WWE Royal Rumble 2018 results: Nakamura, Asuka win respective Rumbles, Lesnar retains Universal title

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Shinsuke Nakamura won the 30-men Royal Rumble and will face AJ Styles at Wrestlemania 34
2. Asuka made history by winning the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble
3. Brock Lesnar defeated Kane and Braun Strowman to retain the Universal Championship

That's all from us, guys. Hope you a cracker of a Royal Rumble because we surely did. Here's a quick recap of the results.

SmackDown Live's Shinsuke Nakamura eliminated Roman Reigns to win the 2018 Royal Rumble, while RAW's Asuka made history by winning the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble match. In the other two main events, Brock Lesnar extended his domination by successfully defending his Universal Championship against Braun Strowman and Kane. AJ Styles is still your WWE Champion. He pinned Kevin Owens in a two-on-one handicap match that had Sami Zayn by his side.

- Hold on. One last surprise remains. Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey has made her way to the arena and points towards the Wrestlemania sign. What does it mean?

Asuka wins the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble

- The Empress of Tomorrow makes history. Asuka eliminates Nikki Bella and will be heading to Wrestlemania.

- Shades of Summerslam 2015: Nikki Bella eliminates her sister Brie, leaving her and Asuka as the two final participants of the Women's Royal Rumble

- The entire women's division work together to eliminate Nia Jax. Sasha Banks meanwhile, eliminates her best friend Bayley. Who'd have expected that?

- The final participant is none other than... TRISH STRATUS. She engages in a showdown with Mickie James. Remember 2006? Who can forget their amazing rivalry.

-The penultimate entrance in the Women's Royal Rumble - 'Hug Life', Bailey

- At No. 27 enters Nikki Bella, the longest reigning Divas Champion. And at No. 28, it's her sister Brie. The Bella Twins have entered the Royal Rumble.

- No. 25: The Empress of tomorrow, the unbeaten Asuka

- It's The Glamazon! Beth Phoenix enters the Rumble at No. 24 and does the unthinkable, lifts up Nia Jax.

- NXT Women's Champion Amber Moon heads out at No. 23. She and Nia Jax go at it. Naomi, meanwhile, does a Kofi Kingston outside the ring. After landing on the barricade, Naomi walks through the chair, climbs on the steel steps and enters back the ring only to be eliminated by Jax.

- Nia Jax comes out at No. 21 and absolutely flattened all. Naomi meanwhile, does a Kofi Kingston.

- After being in the Rumble for 31 minutes, Becky Lynch is eliminated

- No. 19: A former Divas champion, Kelly Kelly is back! Meanwhile, Natalya eliminates Michelle McCool

- Sasha and Becky started this match and are still going strong.

- Entry No. 16: EXCUSE MEEEEE!!! It's Vickie Guerrero. Gets eliminated by all 4 members in the ring.

- Entry No. 13: Michelle McCool. And the crowd explode into "Undertaker" chants. This is amazing. She eliminates Deville and Molly Holly.

- WHATTT! Entry No. 12 is none other than Molly Holly. And she looks to be in amazing shape. This just keeps on getting better

- And now Torrie gets eliminated, by Sonia Deville. Why can't these things last longer?

- Another Blast from the Past: Entering the Rumble at No. 9 is Torrie Wilson! She eliminates Dana Brooke.

- Heartbreak in Philly. Lita gets eliminated by Becky Lynch.

- At No. 7 enters Tamina, who gets planted with the Twist of Fate. She follows it with two more TOF's to Sasha and Becky and lands the Moonsault from the top rope. This is incredible. Crowd starts chanting: "You've still got it", and it's hard to disagree with them.

- WHOAAAA! It's Lita, the WWE Hall of Famer enter the Rumble at No. 5. And she straightaway eliminates Mandy Rose

- Entry No.4 is Absolution's Mandy Rose, the female runner-up of the 2015 Tough Enough winner.

- Entry No. 3 is SmackDown Live's Sarah Logan of the Riot Squad.

- Entry No. 1 is the Boss, Sasha Banks. Joining her in the ring would be the second entrant Becky Lynch. Two pioneers of the Women's revolution. Sit back guys, the first ever Women's Royal Rumble kicks off.

- It's time to create history, ladies and gentlemen. Up next is the first-ever Women's Royal Rumble match. Guest announcer Maria Menounos introduces Stephanie McMahon, who will be doing commentary for this Rumble match. Also to be ringside will be the Raw and SmackDown Women's Champions, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte

Brock Lesnar beats Kane and Braun Strowman to retain the WWE Universal Championship

- An F5 to Kane and Lesnar retains his Universal championship. Strowman laid outside the ring

- Three running Powerslams to Lesnar before Kane interrupts with a steel chair

- Lesnar picks up Strowman and Kane on his shoulders and delivers the F5 on the two announce tables. He then turns the table on top of the Monster. It's turning out to be a car crash, ladies and gentlemen. So much physicality.

- Lesnar takes Strowman to Suplex City with three German Suplexes. But wait, it hardly has an effect on him. He drives Lesnar through a table.

- Strowman is a wrecking machine. He takes out Kane and Lesnar, first with a steel chair and then the steel steps. If that wasn't enough, he brings a table into the ring.

- Kane and Strowman muster early attack on Lesnar, the champion gets planted with a Chokeslam.

- Will the Beast Incarnate successfully defend his Universal title against Strowman and Kane? The three participants are out in the ring as a nervous Michael Cole slides to the safe side. A reminder: Lesnar has been champion for 301 days now since winning the title from Goldberg at last year's Wrestlemania.

Raw tag-team title match: Sheamus and Cesaro beat Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan to be crowned 4-time tag champs

- Brogue Kick from Sheamus! And The Bar follows it with a White Noise-Uppercut combination for the pin. Sheamus and Cesaro are now four-time tag-team champions.

- WAIT! Jordan makes his way back to the ring. Tags himself in but doesn't look a 100 percent. Tags back Rollins, who is not impressed.

- Sheamus and Cesaro work well to take out Jordan outside the ring. Inside, they wore out Rollins with a two-on-one advantage. Rollins counters with a Blockbuster off the top rope but needs assist soon. Sheamus goes for the White Noise off the top rope but Rollins counters with Frog Splash to both members of The Bar.

And we cannot agree more...

AJStyles.Org

✔@AJStylesOrg

A match many thought they’d never seen on this continent...in this ring...for this title will be the MAIN EVENT of @WrestleMania. #StylesVsNakamura #YeahOh ... this is going to be #Phenomenal.

7:43 AM - Jan 29, 2018

•  662662 Replies
 
•  9,1189,118 Retweets
 
•  23,40423,404 likes

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Shinsuke Nakamura wins the 30-man Royal Rumble

- And the Rockstar has made up his mind. He will face AJ Styles for the WWE Champion at Wrestlemania 34.

- Shinsuke Nakamura is the winner of the 2018 Royal Rumble. After connecting with his finisher, he throws Reigns over the top rope. He is headed to Wrestlemania.

- Connects with the Kinshasa now

- Nakamura was looking for the Kinshasa but Reigns ran in and connected with The Spear

- Cena eliminated. We are down to two, Nakamura and Reigns. The crowd is behind Nakamura now. He has lasted 45 minutes in the Rumble.

- Nooo! Cena eliminates Balor. He's lasted for 57 minutes. Monumental performance by Balor

- Balor has lasted 52 minutes having entered the Rumble at No. 2 The last four remain, three of them being Nakamura, Reigns and Cena

- Reigns eliminates Orton. Mysterio delivers a double 619 to Cena and Reigns before Balor throws him over the top rope.

- We are into the final 6. Balor, Orton, Cena, Mysterio, Reigns and Nakamura

- Ziggler eliminated by Balor. He seemingly went for Nakamura by the Rockstar ducked.

- No.30: He's back. Dolph Ziggler has returned. The Showoff is the final entrant in the Rumble.

- No. 29: Goldust, entering his 12th Royal Rumble

- Reigns and Rollins work together to eliminate The Miz via a double Powerbomb outside the ring. But alliances don't last long in the Rumble do they? With his back turned, The Big Dog eliminated The Architect.

- No. 28: Here comes the Big Dog, Roman Reigns

- No. 27: Whaaattt. It's the winner of the 2006 Royal Rumble, Rey Mysterio

- No. 24: Randy Orton, plants a flying RKO to the NXT Champion, who then gets eliminated.

- No. 23 is Adam Cole, all taped up following his Extreme Rules match at NXT Takeover from last night

- No. 21: WHATTTTT! Stand back, as The Hurricane is coming through. Gets eliminated by Cena.

- No. 20: 16-time World Champion and two-time Royal Rumble winner, John Cena. He gets his payback on Elias by delivering an AA that lands him outside the ring.

- No 19: 'Woken' Matt Hardy. Straightaway gets into a showdown with Bray Wyatt. Wyatt and Hardy work together to eliminate Rusev, who lasted over 30 minutes. They finally come to blows and eliminate each other.

- Fans in India. We have some bad news. Jinder Mahal has just been eliminated by Kofi Kingston.

- 18: Burrrnnnn it dowwnnnnnn! Seth Freakinnn Rollins

- Entering No. 17 is the Modern Day Mahara Jinder Mahal. He eliminates two members of the New Day, Xavier Woods and Big E.

- Another elimination: Cruise eliminated by Cesaro. Also, all three members of the New Day have entered the ring

- No. 15 - Cesaro. We are halfway through the Rumble match, guys

- Entering at No. 14 is WWE's Rockstar, Shinsuke Nakamura. Philadelphia serenading Nakamura with his music. Comes in and eliminates Zayn. Byron Saxton is finally relieved.

- Zayn and Owens take out Tye Dillinger backstage to enter the Royal Rumble. And wait! Heath Slater just eliminated Sheamus after the Celtic Warrior inserted him in the ring. To make things worse, it is Sheamus' birthday today. Enters No. 12 Xavier Woods.

- Entrants 3 and 4 are Andrade 'Cien' and Bray Wyatt. Heath Slates is yet to enter the Rumble. He gets taken out via every superstar outside the ring

- Back-to-Back eliminations: Rhyno and Corbin eliminated. An irate Corbin then takes out Balor and Rusev outside the ring. Fourth entrant is Heath Slater and even he is taken out near the stage. The ring is empty. Not one wrestler is in the ring right now.

- No. 4 - The 'Lone Wolf' Baron Corbin from SmackDown Live. He won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal in 2016 and would know what it takes to last.

- Entering No. 3 is The Man Beast Rhyno in his second ever Royal Rumble match, a former tag-team champion. He's a very popular figure in Philly. Reason? He's an ECW product. And just as we type this, the ECW chants reverberate in the arena.

- WWE Hall of Famer Jerry 'The King' Lawler is the Guest Commentator for the Royal Rumble match. Entering No. 1 is The Big Bulgarian Rusev, after a warm introduction by Aiden English, followed by entrant No. 2 is Finn Balor - his first ever Royal Rumble.

SmackDown Live tag-team championship: The Usos retain tag titles against Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin

- It's over. Back-to-back falls for The Usos. With Jay taken out, Gable and Benjamin took a little too much time to come up their double team move. Jimmy meanwhile, countered and rolled up Benjamin for the count.

- First fall to The Usos: Double superkick to either side of Gable's head gives us the first fall of the match. Usos up one fall to none.

- The two teams have worn each other out. They've have hit each other with their best shot but we still are yet to have an opening fall.

WWE Championship Handicap Match - AJ Styles defeats Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

- STYLES WINS - Whoa! What happened here? Styles carried Zayn on his shoulders to throw him out of the ring. However, Zayn had managed to tag in his partner without Styles' knowledge. As Owens landed the Superkick to Styles and went for the Pop-up Powerbomb, Styles countered it into a rollup and got the pinfall. Still your WWE Champion, The Phenomenal AJ Styles.

- PHENOMENAL FOREARM! Styles hits his best move but still can't put away Zayn. Owens emerges just in the nick of time to break the count. The Number's game proving too much for the WWE Champion.

- EXTREMELY CLOSE ! Owens connects with the Super Kick from the apron and Styles follows it with the Blue Thunder Bomb but Styles has just about enough adrenaline left to kick out.

- A reverse electric chair from KO has Styles falling face first on the mat. A close two count. Owens then goes for the Canon Ball but Styles manages to get out of the way. Tag made and Zayn comes in. Styles isolates Zayn with a Hurricanrana off the top rope. But as Zayn goes for the tag, Styles has no one for help but still manages the Pele kick. It's like watching a boxer taking a break between rounds. Styles continues to fight off both and locks in the Cab crusher. Can he put away Owens? No, just when it seemed KO would tap out, Zayn breaks it up.

- Cat and mouse game might be over. Styles stuns Zayn with a drop kick but the number's game just be beginning to take effect here. Zayn and Owens keep Styles on the mat.

- Styles walks out to a loud ovation as the match gets underway. Sly tactics from Owens and Zayn as they keep tagging each other in and out. Styles musters some offence to throw both his opponents off-guard.

Background

It's that time of the year folks. With the Wrestlemania sign looming large in the background, 30 men will try to outdo each other for a chance to main event the Grand Daddy of them all: Wrestlemania 34. The 30-men Royal Rumble is just a few moments away and we are here to bring you its live updates. The Road to Wrestlemania gets officially underway.

In addition, for the first time, there will also be a 30-women Royal Rumble match, as announced by Stephanie McMahon earlier this month. Also headlining this year's Rumble will be a Triple Threat match for the WWE Universal Championship, where the Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar will be defending his title against The Monster among Men Braun Strowman and The Big Red Machine Kane. And if that isn't enough, SmackDown Live's WWE Champion AJ Styles will defend his title in a handicap match against members of the 'Yep' movement, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

The tag-team championships will also be on the line. The Raw tag-team champions Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins take on "The Bar", Cesaro and Sheamus, while SmackDown Live's tag champs Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin will face The Usos in a two out of three falls match.

Results of the kick-off show

1. Bobby Roode beats Mojo Rawley to retain the United States Championship

2. The Revival defeat Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson

3. Kalisto & Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik defeat TJP vs. Jack Gallagher & Drew Gulak