Shane McMahon and The Miz captured the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at the Royal Rumble on Sunday, but it took McMahon risking life and limb to do it.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Late in the match The Cesaro tried to put McMahon away when Cesaso held McMahon’s head in place to take a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. But Miz ran in and made the save, shoving Cesaro into Sheamus’ charging boot and hitting the Irish native with a Skull Crushing Finale. With Cesaro still down in the middle of the ring, McMahon made his way to the top rope and hit a Shooting Star Press to pick up the win.
โ WrestlinGifs (@WrestlinGifs) January 28, 2019
Way back at the Crown Jewel event, McMahon stepped in for an injured Miz in the finals of the World Cup tournament and won the match by hitting Dolph Ziggler with a Coast to Coast. In the weeks that followed Miz considered both of them to have ownership of the trophy as they were both partially the “Best in the World.” This eventually led to Miz convincing McMahon to be his tag team partner, telling him that he felt it would be the only way to make Miz’s father be proud of him.
McMahon finally agreed, and the two quickly started feuding with the The Bar as the reigning SmackDown Tag Team Champions. The win marked the third championship victory for the son of Vince McMahon, as Shane had previously held both the WWE European and Hardcore Championships.
Other results from early in the Royal Rumble event included Bobby Roode and Chad Gable defending their tag titles against Scott Dawson and Rezar, Shinsuke Nakamura capturing the United States Championship for a second time by cheating to beat Rusev, Buddy Murphy retaining his Cruiserweight Championship in a four-way match and Asuka keeping ahold of the SmackDown Women’s Championship by forcing fan-favorite Becky Lynch to tap out.
As the evening went on, Lynch was able to insert herself into the Women’s Royal Rumble match after Lana, who was hurt during the pre-show during a match between Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, was unable to make it out to the ring. Lynch went on to win the Rumble match by finally eliminating Charlotte Flair.
Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan and Ronda Rousey all went on to successfully retain their championship later in the evening against Finn Balor, AJ Styles and Sasha Banks respectively. The show went off the air with Seth Rollins winning the Men’s Royal Rumble by last eliminating Braun Strowman.