WWE 2016 ‘Royal Rumble’ Pay-Per-View Results — Updated LIVE!
On Sunday, January 24, 2016, WWE will present the Royal Rumble, live at 8 p.m./5 p.m. ET/PT at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. For those who are unable to attend it live, it will be available for viewing exclusively on the award-winning WWE Network.
However, the Inquisitr understands not everyone in the WWE Universe (or wrestling community in general) will be able to spend up to four hours to watch the Royal Rumble. Therefore, results will be presented live as they become available.
Similar to past WWE pay-per-views, the WWE is providing one courtesy to those who do not have a paid subscription to the WWE Network. One hour before the special event, Royal Rumble Kickoff will take place, which will include a panel of WWE personalities and commentators, which will most likely have Renee Young, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton discussing the matches at the pay-per-view. As a bonus, there will be a Fatal 4-Way match. It will be Darren Young and Damian Sandow versus The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) versus Mark Henry and Jack Swagger versus The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley).
The Royal Rumble Kickoff can be viewed not only on the WWE Network, but also on WWE’s official website, WWE App, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pheed, and Pinterest one hour before the actual pay-per-view.
Traditionally, the Royal Rumble match was an opportunity for a WWE superstar to headline Wrestlemania. This year however is different as it comes down to its slogan or moniker of “One Versus All.” Right now, Roman Reigns is the current WWE world heavyweight champion and Mr. McMahon does not like that. So to stack the odds in his favor. Mr. McMahon put Reigns in the Royal Rumble match. The winner will become the new WWE world heavyweight champion. That means Reigns will need to survive 29 other WWE superstars if he wants to continue his “Roman Empire.” To make matters worse for him, he will be enter the Royal Rumble match at number one.
Related Inquisitr Articles
WWE News: AJ Styles Responds To John Cena — Will Styles Be At The “Royal Rumble” On Sunday?
WWE News: Daniel Bryan Cleared By Another Non-WWE Doctor, Could Appear At The “Royal Rumble”
Nevertheless, the following match card, shown below, is what is provided at this moment, and can change for any reason. The Inquisitr will update this article with the latest results and details as they become available live!
The New Day vs. The Usos (WWE Tag Team Championships) — The New Day is considered the most-entertaining tag team in the WWE today. However, that does not mean they should remain champions. As a matter of fact, The New Day — consisting of Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods — are so entertaining, they don’t need a championship to remain relevant. Other tag teams though do need it to an extent. In the case of The Usos, winning tonight will be an excellent detail to their comeback given the time they were out due to nagging injuries.
RESULT: The New Day defeats The Usos via pinfall after Big E connects with the Big Ending on Jey Uso to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships.
SYNOPSIS: It is going to be very hard to top out The New Day. Despite being heels, they are so entertaining that everyone loves them. Even the Dudley Boyz were booed when facing The New Day and that is saying something. Sadly though, nothing really stood out about the match except for the ending. Jey Uso was confused on who was the legal man and was about to land a Superfly Splash on Kofi Kingston. However, Big E rushed in and caught Jey in midair and followed it up with a Big Ending. The celebration The New Day did after the match was far more epic than the match itself.
Charlotte (with Ric Flair) vs. Becky Lynch (WWE Divas Championship) — Becky Lynch is stepping up to become the new face of the Divas Division given that many of the Divas are out for some reason. Both Nikki Bella and Sasha Banks have injuries, Rosa Mendes is out because of her pregnancy/having a baby, and the other Divas haven’t been built up correctly. Anyways, the WWE needs a standout female face because Charlotte is becoming a decent heel by initiating her father’s dirty tricks (eye pokes, holding tights during pinfall covers, etc.). Also as a means of being a heel, Charlotte even begs for mercy on her knees and, much to fan’s delight, Flair Flops. Despite this, Lynch will most-likely not win the title though she needs to because she is the only member of the Four Horsewomen of NXT to have never held the NXT women’s championship.
RESULT: Charlotte defeats Becky Lynch via pinfall after the Spear.
SYNOPSIS: What is sad about this match is it is a shadow of the match these two had in NXT. Maybe that is why Bayley is in no rush to jump to the main roster (which she has admitted to). Anyways, what makes this match bad is the buildup, the execution, and everything in between. Charlotte seems to be too vanilla to be either a face or heel. To be frank, there were two standout points to the match and they included Ric Flair. The first was Flair kissing Lynch to distract her. The second was Flair throwing his jacket over Lynch in the ring to distract her. All in all, not that entertaining whatsoever.
Even Sasha Banks couldn’t say the failing Divas Revolution with her return. What she did was somewhat awkward and poorly-executed. Seeing Charlotte tap out to the Bank Statement did bring back nostalgia though.
Alberto del Rio vs. Kalisto (WWE United States Title) — The Lucha Dragons have been a thorn in Alberto del Rio’s side recently and Kalisto has defeated del Rio before in non-title matches. As a result, Kalisto was granted a title match at the Royal Rumble. This will be the “lucha libre” match of the night, something WWE is trying to get a market on since Lucha Underground is starting to gain more momentum here in the United States on the El Rey Network. Expect to see some high-flying moves in which Kalisto will be the initiator and del Rio will be the base. Might be the most-entertaining match of the night if done correctly.
RESULT: Kalisto defeats Alberto del Rio via pinfall after the Salida del Sol to become the new WWE United States Championship.
SYNOPSIS: For the second time in their rivalry, Kalisto has won the WWE United States Championship from Alberto del Rio. The match was typical, yet entertaining, lucha libre fare. Still it was enough to be thoroughly entertained from end-to-end. What is unexpected is Kalisto actually winning the title because it means The Lucha Dragons are going to get a fair shake in the WWE. This is good because the tag team division is somewhat stagnant. All they have is The New Day, The Dudley Boyz, and everyone else.
Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens (Last Man Standing Match for WWE Intercontinental Title — The battles between these two have escalated since Dean Ambrose won the title back at TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs by defeating Kevin Owens. Given this is a “Last Man Standing” match and that Ambrose and Owens were prominent on the independent circuit, this will most-likely be WWE’s match attempt to compete with Ring of Honor (they seem to be doing that every pay-per-view now). The only difference is the moves will probably stay within the limitations WWE puts on themselves. That means half of Owens’ move repertoire will still be unavailable (no Package Piledrivers or Steenilizers).
RESULT: Dean Ambrose defeats Kevin Owens after pushing Owens off the top turnbuckle into two stacked tables outside the ring to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
SYNOPSIS: As mentioned earlier, this match was the “Ring of Honor” match. Given the fact it was a “Last Man Standing” match too, tables, ladders, chairs, and even Singapore canes came into play. In the beginning, Kevin Owens had the upper hand, assaulting Dean Ambrose with a flurry of moves.
When Ambrose was able to build momentum, we seen some very interesting things that haven’t been seen in WWE for awhile. Owens somewhat took a chair shot to the head when Ambrose threw one at him, one that had shades of Sabu. There was also a time when Ambrose almost won the count but Owens was smart enough to just roll out of the ring and stand up. Eventually, the match ended when Ambrose shoved Owens off the top turnbuckle into two stacked tables outside of the ring.
Royal Rumble (WWE World Heavyweight Championship) — The specialty match of the night will probably be the most-anticipated match given its stipulations not just for the match, but for Roman Reigns. He will defend his title against 29 other WWE superstars an he will enter in at number one. The list of contestants are mostly a mystery for surprise entrants. Rumors are flying around that AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan will show up but we will have to wait and see. As for who wins, nobody knows but it will surely be a long night for Reigns if he wants to pull it off.
ENTRANCE/ELIMINATION ORDER AND RESULT: Example: 1. Roman Reigns – 29th Eliminated by Daniel Bryan
- Roman Reigns – Eliminated by Triple H
- Rusev – Eliminated by Roman Reigns
- AJ Styles – Eliminated by Kevin Owens
- Tyler Breeze – Eliminated by AJ Styles
- Curtis Axle – Eliminated by AJ Styles
- Chris Jericho – Eliminated by Dean Ambrose
- Kane – Eliminated by Braun Strowman
- Goldust – Eliminated by Titus O’ Neil
- Ryback – Eliminated by Big Show
- Kofi Kingston – Eliminated by Chris Jericho
- Titus O’Neil -Eliminated by Big E
- R-Truth – Eliminated by Kane
- Luke Harper – Eliminated by Brock Lesnar
- Stardust – Eliminated by Luke Harper
- Big Show – Eliminated by Braun Strowman
- Neville – Eliminated by Luke Harper
- Braun Strowman – Eliminated by Brock Lesnar
- Kevin Owens – Eliminated by Sami Zayn
- Dean Ambrose – Eliminated by Triple H
- Sami Zayn – Eliminated by Braun Strowman
- Erick Rowan – Eliminated by Brock Lesnar
- Mark Henry – Eliminated by the Wyatt Family (Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman)
- Brock Lesnar – Eliminated by They Wyatt Family (All Members)
- Jack Swagger – Eliminated by Brock Lesnar
- The Miz – Eliminated by Roman Reigns
- Alberto del Rio – Eliminated by Roman Reigns
- Bray Wyatt – Eliminated by Triple H
- Dolph Ziggler – Eliminated by Triple H
- Sheamus – Eliminated by Dean Ambrose
- Triple H – Winner of the 2016 Royal Rumble
SYNOPSIS: The Royal Rumble is often recognized as the most-anticipated match of this pay-per-view and it delivered when it came to surprises. AJ Styles was the third entrant and stayed in the match for over 30 minutes. Though he did not win, his presence was felt. Unfortunately, he never pulled off the Styles Clash. Also, R-Truth is the “true winner” for he was very entertaining with his performance. He actually set up a ladder in the middle of the ring and climbed it thinking the title was hanging above the ring. To his surprise, there was no title.
Finally, the last surprise was Triple H coming in at number 30. For those who don’t remember, Roman Reigns shelved Triple H earlier on this month. Triple H returned wanting revenge and he got it by eliminating Reigns leaving just Triple H with Dean Ambrose. If Ambrose won, he would have become a double champion. Instead, Triple H eliminated Ambrose in which he became the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
[Image via WWE 2016 Royal Rumble Poster]
