50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble
9. The First Female Rumble Remains The Best
When binging 2-3 Rumble events every other night in preparation for this epic, it was easy to get some Rumble blur. In other words, things started to stick together in the ol' brain box, because there are only so many surprise spots, teased eliminations or final four stand offs someone can take without the benefit of 12 months between them. That's why the 2018 show felt so refreshing to reach.
WWE introduced another first for the women's division by running an all-female Royal Rumble match. This was the next logical step in the "women's revolution" that had been touted since 2015-ish. 2018's match remains the best one yet. Maybe that speaks to the freshness of it, or perhaps it's down to Asuka being a high-quality, inspired choice as winner. Let's go for both.
The entire women's locker room was raring to go, and well done to WWE for giving them the main event slot on the night. The historical significance of this first would've been dampened had they been stuffed on the undercard somewhere. Opening the pay-per-view would've been slightly less bothersome, but that headline slot was well deserved.
A post-match debut for one Ronda Rousey shocked the world too. This was long before 'Rowdy' Ronda had a meltdown at wrestling fans or decided she didn't really enjoy the WWE process after all. She was excited to be there, and the mainstream media couldn't get enough of querying what this meant for her MMA career over on the news channels.
Subsequent female Rumbles have had serious highs, of course, but nothing comes close to the first. Or, at least, hasn't yet. WWE might top this someday.