WWE Royal Rumble Not Live, But Not Far Behind Blog 1/27/19
Bobby Roode/Chad Gable vs. Rezar/Scott Dawson
ER: This certainly feels like a WCW kind of move, with Akam injured they just sub in a different member of a different heel team fills in. Of course, it was usually with a babyface team though, so this is odd. And this match is much more of a snack than a meal, mainly highlighting Roode and Gable, which, sure, the tag champs should be able to easily to handle a thrown together team right? Gable had fun stuff, like his old school headscissors and Tim Horner armdrags, liked a tandem Roode neckbreaker while Gable moonsaults Dawson off the top, liked a spot where Dawson shoved Gable into the ropes chest first but then caught Gable's head in the eye on recoil. But there just wasn't enough here to make this feel like anything more than a 9:30 PM Raw match.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev
ER: Lana's outfit matches up with Nakamura which has to be seen as a slight. And I've kind of lost track of Rusev, despite watching the TV and PPVs. He feels like a guy very much lost at sea at this point, no matter what mid level title he has or is fighting for. But this is plenty fun, Nak throwing out a couple of his loose limb sloppy kicks that Rusev is really good at catching with a thud on his jawline, and the battle around Nak's triangle was really great. Nak locked in the triangle and I loved the time they took having Rusev fight up and through it, before turning it into a really awesome almost deadlift looking Jackhammer. Tim just pointed out that Nak won the Rumble and now he is fighting for the US title on the pre-show. Nak hits the Landslide, which looks cool on a larger opponent, looked like a convincing nearfall especially with Nak's great lean back on the pin. Nakamura's interaction with Lana was amusing, with Nakamura not falling for her feminine wiles and Lana taking a nice spill off the apron after Nak moved out of the way and Rusev crashed into her. Hopefully this will not lead to more garbage Rusev/Lana split-up stories, but this match was perfectly fine.
Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami vs. Buddy Murphy
ER: Tim points out that we have 4 foreigners fighting for this title, which is fun. And these guys bring some fun and silly stuff with Murphy as an early standout bumping around for everyone and basing for Kalisto. Murphy takes a couple different great spills to the floor, and we get a wild moment with Murphy holding Kalisto on his shoulders, with Tozawa hitting a elbow suicida that then sends Kalisto headscissoring Murphy into the barricade. If you're gonna get silly, make it cool like that. Tozawa looks to really be busting his ass here too, really relishing making it onto a big PPV card. Loved Tozawa eating a high angle monkey flip to the floor that looked really cool. Itami seems a step off from the rest of the guys in the match, always taking a wrong step or being slightly out of place. Big flip dive train was one of those trains where guys get launched over a lot of the guys doing the catching. The finishing nearfall save stretch was fun but felt a little more cooperative than I like. Murphy continued to shine, loved him catching Kalisto with that high knee. Murphy singles matches haven't done a ton for me, but he seems like he might be really good at tying up multimans.
Becky Lynch vs. Asuka
ER: Love that they're opening the show with this, and Asuka is making sure her shots read all the way back to the last row. There's a moment where Asuka is kicking at Becky's face with these great shoving shots, and I love the fire in Becky's face as she gets up. Becky seems off in a couple moments, namely shots that are supposed to miss, throwing things that would miss even if Asuka hadn't dodged. This whole thing is pretty heavily Asuka, but Asuka is working like a champ and Becky is a nice counter to that. We get a big moment off the apron where Asuka hits the rolling fisherman's buster off the apron, and back in the ring they do some fun stuff around Becky blocking a backfist. What's wild is this match felt almost the entire time like Lynch just flat out not being able to keep up with Asuka. They had a bunch of cool scrambles around a rear naked choke, but this at every step of the way felt like a dominant Asuka win, with Lynch never really having an opening to win. Asuka even locks in the cattle mutilation and gets a clean as a whistle tap. The scramble getting into the different subs was cool, but it was shocking how Lynch came off to me. This honestly felt like one of the greatest Asuka performances in her entire WWE run, she looked like an absolute megastar. I don't know if Asuka made one false move the entire match, she looked like freaking John Wick, so I had a ball.
The Miz/Shane McMahon vs. Cesaro/Sheamus
ER: I don't know the WHY of this but it should be fun. Shane is not a guy I love, but Shane is a guy who in a neverending grab to impress his father will lean insanely into beatings, so you get great moments like Shane hitting a nutbar lariat off the top to the floor, only to eat a bonkers European uppercut from Cesaro right after. Shane McMahon: Punching Bag, is a very entertaining thing. Shane McMahon: Making Guys Wait Around Taking His Offense. Shane eating shots from Sheamus? Great. Sheamus stooging around while Shane paws at him with punches? Interminable. So once the match goes into our extended Shane run, there are satisfying moments (Cesaro catching the Van Terminator), and we actually get Shane hitting a shooting star press for the win. Something tells me Shane wanted to be THEE heavyweight to not mildly botch a SSP on a major PPV.
Sasha Banks vs. Ronda Rousey
ER: Well this whole thing is great. That shouldn't be any kind of a shock at this point. Ronda is maybe the best PPV guarantee of the past calendar year. This whole match is a real freight train that never quite careens out of control, but always feels like it's building bigger and bigger and bigger. Ronda is such a pitbull and I loved how Sasha would bait her. There was no kind of dead time, these two felt like they were constantly going at each other's throats. Banks' shots are never going to be as strong as Rousey's obviously, but I love how she kept coming with them, slapping Ronda even if she knew she would end up eating a harder kick after. I always love the moments where they establish Ronda's weak spot, here she throws a sharp killshot elbow right at Sasha's face but Sasha ducks and Ronda blasts the LED post (love when the post buzzes out), allowing Banks to work her way in. We had big dives, nice nearfalls off some big Banks corner knees, loved her using Ronda's hurt arm to yank her into more knees. We never got any of those silly moments where someone outshoots the actual shooter, so I loved moments like Sasha trying an armbar and Ronda immediately rolling through it and making her pay. We even work in cool non-nearfall nearfalls, like Ronda tapping Sasha out on the floor and some fun stuff with Sasha keeping Ronda away from the ropes during the Banks Statement, and later an awesome Banks Statement with Sasha using a loose part of her gear to fishhook Ronda. Ronda is a total marvel, this was one of her greatest performances in terms of emotion and facials and it's wild how good she keeps getting. This whole thing was tight and was constantly in flux, fantastically laid out, delivered anything anyone excited for this match could have wanted. Ronda forever (also, Sasha).
Women's Rumble
ER: They really are giving us a fully legendary match long Nattie performance aren't they? I would love if that role went to Mandy (although there are a few moments early where she appears to lean out of stuff which is not her typical self). We really get a lot of chuds in there early, with both Iiconics and then a looooooooong extended HOW IS TAMINA STILL A THING runs. Tamina gets this long run of 10 different women bumping all around for her garbage offense, and then for reasons nobody will ever be able to explain, they hav Xia Li come out and have ONLY TAMINA exclusively take her offense. There are so many vets that are good at taking complicated Xia combos that are IN THE RING, and they opt to have Tamina take it. And shockingly, it all looks terrible. What a sabotage. Match Li with Mickie. They are getting rid of so many interesting people, while leaving a lot of trash. Lacey Evans has been in from 1, and hasn't looked interesting for a second of it, starting with her cookie cutter "I'M HERE TO CLEAN UP THE DIVISION" promo. The Naomi/Mandy Rose payoff is the first truly the first decent moment of the match, with Naomi getting the fun "walk the barricade" moment and an insane leap to the stairs (the leap looked gigantic)....and then the just-released Mandy Rose yanks her right off the stairs. I dug the Kacey Catanzaro stuff, she gets a bunch of fun Kacey Catanzaro stuff and gets an actual proper showcase with people who know how to take her shit, the opposite of the Xia treatment. I don't think we've been fully overexposed to "clever ways to not get eliminated" (yet) so I really dug the handstand into crazy monkey lift up the ringpost. Rhea Ripley basically looks like the blowaway best participant. She looks like an absolute monster here and matches up great with everyone. I'm really bummed at the overall treatment of Riott Squad here, they're so ready to be next level and they're just fodder. I will point out that I was completely correct that Natalya would be in this whole damn match. She's been wallpaper the whole time though, someone I keep forgetting about until seeing her in the corner. Tim informs me that there were Bull Nakano rumors, and I'm thankful he waited until all 30 people were already out there before telling me that. Maria Kanellis would have been pretty disappointing as a surprise entrant if I knew Bull was potentially on the table. As clunky as some parts were I think they did a good job of getting to the final 4, and I think it's a good final 4. Becky replaces Lana and I root for Finlay to become the biggest heel in the stadium by refusing to allow Becky to compete in Lana's place. Charlotte is such a natural heel that it is mind boggling that they have spent as much time as they have with her as a babyface. I loved the way the whole Becky/Charlotte showdown played out, really couldn't get more crowd pleasing than that, Charlotte came off mean as hell and crazy, and Lynch got her deservedly big moment. I also must say that even though I haven't mentioned it a ton, a lot of the eliminations looked really great. We got a lot of cool bumps and big splats, that even though I thought some of the elimination order was wonky, the eliminations themselves looked painful as hell. Final third made this thing work.
AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan
ER: This is an odd thing to say but I think I've seen these two enough for now. My brain now just automatically attributes a vulnerability to him, and my brain says "I want to see him against weird one off NEW guys" and at this point I've seen these two match up PLENTY. Give me a Bryan Gulak syndicated match, give me Bryan/Kendrick 20th anniversary, give me anything other than another AJ/Bryan match. And I don't know if the crowd is burned out from getting their big Becky moment, but they seem to feel the same way I do. This match didn't come off very engaging or compelling. Both landed nice shots, both did nice things, but it was a definite comedown match, feeling like they were intentionally working a comedown match. I honestly don't have a lot of comments on this one, it just didn't move me a whole lot. And we got a really bizarre Erick Rowan run-in, which....could you have picked a weirder guy to run in? This is like if Tommy Dreamer showed up. This is Flock of Seagulls coming out for a set during Carcass.
Finn Balor vs. Brock Lesnar
ER: Talk about an overdelivery. Wow. No sensible person could have been excited for a Finn Balor match, and I saw no plausible way for Finn to look good against Lesnar. Finn has terrible offense and you need someone to lace it in to look like you can dent Brock. But they end up doing it. I didn't expect it to happen, but they did it. They actually have Brock sell his diverticulitis, and I love when they implement that into big Brock matches, and Brock shows what a wonderful salesman he still is. Balor laced in shots more than I've ever seen him do, and while they're not going to look like Ikeda, Balor DOES lay them in as much as possible. And Brock's pale wide body takes damage better than any other wrestler's, reading all shades of pink red and purple. And Balor stomps away at him hard and Brock purples up, and they do some great stuff like have Brock get run large intestine first into the corner of the announce table. Balor avoids the Suplex City trap by playing up his slipperiness instead of his bad offense, so while he ate one monster belly to belly (and it was a great one) he kept floating like a bee, even slipping right into giving Brock an F5. Brock was tremendous at selling his vulnerability, I mean it is amazing how much he made Balor feel legit here. I don't think Balor has looked better in any other match that I've seen, I mean he did everything he could and Brock took it the way only Brock can. Balor looks like he genuinely wants to destroy Brock's large intestine with that final Coup de Grace.....and Brock responds like a wounded python. Can't lift him, can't slam him, SO JUST SMOTHER HIM WITH YOUR LAND MASS. All the camera angles of Brock taking that Coup de Grace and then smothering Balor with his body, eyes crazy like he was Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the thought crossed your mind while Brock was bending that arm...."Brock might actually break this guy's arm...." Brock brings an aura into the ring that nobody else can, and Balor stepped up to that aura, and delivered more than I could have anticipated. This was great.
Men's Rumble Match
ER: Well, a lot of this certainly sucked. It's never a great sign when I watch an hour of modern wrestling and say at the end of it "Well, I really liked Jeff Jarrett in that."
posted by EricR @ 5:00 PM
7 Comments:
I think the Lana thing is a way to eliminate her from the Rumble Match if she is listed as a participant. That was my first thought when I saw it but this isn't for live commentary. I will write more later.
Funny enough I stopped the ppv to do some stuff and come back and the review ends where I had left. Shameless and Celebrity Big Brother are more important than wrestling and need a break after a chore but fun match like a Rumble match.
RAW Tag Team Championship
What happened with solid preshow matches showcasing guys they don't regularly give time. They seem to be at least trying to rebuild tag divisions on both brands. Heavy Machinery is not the answer for either show.
Had at least some hope with this match when you got 4 guys mostly known for tag action if you include Roode's run in TNA but plain filler unfortunately.
US Title match
Like the tag titles the secondary singles titles they kind of don't know what to do with. Intercontinental they have done better with but we we don't get that belt defended on this show. At this point with no real brands need to just take these secondary titles and tag title including the NXT NA and tag titles and make a bunch of titles that are defended over all three shows, Leaves room for some build up talent/feud messages on these stacked cards.
Anyway the match itself they balked both the crowd currency both guys had ages ago. No one cares so it makes the preshow. Pretty sure this will effect the Womans Rumble match and they treat the title as a continuation of 50/50 booking rather than get me excited for either guy.
Cruiseweight Title Fatal Four Way
Except for Itami. Thought everyone worked hard like the cruisers always do with their ppv matches. I understand injuries may be hampering the guy but found him nothing special in his NXT run and was surprised when he was called up before others but imagine they are just trying to get something out of whatever he is getting paid when he signed him and was a bigger star.
No complaints always nice to see these guys in this once in a blue moon way.
Smackdown Women's Title
Glad to see McMahon has gotten back on track with treating Asuka like the star she is rather than a questionable joke angle though the tag with Naomi was pretty positive. Of course Asuka has been the perfect person to throw in to make sure we don't all tire of Lynch/Charolette to quickly. They were doing good building Mandy and Sonya but we got Mandy moved into a love feud perfect for Valentine's in their writers minds.
The only issue I have is all these woman use submission style finishers so it causes moments that just shift gear where I don't want it to go because the exchanges can come off a bit clunky to me but no where as clunky as some of the Lynch/Charlotte stuff where looked like one slip up and we got a wardrobe malfunction.
My thoughts at end of the match was now Sasha needs to lose to Rousey and they need to somehow backstage fight over getting Lana's spot either that or take this all the the next level with 'The Man' have Lynch take out R Truth or whoever and take there spot and win the Men's Rumble.
Smackdown Tag Title
Sorry this just leaned more to the idea I had about eliminating brand bouts. Shane stuff would be more interesting if it was once a year. Big four ppv's or more is a bit much for me. Miz and Shane are not the team to add to a mix with New Day, Uso's and The Bar.
RAW Women's Title
Again we got two ladies who usually finish with a submission. It ended in a straight pin if I remember right though.
The flow was much better and the trying for submission stuff never felt like a cluster. Rousey was back to form but have to say that could be Sasha. Bliss you don't have someone very technical. Jax you have someone who can be unsafe so that had to effect that match planning a bit. Charlotte with those long limbs.
We also got our yearly Sasha heel tease I believe too.
Women's Rumble
1) Lacey Evans - It was an okay way to introduce her to the WWE Universe. They gave her a long run and some mic time but she was not noticeable until Charlotte got in the match.
2) Natalya - A veteran to hopefully help the pace of it all but she was like Chris Jericho pretty much laying in corners and stuff so could tell she was likely to be this years Iron Women though was hoping for 3) Mandy Roseto get that title. This early was hoping were going to build on what they built in what was the Evolution PPV but really did nothing until of course Naomi came in.
4) Liv Morgan gots probably the fastest elimination of the night. Riott Squad should be something feared and respected but they keep pulling this stuff.
5) Mickie James I guess is back in face mode with that colorful outfit. Were left to see what happens now that Bliss is back and not much else.
6) Ember Moon continue to do positive things with her when they got a match to showcase her but honestly not sure what she is doing at least they haven't fallen to the easy fight Tamina for best friendship of Nia Jax.
7) Billy Kay I keep liking the Iiconics potential but until they get the Women's tag division so they can be the Alexis Bliss of the tag division the writers have left them in limbo.
8) Nikki Cross was worried may be winded since the entrance rap for that run is much longer than NXT's. Evans left an impression maybe she is going to Smackdown but still no clue about Nikki but that elimination bump. Ouch!
9) Peyton Royce so finally got the full Iiconics and they get used to help put over Lacey Evans which again I use for evidence Evans is going to Smackdown.
10) Tamina, is the experiment over? Did she
eliminate anyone? Fine with that because we would get a new potential future monster woman later in Rhea Ripley.
Women's Rubble cont
11) Xia Li, first real surprise not just the fact she was entered but also the fact they allowed her to get such a spotlight move fest. If Nakano was possibly a plan maybe it was at this spot to stop the non existent momentum of Tamina, she did eliminate one person that I think I remember now, I guess this is what they came up with instead.
12) Sarah Logan, thankfully they didn't job her right out but still didn't give her as strong of a showing as I believe was Wrestlemania Battle Royal.
13) Charlotte Flair, perfect spot to have her in match for awhile to eventually win or lose to Lynch, Sasha, and Bayley that is the final four I would have booked for this match.
14) Kairri Sane, these japanese girls they have in NXT now big moves seem to be aerial based. Where is some of the other NXT talent like Toni Storm, Bianca Belair, any of the MMA Horsewomen or Jazzie I thought heard her name dropped during the UK episode watched before the Takeover. UK tapings supposedly happened/happening there so the roster was there.
15) Maria Kanellis thought maybe she was start of some Legends but learned she had been off on 205 Live from announcers. Kuddoes for them booking so much NXT talent this year instead of padding match with Legends.
16) Naomi, gets the Kofi miracle save spot but had to share it with another and simply built on Mandy Rose storyline.
17) Candice LaRae nice to see her wrestle. I have skipped some NXT here and there but been forever since seen her wrestle though wish they would not push the family stuff so much but unlike Logan and Vega she at least works on same show as her husband so I guess it is okay,
18) Alicia Fox, I'm a weirdo so still like the weird ticks of her character and such but could have done without comedy moment build into the Rumble match.
19) Kacy Catanzaro still not a fan of her offense but at least she got to work with someone she probably worked with a lot at the performance center in Rhea Ripley. She even got to showcase a great elimination from being saved. WWE got me to believe in Alexa Bliss so who knows what the future might hold.
20) Zelina Vega because of her we get really the only Legend sighting in the match with her finding Hornswaggle under the ring. I see the training videos with her husband on Instagram and hopefully she can bring some of that stuff to her woman's matches but that small frame.
Women's Rumble cont
21) Ruby Riott, I wish each of her eliminations couldn't be totally contributed to help from her squad but came at a good time to make a bit of room in the ring. Sad potential so wasted.
22) Dana Brooke still miss the Alexandra York like character she was doing in Titus Worldwide.
23) Io Shirai see 14) Sane
24) Rhea Ripley was my MVP. She sized up well with the main roster and carried herself the best in the match and was allowed to get a good number of eliminations. I tried the first episode of UK show guess should consider seeking out episodes with her.
25) Sonya Deville after all this time still hard to take her seriously she on opposite brand from Rousey but she is the Steve Blackman or Ernest Miller of today at this point.
26) Alexa Bliss, welcome back.
27) Bayley I liked her here and thought maybe they were going with the 4 WWE Horsewomen as the final four with Lynch being eliminated first to give some mystery and do the have her comeback and win Men's Rumble.
28) Lana/Becky Lynch, set up from preshow was predictable but with Lynch and Sasha losing felt it could go either way but they simply gave us Lynch. Would have liked a brawl between both Sasha and Lynch getting them both in the ring with Lynch eliminated. Sasha following next with Flair over Bayley for the win. Have Lynch win and get all four horsewomen back on one show to help build up towards Wrestlemania though guessing noe pre Wrestlemania we will get Lynch vs Jax stuff since would think Lynch will be joining RAW soon.
29) Nia Jax could have been more action with Lynch but glad they are saving it.
30) Carmella should be more of a serious contender being an ex-champion but the dance breaks have just continue Mello means Comedy.
Match was fun and we didn't get to much of send all the ladies outside the ring so it is questionable who is in or out like last year. Rhea Ripley was impressive though not sure we got any new story lines out of this just more work on previous established ones. Lack of legends might get complaints but I welcome it with open arms.
This took to long to write and my exit from Network app didn't save my spot so will watch rest of card hopefully tomorrow before work.
Bàlor put on a damn show out there, and Brock was more than willing to let it work.
Finn is great with big main event guys. Roman and Braun have been his two best WWE opponents before this.
Only had time to watch the Men's Title matches and don't think I really have much to say.
Smackdown Title
Was hoping AJ would move to RAW after he lost the title. I get the whole built the place thing but AJ has gotten in way to long feuds where no matter how good everyone is it does get stale though unlike others they allowed this Bryan run go just a bit to long. It feels that way anyway.
Rowan would be someone new but isn't he coming back from an injury? They have never done anything to make him a credible singles wrestler the few years I been watching.
Just hope we are moving on from AJ vs Bryan but Andrade needs to be in a title picture not stuck in a feud with an ex champion. Mysterio could fill some dream match thing but can't think of anyone else on Smackdown want to see AJ with next but definitely not Rowan.
Rowan makes one think maybe AJ is on his waning days in WWE.
Don't act like it is not possible Eric to have Flock of Seagulls with Carcass. Seen Rappin 4-Tay open for them and Carcass did work with Bjork despite people on internet simply thinking it is a mash up instead of a b-side track on a Bjork single.
RAW Men's Title
In ways there is a certain non-belief factor when Brock looks like he has 100 plus pounds on the opposition but these matches with littler guys (AJ, Bryan, Balor) do create something a bit special with some great storytelling and winning me over.
Did I expect it from Balor no. Just expected some Beast vs Demon thing cause that is more of the WWE way of presenting stuff. Balor didn't even come out in the Demon get up.
Still upset about not getting AJ vs Brock II and wanted to see Drew McIntyre in this match originally but glad we didn't get Stroman vs Lesnar again.
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