WWE Royal Rumble PPV Report
January 25, 2015
Philadelphia, Pa.
Report by James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Scheduled for the Pre-Show: New Day vs. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd & Adam Rose in a six-man elimination tag match.

Live One-Hour PPV Pre-Show

The panel is Renee Young with Booker T, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves. After some opening discussion, they focused on The Rock's tweet about being in town. Renee also referenced Lana responding to Rock on behalf of Rusev on Twitter.

At the Social Media Lounge, Tom Phillips plugged upcoming interviews with Ryback, Dolph Zigler, and Erick Rowan following their "re-hiring" last week on Raw.

Phillips left the Social Media Lounge to interview the New Age Outlaws in a backstage interview setting. Road Dogg did the bit purposely getting Phillips's name wrong, talked down their opponents, The Ascension, and tried to get people to subscribe to the Network in order to see Billy Gunn's "Two Words" catchphrase intro. They left poor Phillips standing there like a goof.

Back at the studio panel, Renee plugged an upcoming interview conducted by Booker with Shawn Michaels. After a video package break, they went to the interview. Sitting on the stage of an empty arena, they talked about the importance of the Royal Rumble match leading to the WrestleMania main event. After a review of Michaels's Rumble history, they talked about Daniel Bryan potentially winning the Rumble. Notably, the video package included audio of Stephanie McMahon stripping Bryan of the WWE Title, which they have not re-visited since Bryan returned to action.

Announcement: "WWE 24" premieres tomorrow night on WWE Network with behind-the-scenes footage from WrestleMania 30.

Announcers: The old Raw trio of Michael Cole, JBL, and Jerry Lawler was shown on-camera to set up the first match of the night.

In-ring: New Day was introduced first for the pre-show tag match. Xavier Woods talked on the way down to the ring as Big E. and Kofi Kingston bounced around ringside. Cesaro's music then played to bring out Cesaro, Natalya, and Tyson Kidd. Adam Rose followed behind with the Rosebuds trying to dance to Cesaro's theme music. Rose left the Rosebuds behind on the entrance ramp.

A -- NEW DAY (KOFI KINGSTON & BIG E. w/Xavier Woods) vs. CESARO & TYSON KIDD (w/Adam Rose, Natalya, and Rosebuds)

So, it's no longer a six-man tag and no longer an elimination match. New Day worked over Kidd early on, then Cesaro tagged in to a big reaction from the hardcore/international crowd in attendance. "Ces-aro" chant. Big E. overpowered Cesaro, drawing boos. Kofi then hit a top-rope splash on Cesaro, continuing New Day's early dominance. Cesaro finally fought back and brought in Kidd to work on Kofi. They executed a Big Swing into dropkick to Kofi heading to a mid-match break.

[Network Break]

As New Day continued to work on Kofi, Cole and Co. hyped WWE Network. Included was Cole plugging the return of Stone Cold's podcast with his next guest, Triple H. Meanwhile, Xavier did the rhythmic clap trying to rally Kofi, drawing a "New ... Day Sucks" chant. Big E. tagged in to boos and cleared the heels to the outside before landing a big splash.

Back in the ring, the crowd booed Big E. teasing the Big Ending on Cesaro. Cesaro broke free, but turned around and took a cross-body splash from Kofi. Kofi wanted a cover, but the ref said there was no tag. Kofi threw a fit, then brought in Big E., who tried to capitalize, but Cesaro cut him off. Cesaro with a snap European Uppercut, then a tag to Kidd, who landed a springboard elbow on Kofi after Cesaro delivered a top-rope superplex. But, Kofi kicked out of a pin just before three.

Reset, then Kidd tried the Sharpshooter on Kofi, but Kofi kicked him out of the ring. A weird pin situation followed where Cesaro tried to administer outside aid on a pin, but the ref saw it well after a three count and cut if off. Kidd got the crowd back with a Sharpshooter on Kofi, but Big E. broke it up. After more chaos, Kidd and Kofi were left in the ring. But, Cesaro uppercut Kofi from the outside when Kofi neared the ropes, allowing Kidd to snap off a cradle suplex neckbreaker on Kofi for the pin and the win.

WINNERS: Kidd & Cesaro at 11:02. That was pretty chaotic, but also really good, especially in the pre-show spot. Kidd & Cesaro have it going right now to set up a potential Tag Title program with The Usos.

Video Package: Royal Rumble By the Numbers.

Studio: Renee set up the trio of panelists to hype the Royal Rumble match and offer some predictions.

Social Media Lounge: Tom Phillips brought in Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, and Erick Rowan to discuss being "re-hired" last Monday on Raw. Poor Rowan got squeezed out of the discussion after not winning his Rumble qualifier on Smackdown. Ziggler and Ryback had a big-man vs. little-man debater over which is better in a Rumble setting.

Video Package: WWE Title feud involving champ Brock Lesnar and challengers John Cena and Seth Rollins.

Tweet: The Rock is at the Royal Rumble, per a tweet from McMahon. They used the Twitter teaser to hype the Network subscription price to watch the Rumble PPV as the pre-show concluded.

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