to the gimmicky surprise,
although there were some. Edge was an interesting choice and told a
great story as he took one more WrestleMania ride and a world
championship shot. Edge wins the Royal Rumble match for guys.
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