#5 Daniel Bryan (c) Vs. AJ Styles
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Rating: 2.75/5
It was expected that fans would be exhausted after the Women’s Royal Rumble match and any match that followed that would have to be really good. Hence, WWE thought it would have been a good idea to follow the Women’s Royal Rumble match with the WWE Championship match.
This backfired, as the match ended up being a snooze fest. No one seemed interested, and the match itself was very slow and methodical, which was different from the fast paced action we are used to seeing. It just felt like any championship match you would see on Smackdown Live. Both men were well matched and countered each other’s moves quite a bit.
The best spot in the match was when AJ Styles hit his moonsault DDT outside the ring in absolute fluidity, and even that didn’t draw a good enough reaction from the crowd. Even when Erick Rowan walked out during the match, there was total silence. Maybe because most people were confused as to why is Rowan was out there.
The match went on for 25 minutes before Rowan got himself involved allowing Bryan to get the win. It would’ve been better had they removed this match from the card altogether as it did nothing for both men.