5 reasons to watch Royal Rumble 2018

The Royal Rumble is one of WWE’s premier events, the annual first steps on the road to WrestleMania. Even a bad Royal Rumble match can be pretty fun*, and this year, we’ve got two of them: The 2018 iteration features the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match. The event begins at 7 p.m. ET, but the pre-show kicks off at 5 p.m., if you’re looking for the full experience.

*Do not confuse this to mean there are no actually bad Rumble matches: There are good-bad Rumble matches, and then there are bad Rumble matches.

Not sure if you should watch this year’s Royal Rumble? Don’t worry, we’ve got reasons for you to tune in. Five reasons, even.

There is no wrestling match like the Royal Rumble. Battle Royals can be close, sure, since the ring is full of competitors and the object is to throw your opponents over the top rope, but Battle Royals begin chaotic and then slowly morph into a thread you can follow.

The Royal Rumble starts with two wrestlers in the ring, and every minute or 90 seconds or two minutes or whatever WWE is running with in a particular year later, another wrestler joins the fight. This goes on and on until the ring is full up of superstars all trying to get the others out of the ring, and the last of the 30 wrestlers to be standing in the ring is the winner.

It’s a chance for future stars to break out, whether with a Rumble victory or a dominant and memorable run in the middle of the match. It’s a place for returning stars from the past to make their mark, like when Batista won in 2014, or when Goldberg and Brock Lesnar stole the show in the middle of the 2017 Rumble. And it’s an opportunity for someone new — like A.J. Styles debuting in 2016’s Rumble — to appear on the WWE scene to a huge ovation.

The Rumble winner also gives us an indication of where WWE is going with the main event at WrestleMania. In 2018, the winner of the Royal Rumble can challenge the Universal Champion (in this case, Lesnar) or the WWE Champion (currently the aforementioned Styles) for the title at WrestleMania 34. The existence of those two championships also makes it a little tougher to figure out who is going to be left standing tall, pointing at the WrestleMania sign overhead at match’s end.

Take all of that information from above about the Royal Rumble’s fun and utility, and now, for the first time, apply it to WWE’s women’s division. Not only is this a chance to cement a future star, see wrestlers from the past return to the ring, or debut a new talent en route to figuring out one of WrestleMania’s key championship matches, but it’s also the first time the women get a shot to be involved in all of that.

Seeing who will win the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match is reason enough to watch — will it be the undefeated Asuka, the first-ever SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, a former champ like Naomi, a longtime veteran like Natalya, or someone else entirely? There are a number of directions WWE could go here, even more so than with the men’s Rumble.

Plus there’s the whole this — like every other memorable first in WWE’s women division — being severely overdue, so just the opportunity to revel in some progress is a solid benefit. Assuming WWE doesn’t screw it all up, anyway.

Ronda Rousey was a singular force in the MMA world until she was defeated by Holly Holm and then basically vanished, but WWE has been obsessed with Rousey for years. They’ve been trying to negotiate a deal with her for nearly as long, and she just might show up at the Royal Rumble.

While Rousey claims she’s in Colombia filming a movie and therefore won’t be at the Royal Rumble, she also:

Be more subtle, Ronda. Also, please don’t be the winner of the women’s Royal Rumble, because it will be a weird slap in the face to all of the full-time performers who have waited too long to be denied their chance!

Listen, the idea of a two-on-one WWE Championship match is dumb dumb dumb, but also, it’s potentially amazing. AJ Styles has to defend his title against both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, and if Zayn or Owens pick up the victory, the two will share the WWE Championship.

WWE has done co-champs before: Chyna and Chris Jericho were both Intercontinental Champion for a time during the Attitude Era. Owens and Zayn as co-champs would be wonderful, because as of now, they’re best buddies railing against the system, man, but Owens is the preeminent backstabber in wrestling, and Zayn is his primary target. We always hurt the ones we love the most.

Owens and Zayn winning the WWE Championship, with Owens slowly (or quickly) turning on Zayn, leading to a WWE Championship match between the two at WrestleMania 34?

The SmackDown Tag Team Championships will be defended by the Usos, who are, if not the best, pretty damn close to being the best tag team in the world right now. They’ll take on Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, who have leaned on the dark side of the Force of late, and I am 100 percent here for rude-and-cocky former Olympian wrestler Chad Gable suplexing everyone to hell and back.

Plus, this match will be 2-out-of-3 falls, and that’s a level of tension we could all use on Sunday evening.

As for the RAW Tag Team Championships, it’ll be Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan — the latter the long-lost song of legend Kurt Angle and also a super manipulative jerk who understands how WWE’s television shows work and takes full advantage of that to squeeze every opportunity he can out of his authority-figure father — against Sheamus and Cesaro. I’m pretty positive this grouping can’t put on a bad match on a big stage.

If Jordan/Rollins lose due to something Jordan did — which has been the story of this relationship so far — it should set the stage for a feud between the pair, or between Jordan and his dad. Either will be worthwhile, and the opportunity for both by WrestleMania 34 also exists!