It was a lively and raucous edition of the Royal Rumble Sunday night in Philadelphia, with plenty of newsworthy items to look back upon. After much speculation regarding Rumble winners, booking, guest appearances, and WrestleMania plans, the pieces are beginning to fall into place as WWE approaches its “grandest stage of them all”.
1. Only one title change took place
The Royal Rumble isn’t much for title changes, as the champions that WWE wants going into WrestleMania are often established by this point. In five championship bouts, only one belt changed, which was Raw’s Tag Team gold. Sheamus and Cesaro regained the straps from Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan in a match where Jordan spent the majority of it suffering the lingering effects of an apparent head injury.
Otherwise, all of the gold stayed with their respective holders. This includes US Champion Bobby Roode, who successfully defended the belt in a pre-show “open challenge”, in which he defeated Mojo Rawley.
