The Royal Rumble is always one of the most anticipated events of the year, but the 2018 Royal Rumble had even more hype behind it thanks to the fact that Stephanie McMahon announced the first ever women’s Royal Rumble match several weeks ago.
The women’s division made history on Sunday night, and WWE gave them the spotlight by putting the first ever women’s Royal Rumble match in the main event of the show.
Kurt Angle also confirmed recently that 30 women would compete in the match, and on Sunday morning there were 18 competitors confirmed. However, Angle later announced that Alicia Fox had been pulled due to injury bringing the number of confirmed participants down to 17. So with 13 open spots, fans were expecting to see quite a few surprises in the match.
Before the match kicked off, Maria Menounos was introduced as the special guest ring announcer, and she said “I get it” as the crowd booed her. She introduced Stephanie McMahon who joined the commentary team, followed by Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair who observed the match from ringside.
Sasha Banks was announced as the number one entrant, and Becky Lynch then made her way to the ring and the match kicked off.
The final six came down to The Bella Twins, Asuka, Natalya, Trish Stratus and Sasha Banks.
Trish eliminated Natalya and then grabbed Sasha Banks and went to the ropes for Stratusfaction, but Sasha Banks threw her over the top to eliminate the Hall of Famer.
It came down to The Bella Twins, Sasha Banks and Asuka. They all teamed up on Asuka and beat her down for a while.
Sasha Banks was talking trash to Asuka in the corner when The Bella Twins eliminated her. Sasha now holds the record for the most amount of time in a WWE women’s Royal Rumble match.
Asuka then took the fight to The Bella Twins.
Nikki eventually eliminated Brie.
Nikki got Asuka on the apron outside, but Asuka grabbed her neck with her leg and pulled her over the ropes. They battled back and forth on the apron before Asuka eliminated Nikki.
After the match Charlotte and Alexa Bliss stood in the ring and waited to see who Asuka would choose as her opponent, and they were interrupted by Ronda Rousey.
Rousey went around and introduced herself to Charlotte, Asuka, Alexa and Stephanie McMahon and they all looked slightly confused as she pointed at the WrestleMania sign, walked around the ring and then left.
