Backstage News On WWE Nixing A GRR Match, Daniel Bryan's Chest Welts, Vince McMahon Thanks KSA
- As noted, Daniel Bryan set a new WWE record for longest Royal Rumble run at Friday's Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Bryan entered the match at #1 and made it to the final three. He lasted 1 hour and 16 minutes, beating the 2006 Rumble record of 1 hour, 2 minutes & 12 seconds that Rey Mysterio set.
Above is post-match video of Bryan showing off the welts that WWE NXT Tag Team Champion Roderick Strong left on him. Bryan says he didn't lose the match because he got tired, he lost because he couldn't get Braun Strowman out of the ring but on one else could either. Bryan admits he's disappointed but says it was a pleasure to be in the match. Bryan says he likes that kind of competition as it fires him up. Bryan talks more about tangling with his former rival Strong and says he stopped being tired towards the end of the match. Bryan says he tried pouring out everything he had but unfortunately it didn't go his way tonight.
- As noted earlier via PWInsider, there was talk of doing a singles match on the Greatest Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show but that obviously never happened. The original plan was for Hornswoggle to wrestle Rob "The Giant" Araujo, who appeared for WWE as announcer WeeBL (or JB-Elf) for the Hornswoggle vs. El Torito WeeLC match at Extreme Rules 2014. Rob has also appeared for Hulk Hogan's Micro Championship Wrestling in the past. Plans were changed at some point in the day and they decided to put Hornswoggle in the 50-man Rumble match instead. Araujo was flown to Saudi Arabia but not used.
- Vince McMahon tweeted the following to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting WWE's historic Greatest Royal Rumble event on Friday:
Thank you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for giving the Greatest Royal Rumble to the @WWE Universe, an event that's truly the first of its kind. #WWEGRR pic.twitter.com/0lJw4zP8y3
? Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) April 28, 2018