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Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing WWE Royal Rumble 2017 coverage!
RUMBLE KICKOFF SHOW
The Kickoff panel is Renee Young, Shawn Michaels, Booker T and Jerry Lawler. They have Peter Rosenberg outside doing scenes. His first was standing outside among fans.
The panel discussed what a big day this is as they showed the empty Alamodome. They then reviewed last week's Raw that saw Seth Rollins removed from the Royal Rumble match. They then reviewed Seth calling out Triple H last night at Takeover: San Antonio. They showed Triple H's comments from Facebook last night where he said they would see who was the man to build to their match at Wrestlemania 33.
They aired a video showcasing 30 facts about the Rumble match.
The panel reviewed the three matches for the women's division tonight.
They aired a video of Shawn Michaels reminiscing about his first Royal Rumble win.
They discussed the Bayley vs. Charlotte bout and aired a video feature on that bout.
Peter Rosenberg did his best Todd Pettingill, walking down the aisle from the stage and showing off the crowd.
They aired a video of Edge remembering his Royal Rumble win in 2009.
WWE Smackdown Women's champion Alexa Bliss & Mickie James & Natalya vs. Nikki Bella & Naomi & Becky Lynch
Bella and Natalya started out, shoving each other. Natalya mocked John Cena's mannerisms and Nikki went right after her but Natalya tagged out, playing mind games. Bliss tagged in and drilled Bella with an elbow to the face. She sent Bella into the ropes but put her face down and got kicked in the mouth. Naomi tagged in and they nailed a double dropkick on the champion. This led to everyone getting involved and the babyfaces hitting a triple suplex. Bliss' team went to the floor, where Bella and Lynch hit stereo sliding kicks. Naomi hit a pescado to the outside.
When they returned from commercial, Lynch was in control of Natalya, nailing a clothesline that looked good and a charging forearm in the corner that did not. They went to the floor, where James grabbed Lynch and tossed her into the barricade. Natalya grabbed Lynch and suplexed her on the floor outside. Lynch was tossed back into the ring and cinched in a side chinlock. She tossed Becky into the corner and drove her hard. James tagged in and drilled her with kick after kick in the corner.
Bliss tagged in and distracted the referee to allow James to kick Lynch from the outside. Natalya tagged in and walked over her before mocking Cena again. Lynch rolled her up for a two count. Natalya drilled her and locked in a chinlock. The crowd tried to rally Lynch. Natalya whipped out a Michinoku Driver. Bliss rolled her up but Bliss made the blind tag. Lynch nailed her and went to make a tag to Bella, but Natalya attacked Bella and knocked her off the apron.
Lynch was beaten down by Bliss nailed a step up enziguiri. She tagged Naomi, who nailed a springboard clothesline on the champ then dropkicked her other opponents off the apron. Naomi cleaned house and nailed another dropkick on Bliss for a two count, but James broke it up. Lynch nailed an exploder on James but was tossed out by Natalya. Bella tackled her and worked her over. They went to the floor.
Naomi slammed Bliss and nailed a moonsault off the ropes for the pin.
Your winners, Naomi & Becky Lynch & Nikki Bella!
So, the story is that Naomi scored a clean pin on the champ, putting her into contention.
OK match. The last few minutes were very good but for the most part it was just OK.
They aired a video piece on Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns.
WWE Raw Tag Team champions Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson: Two Referees
Cesaro started out fast with a dropkick at the bell on Anderson for a two count, then hit a gutwrench suplex for a two count. Cesaro was sent into the ropes. Gallows tried to sneak up on him but the second referee stopped him. Cesaro and Sheamus double teamed Anderson. Anderson reversed a whip into the corner and drilled Cesaro with a big kick to the face.
Gallows tagged in and The Club worked over Cesaro. Sheamus made the tag and caught Gallows with a suplex and a running knee drop. Cesaro tagged in but was worked over and hit with a double backdrop. He tried to fight out of the Club's corner but was nailed with a kick to the head by Gallows. Gallows then kicked Sheamus off the apron.
Sheamus finally got the tag in and went back and forth with Gallows. Cesaro came off the top and drilled Gallows. Anderson tagged in and nailed a big boot on Sheamus, knocking him off the apron. Anderson tried to pin Cesaro with his feet on the ropes but the second referee caught him and prevented it. Cesaro went for the Neutralizer but was backdropped. He sent Anderson into the ropes and nailed a 619, then hit a high cross bodyblock for a two count.
Cesaro called for the Big Swing but was grabbed for a backslide for a two count. He caught Cesaro with a spinebuster for a two count. The Club went for the Magic Killer but Sheamus broke it up. Sheamus went for the Brouge Kick but missed and nailed the first official accidentally. Anderson knocked him out of the ring. Cesaro hit the Big Swing on Anderson and turned it into a Sharpshooter. He almost made it to the ropes but Cesaro pulled him to the center, only to have Gallows nail a big boot.
All four brawled in the center of the ring. They nailed the Magic Killer on Sheamus. Cesaro nailed a clothesline on Gallows that sent them over the top. Anderson rolled up Sheamus and hooked the tights for the pin.
Your winner and new WWE Raw Tag Team champions, Gallows & Anderson.
Very good back and forth physical match.
Austin Aries joined the panel to discuss the WWE Cruiserweight championship match.
Dean Ambrose was in the social media lounge. He said he was Meerkat in a match full of dinosaurs and wanted to latch onto Big Show and hide under him while letting Show do all the work. He said if he won the Rumble match, he'd rather face AJ Styles at Wrestlemania and then fight John Cena in a Waffle House parking lot after. He said if he could design a new IC belt, he'd want it to look like Stingray boots.
Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jaxs
Jax muscled and overpowered Banks early, but Banks fired away with right and left hands. Banks dove at her but was caught and slammed backwards into the turnbuckles a number of times. Jax wiped her out with a clothesline. Banks made a comeback but was drilled in the bad knee. Jax worked it over and locked her in a Stretch Muffler. Banks made a comeback and nailed a driving knee but hurt herself. Jax wiped her out and hit the Samoan Drop, scoring the pin.
Your winner, Nia Jax!
Short but solid match given it was only four or five minutes. The story was that Banks shouldn't have even really been in the ring. Jax looked like a beast and Banks went down fighting. I suspect a lot of people will be down on this because it was so short.
They reviewed what Seth Rollins did at NXT. Stephanie McMahon announced she would deal with him face to face on Raw tomorrow and that Rollins has been banned from the Alamodome tonight.
They aired a video piece on John Cena vs. AJ Styles, followed by the panel discussing the WWE championship match.
Shawn Michaels' music hit and the WWE Hall of Famer made his way down to the ring. They noted as he came to the ring there was an issue that caused delays for those signing up for the WWE Network tonight, but the issue has been cleared up. Michaels took the mic and said hello to his hometown. He said he had lunch with his 84-year old mother today and said that 20 years ago in the same building, he was fortunate enough to regain the WWE championship. He said that they weren't here to talk about him, but about the road to Wrestlemania tonight in the Royal Rumble. He asked who was going to be the guy to guarantee himself a main event at Wrestlemania. He ran down some of the big names in the match. Undertaker got the biggest reaction. Michaels said he doesn't have answers to this question, so the only thing he can do is get the party started. He said they wanted the fans to have fun and make noise as only San Antonio can do. Michaels ran around ringside greeting fans and slid across the Spanish announcing table, which was pretty funny.
Rumble coverage continues on Page 2!
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