The annual Royal Rumble premium live event has come and gone, but the show gave fans plenty to talk about. Liv Morgan won the women’s Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns won the men’s Royal Rumble, Gunther retired AJ Styles and Sami Zayn challenged Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Heading into the show WWE had been playing up the fact that Drew McIntyre had already beaten Sami Zayn eleven times, and Drew ultimately picked up another win over Sami when he retained the championship at the Royal Rumble.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that there was a discussion regarding who would win the Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn match for the Undisputed WWE Championship right up until the day of the Royal Rumble. According to the report Sami Zayn was pushing for a title win, but ultimately it didn’t happen.
Originally the Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn match was supposed to go on second. Ultimately the match was moved to the third spot on the card and it was known that it wouldn’t get the same reaction in that spot because it had to follow the AJ Styles vs. Gunther match. The idea was that Styles vs. Gunther would get over no matter where it was on the show because of the big stipulation.