WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Results: Twitter Reacts to Top Stars, Moments and More

The Royal Rumble celebrated its 29th birthday Sunday night with a show that will leave an indelible mark on The Road to WrestleMania 33, and Twitter was quick to respond to the night's top matches, stars and twists.

From the Universal Championship match that saw Kevin Owens successfully retain over Roman Reigns courtesy of outside interference from an unexpected Superstar, to the Royal Rumble match itself, the night featured several buzz-worthy moments that generated numerous emotions from analysts and keyboard warriors alike.

These are just a few.

Owens Retains the Universal Championship

One of the marquee matches on Sunday's card was the Universal Championship match between Owens and Reigns. With no disqualifications and Chris Jericho locked safely in a shark cage above the ring, the match should have provided Reigns the opportunity to fairly compete for the title that has eluded him.

It did not, courtesy of unexpected interference from Braun Strowman.

Bleacher Report's Mike Chiari was less than thrilled with the prospects of a Reigns-Strowman match at WrestleMania.

Luckily for him, time would erase that putrid idea from his mind.

At one point in the match, Owens broke out a stunner in Texas, drawing a big pop.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin approved.

Until it did not score the pinfall.

The real Austin took to Twitter to criticize Owens' delivery of the move, to which the champ did not hesitate to respond.

"

I'm not hard to find...

I'm the One with the @WWE Universal Title. https://t.co/D2QXj3hv4t

— Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) January 30, 2017"

From there, the action moved to a constructed set of chairs, onto which Owens would take one of the nastiest bumps in recent memory.

And moments after the three-count that ensured Owens' title reign would continue, the greatest friendship in the history of WWE endured.

The match itself was a strong one. Though it fell into the same tired formula of Reigns bumping around for the heel before making a Herculean comeback, the bumps and spots were original enough to overcome tired booking tropes, and the result was the first superb title bout of 2017.

It would not take long for it to be supplanted.

A Billion-Star Classic?

John Cena defeated AJ Styles to capture his 16th world championship, a mark shared only (according to revisionist history) by "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

The legendary competitors shared a moment backstage, shortly after the win, that was captured on Flair's Twitter account.

The match itself was a brilliant one that earned universal acclaim from B/R analysts Kevin Berge, Jonathan Snowden, James Moffat and Steven Rondina.

"

This is better than Omega/Okada. Don't @ me. #RoyalRumble

— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) January 30, 2017"

UFC star Daniel Cormier praised the match, as did MMA competitor-turned-pro wrestler Shayna Baszler.

Lance Storm and Shane Helms each informed the unwashed masses of Cena's greatness while breakout indie competitor Nicole Savoy of SHIMMER Women Athletes was also ecstatic over the classic she had just witnessed.

Cageside Seats delivered, perhaps, the greatest compliment to Cena and his adaptability as a performer. Tweet is NSFW.

On a night in which anger and frustration will be pointed in certain directions in regards to booking decisions that happened around the match, there is no denying that two extraordinary professional wrestlers crafted an all-time great match in front of 52,000-plus fans, and we are all lucky enough to have witnessed it.

A Royal Rumble of Ups, Downs and...HUH?!

You knew about Goldberg, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. Who you did not know about was Roman Reigns, who made his second appearance of the night, drawing the loudest chorus of boos an audience as loud as the one inside the Alamodome could possibly emit.

The Big Dog wasted little time drawing the ire of fans, eliminating Undertaker much to their dismay.

B/R's Alfred Konuwa was, unlike the fans in attendance, rabidly supporting Reigns' quest for Rumble win No. 2.

Others reacted sarcastically or as if the booking decision had somehow brought about the end of the world as they knew it.

Ryan Dilbert opted to look forward and at what the implications were for WrestleMania.

Even Randy Orton's RKO and elimination of Reigns could not make things better.

While the match was far from great, it did feature several memorable moments, including a perfect No. 10.

Maria Kanellis, who spent time in Ohio Valley Wrestling with Tye Dillinger, congratulated the underrated fan favorite, as did her husband Mike Bennett.

"

#TyeDillinger was in OVW with me. It's amazing to watch him out there tonight. #RoyalRumble

— MariaKanellisBennett (@MariaLKanellis) January 30, 2017"

From there, Baron Corbin had B/R tapping its Caps Lock button and overdoing exclamation marks as he eliminated Braun Strowman from the match, a huge honor given how dominant the big man had been to that point.

Kofi Kingston had his annual Royal Rumble elimination spot, as captured by WWE Universe's account, even if it was a disappointment over past incarnations.

The most memorable moment of the match saw Goldberg once again dominate and eliminate Brock Lesnar, to which Twitter reacted appropriately.

And in the end, it all came back to what the social media world considered a disappointing outcome, summed up perfectly by longtime wrestling historian Kris Zellner.

There were a decided lack of surprises, as B/R's Tom Kinslow accurately pointed out.

At the same time, some were unrealistic, most specifically Finn Balor. As the first universal champion took to Twitter to address, he is still healing from an incredibly complex and painful injury and could not have competed even if he wanted to.

Did fans have a reason to be disappointed? Absolutely. Was the Reigns twist nonsensical? Of course. But the match set out to give fans a taste of the marquee matches they can expect come WrestleMania, and in that sense, it worked.

No matter how mad it made the all-knowing fanbase.