When the 2nd most important night in WWE’s calendar year began, who did you think would be the MVP of the Royal Rumble? Becky Lynch, Braun Strowman, Sasha Banks, Ronda Rousey, Seth Rollins, Asuka, Brock Lesnar, Finn Balor, or even Nia Jax who was the 1st person ever to enter 2 Rumble matches in the same night would have all been prime contenders for that crown. All of these superstars had a great night on the grand stage of Chase Field, but in this writer’s opinion the person who made arguably the most important “move” of the night and was the most valuable player of the event was a man who wasn’t even on the card.
The stage was set as WWE Royal Rumble 2019 went on the air and the music of the most impressive superstar of the past 6-7 months hit. Becky Lynch was on her way do reclaim the Smackdown Live Women’s championship in a match #HWWeekly predicted she would win, but with a special bridged version of the ‘Asuka Lock’, the “Empress of Tomorrow” logged the most impressive win in her WWE career. With Asuka’s successful title defense came the hope that the ‘Lass Kicker’ would still have a good night by entering the Royal Rumble match as a surprise entrant and head to the grandest stage of them all as the Women’s championship challenger.
As a result of Carmella & R-Truth winning the mixed match challenge, both of these superstars rode their ‘Dance Break’ to the #30 entrant in their respective Rumble matches, so as entrants 25-29 made their appearance, with every countdown was the hope that Lynch’s music would hit, but it didn’t. Seemingly Becky Lynch was not in the Royal Rumble which would have made one of the most anticipated night’s in her career entering the day into a failure, however fate would change destiny with the number 28 entrant. ‘The Ravishing Russian’ Lana was injured during the kickoff show as part of the United States title match, and Lana carried that injured ankle with her down the aisle as the #28 entrant into the Royal Rumble, however due to an attack by #29 Nia Jax (who had a very busy night also entering the Men’s Rumble match, stealing R-Truth’s number becoming the 4th female competitor in history to do so: Chyna , Beth Phoenix, and Kharma), Lana wouldn’t make it to the ring.
WWE officials assisted the injured Lana on the runway when Nia entered the ring followed by #30 Carmella. As the action continued in the ring, all of a sudden the Phoenix crowd announced at 48,193 erupted with the entrance of Becky Lynch. Becky immediately approached WWE officials, more specifically former WCW World Television & WWE United States champion ‘Fit’ Dave Finlay. As the crowd chanted her name, ‘The Lass Kicker’ appealed to Finlay pleading with him to allow her enter the Royal Rumble match seemingly as it’s 31st entrant (later revealed to be #28, taking Lana’s place). After going back and forth with Becky and thinking it over, Finlay gave the former #SDLive women’s champ the green light and her music hit to the delight of the fans. Fast-forward to the end of the match… Becky outlasted Charlotte Flair and won the Royal Rumble and is now headed to what many, including this writer feels will be the main event of WrestleMania 35 in the NewYork/New Jersey Metropolitan area April 7th.
A former in-ring star, decorated champion, trainer and current WWE producer, Dave Finlay has accomplished a lot, but in the modern era of wrestling and WWE, he has never made a bigger impression on the wrestling world as he did when he pointed the #1 star in WWE to the ring at the Royal Rumble last night. It was a moment that will never be forgotten, and with that the ‘Man that loves to fight’ helped “THE MAN” get into a place to make history and take her rightful place as the 2019 Royal Rumble winner. Dave Finlay, you are the Royal Rumble 2019 Most Valuable Player!