The 2019 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live. It was the 32nd annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 27, 2019, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the first Royal Rumble since 2010 to feature three brands. During the event, WWE reported there were 48,193 people in attendance.
The event was based around the Royal Rumble match, a modified 30-person battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time and the respective men's and women's winners received a world championship match at WrestleMania. For the 2007 event, the winners received a choice of which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania 35. The men could choose to challenge for either Raw's Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship, while the women had the choice between the Raw Women's Championship and the SmackDown Women's Championship.
In total, 10 matches were contested at the event, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. The main event was the 2019 Men's Royal Rumble match, which was won by Raw's Seth Rollins, who last eliminated Braun Strowman, also from Raw. On the undercard, the 2019 Women's Royal Rumble match was won by SmackDown's Becky Lynch, who last eliminated Charlotte Flair, also from SmackDown. Earlier in the night in the opening bout, Lynch lost her SmackDown Women's Championship match against Asuka. Other prominent matches included Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal Championship against Finn Bálor, Daniel Bryan defeating AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship, and Ronda Rousey defeating Sasha Banks to retain the Raw Women's Championship. The event also featured the return of Jeff Jarrett, who competed in his first WWE match since No Mercy in October 1999.
Production Background
The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling event, produced every January by WWE since 1988; that first event was a television special before it became a pay-per-view (PPV) event beginning in 1989 and then also available via livestreaming on the WWE Network since 2015. It is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It is named after and centered on the Royal Rumble match. Announced on January 24, 2018, the 32nd Royal Rumble event was scheduled to be held on January 27, 2019, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions, which was the first Royal Rumble since 2010 to feature three brands. Tickets went on sale on October 12, 2018.
The Royal Rumble match is a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time, and the match generally features 30 wrestlers. Since 1993, the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2019, the men and women could choose to challenge for either brand's top championship at WrestleMania 35: the men had their choice between Raw's Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship, while the women could choose either the Raw Women's Championship or the SmackDown Women's Championship.
Storylines The event comprised ten matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.
At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Fabulous Truth (Carmella and R-Truth) defeated Mahalicia (Alicia Fox and Jinder Mahal) to win the second season of Mixed Match Challenge. Their prize for winning was each getting the #30 spot in their respective Royal Rumble matches. In the weeks following TLC, multiple wrestlers were announced for both Rumble matches.
At Crown Jewel, Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman to win the vacant Universal Championship, thanks in part to then-Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin. At TLC, Strowman defeated Corbin in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, thus stripping Corbin of his authoritative power and earning a Universal Championship match against Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. On the January 14 episode of Raw, Corbin confronted Strowman and insulted him, leading to a chase to the parking area where Corbin hid in a limousine. Strowman shattered the glass and broke the door off, only for WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to appear, revealing that was his limo. Mr. McMahon then fined Strowman $100,000. Strowman then argued with Mr. McMahon, who then cancelled his match with Lesnar. An angry Strowman proceeded to flip over the limo. Later that night, John Cena, Drew McIntyre, Corbin, and Finn Bálor expressed their interests in facing Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. Mr. McMahon scheduled a fatal four-way match where the winner would face Lesnar, which Bálor won after defending his spot earlier in the night against Jinder Mahal. Due to this, Bálor was subsequently removed from the Royal Rumble match.
At TLC, Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship. On the January 1, 2019, episode of SmackDown, Styles earned another opportunity against Bryan at the Royal Rumble by winning a fatal five-way match.
At TLC, Asuka defeated Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. Following the event, The McMahon Family (Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H) decreed that champions would no longer have automatic rematch clauses, ruling Lynch out of a guaranteed rematch. After she, Flair, and Carmella all pleaded their cases for why they deserved a title opportunity on the January 1, 2019, episode of SmackDown, WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H scheduled a triple threat match between the three for the following week to determine Asuka's challenger at the Royal Rumble, which was won by Lynch.
At TLC, Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women's Championship against Nia Jax. On the January 7, 2019, episode of Raw, Rousey appeared on Alexa Bliss' interview segment, "A Moment of Bliss", and stated that she wanted to face Sasha Banks next, believing Banks to be a true test of her abilities. Jax interrupted, wanting a rematch against Rousey. Banks then came out and challenged Jax to a match in which the winner would face Rousey for the Raw Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble, which Banks won.
At Crown Jewel, Shane McMahon won the WWE World Cup, replacing The Miz in the finals, who was deemed unable to compete due to a pre-match brawl. Following this, The Miz began a pursuit to form a tag team with Shane, claiming that they could be the best tag team in the world. Shane finally agreed to the pairing, and on the January 8, 2019, episode of SmackDown, Miz challenged The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the Royal Rumble, and The Bar accepted.
On the TLC Kickoff pre-show, Buddy Murphy retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Cedric Alexander. On the December 26, 2018, episode of 205 Live, General Manager Drake Maverick scheduled Murphy to defend the title at the Royal Rumble in a fatal four-way match with his opponents to be decided in qualifying matches. The following week, Kalisto and Akira Tozawa qualified for the match by defeating Lio Rush and Drew Gulak, respectively. Hideo Itami won the final spot by defeating Alexander. The match was scheduled for the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show.
On the December 25, 2018, episode of SmackDown, Rusev defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the United States Championship. On the January 1, 2019, episode, while Rusev and his wife/manager Lana were celebrating the title win, Nakamura attacked Rusev with Lana also getting hurt in the scuffle. On the January 15 episode, Rusev was scheduled to defend the title against Nakamura on the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael Cole Corey Graves Renee Young Tom Phillips Byron Saxton Vic Joseph Nigel McGuinness Aiden English Jerry Lawler John "Bradshaw" Layfield Beth Phoenix Spanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraMarcelo RodríguezGerman commentatorsCarsten SchaeferTim HaberCalvin KnieRing announcersGreg Hamilton Mike Rome RefereesDanilo AnfibioJason AyersJessika CarrMike ChiodaJohn ConeDan EnglerDarrick MooreCharles RobinsonRod ZapataInterviewersCharly CarusoKayla BraxtonPre-show panelJonathan CoachmanBeth PhoenixBooker TJerry LawlerShawn MichaelsDavid OtungaPre-show correspondentsCharly CarusoJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield
Pre-show Three matches were contested on the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show. In the first match, AOP manager Drake Maverick announced a tag team match between Raw Tag Team Champions Bobby Roode and Chad Gable and the team of Scott Dawson (of The Revival) and Rezar (of AOP), with both The Revival and AOP receiving a Raw Tag Team Championship match if they won. In the end, Roode and Gable performed a moonsault/neckbreaker combo on Dawson to win the match.
Next, Rusev defended the United States Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. In the climax, Rusev's wife Lana stood on the ring apron to notify the referee of Nakamura removing the turnbuckle, which led to Nakamura staring her down. As Rusev attacked Nakamura, he accidentally knocked down his wife. Distracted, Nakamura took advantage and attacked Rusev with the "Kinshasa" to win the title for a second time.
The final match on the pre-show was the fatal four-way match in which Buddy Murphy defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Akira Tozawa, Hideo Itami, and Kalisto. In the climax, Murphy performed "Murphy's Law" on Itami to retain the title.
Preliminary matches The actual pay-per-view opened with Asuka defending the SmackDown Women's Championship against Becky Lynch. The climax saw Asuka counter a "Dis-Arm-Her" from Lynch into an inverted "Asuka Lock", which caused Lynch to submit and allowed Asuka to retain her championship.
In the second match, The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Miz and Shane McMahon. In the end, Sheamus inadvertently performed a "Brogue Kick" on Cesaro, before Miz performed a "Skull-Crushing Finale" on Sheamus. Shane then performed a shooting star press on Cesaro to win the titles.
Next, Ronda Rousey defended the Raw Women's Championship against Sasha Banks. During the match, Rousey attempted a forearm on Banks, who moved out of the way, causing it to crash into the ring post. Banks then focused on further weakening the arm. Later, Banks performed a "suicide dive" on Rousey, who caught her and applied an "armbar" on Banks, who submitted, but since it was outside of the ring, the match continued. In the climax, Banks applied the "Bank Statement". Rousey tried to make it to the bottom rope, but Banks transitioned into a crucifix pin for a nearfall and applied a "Fujiwara armbar". Rousey escaped the submission and followed up with a gutwrench powerbomb and "Piper's Pit" on Banks, giving Rousey her first pinfall victory in WWE and thus retaining the title.