11 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2018

5. Callbacks For The Women

Beth Phoenix Natalya
WWE.com

Given the number of returning legends and Hall-of-Famers in the women’s Royal Rumble match, there were bound to be some rekindled friendships and rivalries, and thankfully, WWE did not miss two of them.

The first was the reuniting of Natalya and Beth Phoenix (who looks like she could still run roughshod over the women’s division), real-life best friends who teamed up as proto-anti-divas during their run together. They hugged in the center of the ring – and then Nattie turned on her and eliminated Beth.

Then, as the match was winding down, everyone was knocked out except for Trish Stratus and Mickie James. Fans immediately recognized that as one of the better women’s rivalries of the 2000s. Mickie debuted as Trish’s biggest fan-turned-stalker, beating Stratus for the Women’s Championship at WrestleMania XXII. The two squared off, with Trish getting the better of it and tossing Mickie.

Those were a couple great moments, both of which worked really well.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.