Becky Lynch, Nia Jax Eclipse Men and Hot Takes of WWE Royal Rumble 2019 Results

If there is one thing the 2019 Royal Rumble did, outside of rank among the all-time great incarnations of the popular January extravaganza, it was create several hot takes in the wake of Sunday's pay-per-view.

None was more obvious than the superiority of the women's product in WWE to that of the men.

Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and Co. stood head and shoulders above everyone else as they shaped the legacy of the January 27 show. 

The fierce females of WWE's women's division were not the only ones at the center of hot takes.

Universal champion Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman and overall card structure also earned recognition as substantial elements of the blockbuster broadcast.

The Women's Division Steals the Spotlight as WWE Embarks on Road to WrestleMania

For what feels like the umpteenth pay-per-view in a row, WWE's women's division overshadowed its male counterpart en route to stealing headlines and creating genuine excitement on the road to WrestleMania 35 on April 7.

Becky Lynch and Asuka tore the house down in the night's best match to kick the show off. A physically intense match that saw the combatants trade submission holds until The Empress of Tomorrow tapped The Man out to her trademark Asuka Lock, it set the tone for what fans could expect out of the women of Vince McMahon's sports entertainment empire.

Ronda Rousey and Sasha Banks delivered an equally hard-hitting match that was rarely pretty but effectively told the story of a Superstar in Banks seeking to prove her worth against the golden girl of the company, Rousey. She took the fight to the UFC Hall of Famer and nearly tapped her out on more than one occasion but in the end, the physicality and power of the Raw women's champion was too much.

The tease of the long-awaited Four Horsewomen feud only enhanced the excitement surrounding that one.

Then came the Royal Rumble, a 30-woman match that told definitive stories, featured creative spots to highlight those stories and saw the re-emergence of Lynch and a defining victory to send her to the main event of WrestleMania.

On a night when both the WWE and Universal Championships were up for grabs in high-profile bouts and all eyes were on who would emerge from the traditional men's Royal Rumble match to cash his ticket to The Showcase of the Immortals, it was women's wrestling that stole the show and had the industry buzzing, thanks in large part to the efforts of Lynch, Asuka, Rousey, Banks, Charlotte Flair, whom the fans empowered through their rabid support of the women's revolution.

One thing is for certain after Sunday's event: the division no longer needs buzz terms or catchphrases to train its audience on why the matches and moments are special. The women are doing it themselves and are now poised to headline WrestleMania for the first time.

That is, if management has the guts to pull that trigger and undisputably anoint Lynch THE MAN of WWE. 

WWE Further Diminishes Braun Strowman with Rumble Loss

Credit: WWE.com

A monstrous big man is only effective as long as that monster aura is protected and maintained overtime. Unfortunately for Braun Strowman, the 2019 Royal Rumble represented another instance of WWE not protecting, nor maintaining, that aura and the result is a Monster Among Men greatly diminished in terms of credibility and overness.

Strowman's addition to the Royal Rumble match was a late one as he replaced John Cena early Sunday afternoon.

From there, he entered the Rumble and wreaked havoc, as fans have come to expect, but he ultimately lost the match when he was cleanly, and without dispute, eliminated by Seth Rollins.

Worse than the loss is the perception that will inevitably set in with regards to Strowman. Fans have followed him on an unlikely journey to the top of the Raw brand, where he has met the likes of Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar fairly routinely but has not picked up any singles titles or signature victories over them.

Strowman breaks things, creates chaos and wows with his unbridled strength but when the time comes to win a big match, he takes a page from the Lex Luger Book of Choking and folds.

A comparison to Luger (circa 1994) is probably an appropriate one to make, given how many opportunities he has received and how fans have never really bought into him as the main event babyface destined to carry the show.

No matter how hard WWE has tried to present him as such.

He is a loser, a Superstar who chokes under the brightest lights and on the biggest stages, a reputation the likes of which Luger never shook and Strowman may never get the opportunity to, either.

I suppose it is ironic, then, that he lost Sunday's match to Rollins.

After all, The Architect has been the Bret Hart of this story for the better part of the year. Quiet excellence and a connection with the crowd has allowed him to hang around and hang around until there was no other choice but to give him an opportunity to run with McMahon's metaphorical brass ring.

At WrestleMania, it will not be Strowman's Luger who gets to vanquish Brock Lesnsar's hated Yokozuna. Instead, that honor will befall Rollins' Hart as history repeats itself.

Where that leaves Strowman going forward, besides No. 2 at best, remains to be seen. 

Card Structure Fails AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, WWE Title and SmackDown Live

Two of the best wrestlers on the planet squared off for the top prize on the SmackDown brand Sunday night as AJ Styles challenged Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship in a match that...nobody cared about.

Read that sentence again and imagine that scenario playing out a year ago.

Bryan. AJ. WWE Championship. Nobody cared.

The Planet's Champion and The Phenomenal One delivered a damn fine match Sunday night but found themselves in the immediate aftermath of the women's Royal Rumble, in which everyone's favorite wrestler Becky Lynch won and earned her shot at championship gold at WrestleMania.

Fans were asked to come down from that emotional high to pay proper respect to the WWE title match and there was just no chance in hell that was going to happen.

No chance in hell.

Funny, because it was Shane McMahon, son of the billionaire owner of the company whose theme song repeatedly features that phrase that should have found himself in that position.

Instead, McMahon's SmackDown Tag Team Championship win with The Miz, over The Bar's Sheamus and Cesaro, came earlier in the night to ensure the prodigal son could bask in the glory of victory.

Thus leaving Styles and Bryan to compete for the slightest hint of investment from an audience more concerned with grabbing beer and nachos and hitting the head after the exhausting thrill ride they had been apart of moments earlier.

Considering WWE Creative was introducing Erick Rowan as an associate to Bryan in an angle that will likely have long-reaching consequences across months of television, it is a damn shame the match and its developments were relegated to such a lousy spot on the card.

One can only hope WWE does a better job of structuring future cards so wrestlers, the titles they are fighting for and entire brands do not fall victim to unengaged audiences.

Brock Lesnar Proves the Power of Selling in Today's WWE

Brock Lesnar often gets a bad rap because he is a part-time Superstar carrying the top prize on the Raw brand but the fact of the matter is that his title defenses feel more special because they do not happen on a weekly basis. 

Sunday, he defended his Universal Championship against Finn Balor in a match that was damn fun and had the crowd thinking they may witness a monumental upset. Most of that can be attributed to the amount of selling Lesnar did for Balor, which in turn made The Extraordinary Man look even better than his nickname implies.

Lesnar sold his ass off for Balor, putting over the stomach-based attack the Irishman dealt over the course of the match. His efforts made Balor look like a star, put over the idea that fans were about to witness history and created a drama the match would not have had without it.

For all the negativity hurled in his direction, Lesnar proved just how significant selling can be to any match or segment.

Balor, one dismissed by Vinnie Mac for being smaller than most of his opponents, proved he did not need size because he had speed, agility and smarts. More importantly, those smarts nearly brought Lesnar's reign of terror to an end, something that resonates with fans.

The more Lesnar puts over for his opponents through the selling of their offense and attributes, especially the smaller ones, the more important they look by proxy. He made Balor look like a legitimate threat to beat him and he deserves major props for it because a guy his size, with his contract and stature, could have easily argued for a squash.

Nia Jax Is Awesome, WWE Booked Her Perfectly and She Deserves Your Praise

Nia Jax sparked a ton of controversy when she punched Becky Lynch last November and broke her face, costing the WWE Universe a match between The Man and Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series. And rightfully so. She was reckless and someone got hurt in that instance.

That aside, Jax has developed into a strong pro wrestler, something that feels like it flies under the radar pretty routinely.

Repetitions, matches and segments with talented workers has helped her improve to the point that she has become one of the more underappreciated members of the entire roster. Her work with Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, Asuka, Bayley and Ronda Rousey has unearthed in her a worker that is smart, recognizes her limitations and plays to her strengths.

Sunday at the Royal Rumble, she took the ass-kicking from Lynch everyone wanted her to after breaking the Irishwoman's face. She put both Lynch and Charlotte Flair over strongly en route to being the second-to-last woman eliminated from the women's match. 

If her night ended there, it would have been an expected and not-so-memorable outcome.

It did not.

In an era where intergender wrestling has been a very touchy subject, Jax entered the men's Royal Rumble match and stood toe-to-toe with some future Hall of Famers. Furthermore, she outshined them.

Jax laid into Dolph Ziggler and Rey Mysterio. She eliminated Mustafa Ali and came face to face with a Viper in Randy Orton, coiled to strike. Showing no fear, she stood in place, staring the two-time Rumble winner and third-generation star down.

She endured a superkick from Dolph Ziggler, a 619 from Rey Mysterio and an RKO from Orton before being eliminated for the second time in the night.

There will be those who denounce the idea of intergender wrestling because of this or that or preconceived notions as to what it is and is not, but Jax was booked stronger than just about any male in the match, another feather in the cap of women's wrestling on its defining night.

It took three former world champions banding together to eliminate the fierce, unfazed, unflinching, confident and strong woman seeking a trip to WrestleMania. That is incredible.

Even more so? Jax taking bumps off her male counterpart's signature moves as if it were a common occurrence. Showing great timing in doing so and selling each perfectly. All were signs of a woman that has evolved as a performer to the point that, love her or hate her, she is one of the cornerstones of the women's division on Raw.

From appearing visibly uncomfortable in some of her early NXT appearances to shattering a glass ceiling and mixing it up with top male stars in a day and age when that does not happen, Jax has exceeded any and all expectations to become damn awesome pro wrestler you should all be rooting for.