Becky Lynch and Asuka opened Sunday night’s Royal Rumble event with an excellent SmackDown Women’s Championship match. But many fans couldn’t help but notice the WWE Network feed cut for a few seconds during the match.
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Clips of the blackout showed Lynch was adjusting her ring gear as the camera came back after she kicked out of a pinning attempt, indicating that something went wrong during the match. Luckily no censoring had to take place.
“The Man” wound up losing the match after Asuka applied her Asuka Lock submission finisher, then transitioned into a modified Last Chancery to force a tap out
Lynch would appear in the Women’s Royal Rumble match. She initially wasn’t one of the 30 competitors, but filled in for Lana after she was unable to compete with an injury.
The final three competitors in the match were Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax. Flair managed to toss Jax over the top rope, while Lynch gave the final assist by grabbing Lynch’s legs and pulling them off the apron. She then attempted to get back into the ring, only to be pushed off the steel steps by Jax and injury one of her knees in the process. Flair tried to have the match thrown out, but Lynch was able to get back in the ring and continue fighting.
Flair repeatedly attacked Lynch’s leg, but the two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion eventually managed to knock Flair out of the ring to secure the victory.
Lynch’s surprise victory was just one of many shocking moments throughout Sunday night’s event at Chase Field. Finn Balor came inches away from beating Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship, but wound up tapping when Lensar was able to lock in a kimura submission after kicking out of Balor’s pinning attempt. AJ Styles looked to be close to regaining the WWE Championship, but an accidental ref bump and a surprise interference from a returning Erick Rowan gave Daniel Bryan the opening to pick up a victory. Ronda Rousey, who could very well be Lynch’s opponent at WrestleMania 35 in April, was able to beat fellow WWE Horsewoman Sasha Banks with her Piper’s Pit finsher in roughly 14 minutes.
Finally the Men’s Royal Rumble match saw it’s fair share of surprises, with Johnny Gargano and Aleister Black both entering the match from NXT and WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett entering at the No. 2 spot only to get blasted with a guitar by Elias. Seth Rollins wound up winning that match to close out the show.
