The road to WrestleMania has officially started thanks to WWE kicking off with their annual Royal Rumble premium live event. The first show of the year saw several shocking returns such as Naomi and Andrade, along with some surprises such as Jade Cargill eliminating Nia Jax and Cody Rhodes becoming the first man to win the Rumble two years in a row. The overall show was a solid premium event that determined the main event for WrestleMania 40.
The general consensus about the 2024 Royal Rumble was that the show just wasn’t on the level of some of the best Rumbles of years past. Still, the company is a shell of its former self when Vince ruled the WWE two years ago. There were still fun moments that prepared us for an exciting WrestleMania season. Here are the five best moments at the Royal Rumble event.
TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace Makes Her WWE Debut
It’s always been puzzling that Jordynne Grace was never given an opportunity in WWE or AEW. She’s a fantastic athlete who has carried the current generation of TNA’s women’s division. It was genuinely shocking that Grace made her debut since she doesn’t have ties to WWE like Mickie James did in 2022. Grace looked incredible throughout her time in the Rumble, and she didn’t feel out of place when competing with the top women’s division in North America.
She was easily one of the biggest highlights of the Royal Rumble, especially her battle with Bianca Belair. It’s not clear how long Grace has signed onto TNA, but she’s still a young athlete and hopefully, the TNA Knockouts Champion finds her way to the company once her contract expires.
The Official Debut Of Jade Cargill
A perfect example of how to make a WWE debut. There’s been some concern about the former AEW Women’s Champion when she suddenly vanished from television after weeks of the company parading her around as the hottest agent on the market. The booking was quite clever here, with Nia Jax dominating during her time in the rumble. The former WWE Women’s Champion eliminated eight wrestlers.
It wasn’t just impressive that Cargill got rid of Jax. It was astonishing that the new WWE star was able to pick her up with ease twice. The spot wasn’t perfect, but it highlighted Jade’s freakish strength and her star ability. Hopefully, the former AEW star can capitalize on this momentum by making her debut on WWE television. Jade Cargill has the presence of a star, and if she nails down the wrestling aspect then she’ll be the full package.
Bayley Wins The Royal Rumble
All eyes were on Becky Lynch to win the rumble so when she was eliminated, it shocked most of the WWE audience. It would’ve been a bold choice to give Jade Cargill the win. Granted, her star-making performance had fans in her good graces, so the win would’ve gone over well. Plus, it would be intriguing to see Cargill vs. Rhea Ripley or Iyo Sky at the big show. However, Bayley deserved her huge win as the Damage CTRL storyline has been consistently entertaining. It would be stunning if Bayley chose Rhea Ripley as the money is against her Damage CTRL partner. It’ll be fun to see how WWE gets to the one that pits her and Iyo fighting for the belt at WrestleMania.
Jey and Jimmy Uso Start Off The Royal Rumble
It was an eye-opener to have these brothers start off the Rumble match. While the follow-up after Jimmy’s shocking turn at Summerslam has been disappointing for the Smackdown star, this was still a hot moment that kicked off the Royal Rumble nicely. Unfortunately, Jimmy and Jey’s story fizzled out as entrants started occupying the ring. It seems that the company stopped caring about their story much beyond the first few minutes.
The side story of Jimmy trying to gain allies with everyone against his brother was funny, but it didn’t position him as a creditable heel. WWE has some work cut out for them as the turn was flimsy at best; Jey has been doing a great job as a singles star on RAW, but his brother doesn’t feel like he’s on the same level yet.
Cody Finally Gets To Finish The Story
I like the idea of Cody Rhodes winning the Rumble two years in a row. It became obvious he would win once Punk started getting heelish in the match; however, the final four match-up was entertaining, though there was no denying that Punk felt slower than expected. Still, the final few minutes featured two men who were strong contenders to win the bout, so it was a thrilling few minutes until Cody eliminated Punk. Please let Cody finish his story. There’s not much juice left in Roman Reigns’ title run and it would piss off a lot of fans if the company has Cody lose once again.
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