11 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2018

4. Nakamura Triumphs Over Chosen Ones

Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

One of the favorites going into Sunday’s Royal Rumble had to be Shinsuke Nakamura, and his betting line had to get better when AJ Styles successfully defended his WWE Championship.

Entering at #14, Nakamura tossed Sami Zayn right away and then hung around until the end. When the ring started thinning out, fans realized he still was in there and chanted for him throughout. It got dicey when it was down to Nakamura, John Cena and Roman Reigns, with fans understandably worried that one of the two men who have main-evented a ton of WrestleManias were en route to yet another.

In that way, it was smart booking to have Shinsuke toss both of them to win, as fans were uneasy, making his victory even more satisfying. And now fans will get a true dream match at Mania between two of the best wrestlers in the world.

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.