8 WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Impulse Reactions

5. The Women's Royal Rumble

Edge Royal Rumble
WWE.com

Charlotte Flair may have been a divisive winner after several other stars shone brighter than 'The Queen' in the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble, but the contest itself left little else to complain about.

Dominated by NXT's fabulous women's division (the league donated 12 stars to the match, in contrast to Raw's eight, SmackDown's seven and the three special guests), an unfussy layout resulted in Bianca Belair, Shayna Baszler and others from the black-and-gold brand getting to look like megastars against the the relatively underwhelming main roster crew.

Elsewhere within the body of the battle royal, Mandy Rose used the body of Otis to escape elimination in a spot many were craving, Santina Marella banished another ghost of the Divas Division past by eliminating himself in abject fear of the competition, Beth Phoenix smashed her special appearance and Lana and Liv Morgan kept their continuing hostilities short and sharp.

This set the bar high for the men's match later in the show, and did away with some of the justifiable pre-show concerns. At a slim trim 54 minutes in total, this wasn't a fix for the main roster problems at large, but inspired hope in the future in place of there being much in the present.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett