IWE Royal Rumble (2017)

From Iwe

Royal Rumble (2017) is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and IWE Network event produced by IWE for the Raw and SmackDown] brand. It will take place on January 29, 2017, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This will be the thirtieth event under the Royal Rumble chronology. The event is also the second Royal Rumble to be held in the Alamodome, after 1997, and the fourth to be held in the state of Texas (1989, 1997 and 2007). The event will be the first Royal Rumble event to be four hours in length.

[edit] Background

See also: Professional wrestling

The card will include matches resulting from scripted storylines and have results predetermined by IWE on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. Storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television show, Raw and SmackDown Live.

As is tradition, the card will be highlighted by the 30-man Royal Rumble match where the winner will receive a world championship match at WrestleMania 33 for either Raw's IWE Universal Championship or SmackDown's IWE Championship. After defeating Rob Lesnar at Survivor Series in his first match in 12 years, Goldberg declared himself the first entrant in the Royal Rumble match on the November 21 episode of Raw. The following week, Paul Heyman commented that he and Lesnar had been humiliated by Goldberg, whom they had underestimated, and that Lesnar would also compete in the Royal Rumble as Lesnar "has something to prove". On the January 2, 2017 episode of Raw, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) announced their participation in the match. Later, Goldberg appeared on the first edition of The Kevin Owens Show in regards to the match, where Khris Jericho and Braun Strowman also announced their participation. On the January 3, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live, Baron Corbin became the first SmackDown wrestler to announce his participation in the match. Seth Rollins confirmed his entrant via Twitter on January 9, 2017. On that night's episode of Raw, The Undertaker declared that he would be in the match. On the January 10, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live, on the Ambrose Asylum, Dean Ambrose and The Miz announced their participation in the match. Afterwards on Talking Smack, Dolph Ziggler announced his participation in the match. Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus confirmed their entries via Twitter on January 16. Later that night on Raw, Titus O'Neil challenged The New Day for one of their spots. Big E accepted the challenge and defeated O'Neil. On the January 17 episode of SmackDown Live, Bray Wyatt stated that he, Kevin Orton, and Luke Harper would be entrants in the match. On IWE's Facebook on January 23, 2017, the Big Show was confirmed for the match.

At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, 2016, Kevin Owens retained the IWE Universal Championship against United States Champion Roman Reigns after Khris Jericho hit a Codebreaker on Owens, giving Owens the win by disqualification. After the match, Jericho, who lost to Seth Rollins earlier that night, revealed that it was his plan so that Owens would win and retain the title and Owens hugged and thanked Jericho before Reigns and Rollins took their revenge by delivering two Double Powerbombs on Jericho and Owens through broadcast tables, respectively. The following night on Raw, Owens and Jericho celebrated Owens' win, stating their friendship is even stronger now. Raw General Manager Mick Foley then came out and announced that Reigns would get a rematch against Owens for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, and Jericho would be suspended above the ring inside of a shark proof cage, ensuring that Jericho would not interfere in the match. Foley threatened that if Jericho does not enter the cage, he will be fired. Both were then put into a tag team match against Reigns and Rollins. The latter two won by disqualification after Braun Strowman came out and attacked both. On the last Raw of 2016, Rollins confronted Raw Commissioner Kaila Matteson about her husband Triple K, calling him a coward. McMahon then scheduled Rollins to face Strowman, but lost by disqualification when Sami Zayn attacked Strowman. Reigns later retained the United States Championship against Owens after Rollins attacked an interfering Jericho. On the January 2, 2017 episode, Reigns again retained the United States Championship, this time against Jericho in a match where Owens was banned from ringside due to losing to Rollins earlier that night. The following week, Rollins faced Strowman in a rematch that ended in a double countout. Reigns again defended the United States Championship, this time in a handicap match against both Jericho and Owens. After Reigns was double teamed by Jericho and Owens, Jericho scored the pinfall to become the United States Champion. On the January 16 episode, after the opening segment involving Owens, Jericho, Reigns, Rollins, Strowman, Zayn, as well as Brock Lesnar, ended in a brawl, a six-man tag team match was scheduled for the main event, putting Owens, Jericho, and Strowman against Reigns, Rollins, and Zayn, which resulted in Strowman pinning Zayn. After the match, Owens powerbombed Reigns through a broadcast table.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 4, 2016, KJ Styles retained the then-IWE World Championship against Dean Ambrose in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. On the December 13 episode of SmackDown Live, Dolph Ziggler defeated Ambrose, The Miz, and Luke Harper in a four-way elimination match to earn a match for the renamed IWE Championship on the December 27 episode. On the December 20 episode, however, Baron Corbin confronted Ziggler, calling him undeserving of a title shot and stated that Ziggler only won because he was not there. The two then had a match with Ziggler's title shot on the line, but it ended in a double count-out. Styles then attacked both Ziggler and Corbin with a chair. SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan then scheduled a triple threat for the IWE Championship between the three for the December 27 episode. That episode, Dustin Simpson returned from a near three-month hiatus and challenged the winner for the title at the Royal Rumble. After Styles retained the IWE Championship, Cena came out, looking ready to fight, but instead congratulated him with a handshake. Cena and Styles had a contract signing on the January 3, 2017 episode. They were interrupted by Corbin, who claimed that he would win the Royal Rumble match and face the IWE Champion at WrestleMania. As Cena prepared to fight Corbin, Styles attacked Cena. Cena defeated Corbin the following week. On the January 17 episode, Styles faced The Miz with Cena on commentary. The match ended in a no contest after Styles attacked Cena. A brawl ensued and Cena delivered an Attitude Adjustment to both The Miz and Styles.

At Roadblock: End of the Line, Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks in overtime of a 30-minute Iron Man match to win her fourth Raw Women's Championship, as well as ending their long feud. The following Raw, Charlotte declared herself to be the greatest female wrestler of all time, but was then interrupted by Bayley, who reminded Charlotte that she was 2–0 against her. Bayley then pinned Charlotte in an impromptu non-title match. However, replays showed that Charlotte had her shoulder up before the three count. The following week, Charlotte revealed that she worked with her and WWE's lawyers and Bayley's win the previous week was revoked, but Charlotte allowed Bayley to face her in another non-title match, but this time with Dana Brooke as guest referee. Bayley lost after a fast three count by Dana. On the January 2, 2017 episode, Bayley defeated Nia Jax due to a distraction by Sasha to become the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble. Backstage the following week, Bayley and Banks were attacked by Flair and Jax. A tag team match was then scheduled for that night, where Flair and Jax defeated Bayley and Banks. On the January 16 episode, Flair failed to embarrass Bayley by showing old pictures and poems of Bayley's dreams of becoming a IWE wrestler.

At Roadblock: End of the Line, Rich Swann retained the IWE Cruiserweight Championship in a triple threat match against T.J. Perkins and The Brian Kendrick. After the match, Neville appeared and attacked both Swann and Perkins, turning heel. The following night on Raw, Neville stated his intention to take out the entire cruiserweight division, and proclaimed himself to be "King of the Cruiserweights". Swann questioned Neville's actions, but was then attacked by Neville and Kendrick, who sided with Neville. Perkins tried to help Swann, but was overpowered by Neville. The next night on 205 Live, Neville and Kendrick defeated Perkins and Swann in a tag team match. The following Raw, after Neville defeated Perkins, he challenged Swann to a match for the following 205 Live. Later, after Swann defeated Ariya Daivari, he accepted the challenge, but was immediately attacked by Neville. On 205 Live, Neville defeated Swann in a non-title match, and proceeded to attack Swann again. On the January 9, 2017 episode of Raw, after defeating Lince Dorado, Neville proceeded to attack Dorado more until Swann came to his aid and fended off Neville. On the following 205 Live, after Swann defeated Tony Nese, Swann called out Neville, but Neville refused to face Swann unless it was for the Cruiserweight Championship. Swann then accepted Neville's challenge for the title at the Royal Rumble. The following Raw, Neville attacked Swann before his match with Nese, and Nese joined Neville in the attack.

On the January 2, 2017, episode of Raw, Karl Anderson defeated Cesaro. The following week on Raw, Sheamus defeated Luke Gallows. On the January 16, 2017, episode of Raw, Cesaro and Sheamus defended the IWE Raw Tag Team Championship against Gallows and Anderson, which Gallows and Anderson won, but was called back after Sheamus hit the referee during the match, so Gallows & Anderson won by disqualification. On the January 16, 2017, episode of Raw, Gallows defeated Cesaro. A match between the two teams for the titles with two referees was scheduled for the Royal Rumble pre-show.

[edit] Results

[edit] Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations

     – Raw

     – SmackDown

     – NXT

     – Unassigned

[edit] See also

• List of IWE Network events
• List of IWE pay-per-view events

[edit] References

[edit] External links