WWE Royal Rumble: Charlotte Flair and Drew McIntyre Earn World Title Shots at WrestleMania

 

 

By Giancarlo Aulino, BarnBurner.ca

 

Toronto. - It is officially WrestleMania season in the WWE. After the men and women’s Royal Rumble matches, fans now know who will be challenging for their respective world championships at the biggest pay-per-view event of the year.

 

On the women’s side, Charlotte Flair entered at #17 and went on to win the rumble match, last eliminating #30 entrant, Shayna Baszler.

 

The match featured plenty of women’s superstars from NXT and NXT UK and was a real star making performance for Bianca Belair, who was the second entrant in the match and lasted a significant amount of time.

 

Charlotte will likely challenge Bayley for the Smackdown championship, which would also set the stage for a Becky Lynch vs Shayna Baszler/Ronda Rousey match at WrestleMania.

 

On the men’s side, Drew McIntyre entered at #16 and took the fight directly to WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who had eliminated 13 superstars with little difficulty. McIntyre eliminated the “Beast Incarnate” with a Claymore Kick following a low blow by Ricochet.

 

The men’s rumble also featured the surprise return of Edge, who had not competed in a match since 2011, when he was forced to retire from pro wrestling. This was a great moment for fans as they got to see a fan-favorite wrestle one more time. The ‘Rated-R Superstar’ looked great and it will be interesting to see if the rumble appearance was a one-off or if he plans on wrestling again on a part-time basis.

 

McIntyre won the match by last eliminating Roman Reigns, to earn a world title opportunity at WrestleMania. Based on the events that took place during the match, it will most likely be Drew McIntyre vs Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania. This is exciting as it is something fresh and the in-ring styles of both men should make for a great match.

 

It has been a difficult road for Drew McIntyre; he was released by WWE in 2014 and instead of being negative about it, he reinvented himself on the independent scene and Impact Wrestling, which led to him being a hot commodity in the wrestling business once again.

 

WWE then brought McIntyre back to the company however, he would have to go through NXT before reappearing on the main roster as the ‘Scottish Psychopath.'  After all the ups and downs in his career, it is nice to see that 'The Chosen One' is in a main event spot at WrestleMania.