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JEDDAH — Mansoor turned his story into history at WWE Super ShowDown in his home country, winning the largest Battle Royal Match ever.
Whether it was hometown edge or sharpened determination on his part, the scrappy wunderkind delivered a jaw-dropping statement inside Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, eliminating Elias to prevail in the historic 50-Man Battle Royal.
With great reward, though, comes a trove of risks — and for Mansoor, those risks came in the intimidating field of the 49 other Superstars who stood in his way. After a sizzling performance by Elias cut the ribbon in this seismic free-for-all, the marathon bout shifted into a breakneck start. Right away, eliminations piled up, with The Singh Brothers, Karl Anderson, Akira Tozawa and EC3 among the first wave. Superstars from opposing brands came to blows in a massive contest of fisticuffs, creating highlight-reel moments, such as an intimidating three-way standoff between tag team monsters Heavy Machinery, AOP and The Viking Raiders. Elsewhere, rivalries were rekindled with The Usos super kicking one-half of the SmackDown Tag Team Champions Rowan.
By the time the field thinned to 11 Superstars, Cesaro went into beast mode, swinging (and then launching) Cedric Alexander out of the ring, while the returning Sin Cara sent Shinsuke Nakamura crash landing to the outside with an enzuigiri. The bodies continued to fly until only six Superstars remained: Mansoor, Ricochet, Ali, Cesaro, Samoa Joe and Elias.
From there, it was a hectic mad dash. Seeing Samoa Joe as an overpowering threat, Ali and Ricochet collectively eliminated the reigning United States Champion with a tandem suplex to the outside. Waiting in the wing was Cesaro, who cut their celebration short when he sent both flying out of the ring with a clothesline. The true surprise came when Mansoor popped up with a dropkick to launch The Swiss Cyborg outside. A rush of excitement then filled the atmosphere, as the hometown favorite squared up with Elias in the battle’s final moments.
After a back-and-forth struggle, Mansoor countered an attack by Elias, sending The Living Truth over the top rope to earn the biggest milestone in his young career. The reaction from the crowd was deafening as the ecstatic hometown boy jumped into the front row to celebrate with the WWE Universe. The inspiring underdog then followed up his victory with a stirring in-ring speech that brought goosebumps and tears in equal measure.
It was the first landmark moment of Mansoor’s journey, but certainly not the last.