Tags
AJ Styles, Akira Tozawa, Auska, Becky Lynch, Brock Lesnar, Buddy Murphy, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Drew McIntyre, Finn Bálor, Hideo Itami, Kalisto, Kenny Omega, Mandy Rose, NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, Raw, Road To Wrestlemania, Ronda Rousey, Royal Rumble 2019, Rusev, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, Shane McMahon, Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura, Smackdown, Sonya Deville, The Bar, The Miz, Vince McMahon, WrestleMania 35, WWE, WWE Championship, WWE Cruiserweight Championship, WWE Network, WWE Raw, WWE Raw Women's Championship, WWE Royal Rumble, WWE Royal Rumble 2019, WWE Smackdown, WWE Smackdown Live Women's Championship, WWE United States Championship, WWE Universal Championship
As I stated in my article yesterday, “This weekend is one of the coolest weekends in professional wrestling besides WrestleMania weekend because not only is it Royal Rumble weekend, it also marks the start of the Road to WrestleMania.” NXT TakeOver: Phoenix was last night and it did not disappoint, but tonight is where it all begins. The Royal Rumble is the platform that a wrestler can elevate his/herself to have the greatest opportunity afforded to them if they can out last 29 other men/women in the Royal Rumble match. This is one of two PPV’s that the WWE does that you hope that they don’t screw up and that they deliver on a product that is worthy of being presented to us as the main product. When the Royal Rumble invades Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, it will be the 32ND edition of the Rumble and I am excited because this is the start of the playoffs that will lead to the SuperBowl of the WWE in WrestleMania 35. Who will walk out WWE Champion? Who walks out Universal Champion and who wins the rumble match? Who will have the right to step on the stage that us wrestling fans like to call the “Showcase of the Immortals.” Hopefully, all of those answers will be answered and you as the wrestling fan get what you have hoped for.
I am going to talk about the Rumble matches first because it’ll paint a picture of who will win the championship matches tonight. Out of all the participants in the men’s Royal Rumble match, there are only two men that come to mind as a legitimate threat to win it all if Kenny Omega does not show up. Those two men are the architect Seth Rollins and the Scottish psychopath Drew McIntyre. Those two men have the best chances of winning the match, but only one can survive and I think that man is Seth Rollins. Seth has been quite the push as has Finn Balor and it just seems like destiny that he wins and claims his place at the top of the food chain. My iron man for the match which means the person who lasts a long time in the rumble is going to be Baron Corbin. I just feel like that snake will somehow find a way to stay in the match for a long time as he has done it before. The women’s Royal Rumble match is pretty cut and dry for me as I believe Becky Lynch will lose her match to Auska, but she’ll enter the rumble and she’ll win as she decides to challenge Ronda Rousey for her title as she’ll defeat Sasha Banks tonight. My Iron Woman for the rumble is going to be Sonya Deville who I believe in my heart deserves the push more than Mandy Rose and you can believe that.
Now, you probably guessed from the paragraph above that I believe that Brock Lesnar is walking out of the Rumble with the title. It’s not easy for me to say that because I would love to see Finn slay the beast or Goliath as Vince McMahon has referred to Brock as, but I just don’t see it happening. I just feel that the WWE is teasing you by giving you what you want, but I think Finn gets his real shot at the belt after Mania. The other championship match that is intriguing to me is the match for the WWE Championship between champion Daniel Bryan and challenger AJ Styles. I would love to see AJ walk out of the Rumble as champion, but I am starting to really get into Daniel’s heel run so I feel it’s too soon for him to lose it now. I don’t know what it is about the tag team match, but it’s one that I do not care about because I don’t believe in Shane and The Miz as a legitimate team to beat The Bar. I feel the same exact way about the United States Championship match between Rusev (Champion) and Shinsuke Nakamura. That has been a non-existent storyline on my radar so I have no vested interest. The only other match that seems interesting is on the pre-show and it’s the Fatal Four Way for the Cruiserweight title as Buddy Murphy defends his belt against Hideo Itami, Kalisto, and Akira Tozawa. I believe Buddy Murphy will retain, but it has the potential to be one heck of a match. Check out my predictions below and enjoy one of the coolest nights in Wrestling.
Buddy Murphy Retains
Rusev Retains
The Bar retains
Daniel Bryan over AJ
Brock Lesnar over Finn Balor
Auska over Becky Lynch
Ronda Rousey over Sasha Banks
Becky Lynch wins the Women’s Royal Rumble
Seth Rollins wins The Men’s Royal Rumble
This weekend is one of the coolest weekends in professional wrestling besides WrestleMania weekend because not only is it Royal Rumble weekend, it also marks the start of the Road to WrestleMania. This is the most important time of the year because all of the storylines throughout the year have been building up to this point (or so we hope it does). Tonight at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, the WWE presents NXT TakeOver: Phoenix which features some of the most power packed matches which are a true testament to what they have been building all year long. NXT is the superior brand right now and that is a testament to all the amazing indy talent they pick up all the time as well. Usually with a PPV, there are a couple of matches that I am looking forward to, but that is not the same with NXT which is all killer and no filler. Every match on the card has the potential to be a show stealer and as a wrestling fan that is all I can really ask for. One match that I am interested to see where they will go with it is the NXT Women’s Championship match that sees Shayna Baszler put her title on the line against the undefeated Bianca Belair. Is Shayna going to end her run or is Bianca going to be challenging Auska’s record run in NXT? The other question is what kind of a factor are the rest of the Horsewoman going to play and if Shayna loses, do we see her in the Royal Rumble?
Tommaso Ciampa is the best heel in the business as we speak and I am so thankful that he went in this direction because he has mastered the arts of the dark side. The only problem is his way is Aleister Black, a man that many feel Tommaso cannot beat because of the interference that occurred thanks to Gargano. However, one cannot contest that Tommaso is not a serious threat as he has been NXT champion for 190+ days. That is no easy feet as the man has run through competition like Gargano and the Velveteen Dream to name a few. Will Tommaso pay for his sins or will he succeed in defeating Aleister Black and ending that notion once and for all? Another match that I am looking forward to it the NXT Tag Team Championship match that pins NXT Tag Champions The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) against the behemoths known as the War Raiders (Hanson And Rowe). The WWE really needs to build their tag team division and what they don’t realize is that it’s thriving in NXT. This is going to be one unbelievable match due to the contrast of styles and I can’t wait to watch.
I definitely saved the best for last because NXT North American Champion Ricochet is going to be putting his belt on the line against the underachiever Johnny Gargano. Gargano is going to be under a lot of pressure in this match because he has to prove that he can win under pressure and when it counts in a championship match. I truly believe for his legacy in NXT, Gargano really needs this win more than you think he does because if he loses then what’s next? This match in my opinion is going to be the match of the night as we witness some magic that is going to be on display as Johnny Wrestling clashes with a man that defies the laws of gravity in Ricochet. The other match on the card features indy wrestling darling Kassius Ohno who is looking for some revenge over the embarrassing loss to the “King of Bros” Matt Riddle who defeated Ohno in six seconds at NXT TakeOver: War Games II. Something tells me that we are actually going to get more of a wrestling match out of this one, but I expect the same outcome when it is all said and done. I hope all of you wrestling fans are going to check this one out because it’s going to be phenomenal. Check out my predictions below:
CM Punk is back in the news again and this time it has absolutely nothing to do with his UFC career. It’s the fact that WWE gained a cheap win this week after a tough loss to CM Punk in court. So, I think it’s safe to say that the company found a way to get even with Punk and that was to have someone very undeserving of the milestone be the one that broke his record of 434 days as WWE Champion. CM Punk accomplished the feat back between 2011 and 2013 when he lost to The Rock at the Royal Rumble ending t he incredible run. Brock Lesnar has been WWE Universal Champion for more than 434 days now and he has barely defended the title which in my opinion was a cheap way to break a record. In fact, I believe that there should be an asterisk next to his record, but we all know that it doesn’t matter how you got there, but the WWE won’t admit that ever. The other thing is that they are two separate titles with both still active, so the record shouldn’t be broken, but the WWE doesn’t careand we have to love with that. The WWE did release a statement regarding the streak saying:
We are continuing to pay tribute here at Mr. X’s Punch Out to all the amazing African Americans that have stepped foot into the squared circle for Black History Month. Yesterday, we covered a gimmick from one legend that leaned more towards the horror side of wrestling and for today we have another one for you that is still fairly recent (at least a decade old). Martin Wright a.k.a. The Boogeyman was one of those horror like gimmicks that debuted in and around 2005 and 2006. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2006 when The Boogeyman had his first real feud against future hall of famer JBL (John Bradshaw Layfield) and his valet of sorts Jillian Hall. For weeks, he was tormenting them even grabbing Jillian and stuffing worms down her skirt. During a segment of Piper’s Pit, he sniffed and bit off a growth that was on Jillian’s face which was disgusting. So with all of this being said, the two of them would meet at the 2006 Royal Rumble in front of the American Airlines Arena crowd in Miami, Florida.
The whole entire time that JBL came out to the ring, he was looking around and at every corner to see if he cold spot the Boogeyman. You could tell that he was absolutely terrified because as soon as The Boogeyman’s music came on and the Boogeyman came out, he hightailed it out of the ring. He wanted no part it seemed like as he hid behind the beautiful Jillian Hall. At first JBL made Jillian confront the Boogeyman, but she was terrified as he placed himself over her with worms coming out of his mouth. Then JBL found the courage and entered the ring as he attacked him. JBL tried his hardest to knock the Boogeyman down, but nothing seemed to really phase him, but then out of nowhere things changed. JBL tried to do a shoulder block into the corner, but The Boogeyman would move out of the way causing JBL to hit the steel post. The Boogeyman would then proceed to deliver a pump handle powerslam to end the match. Just like that, The Boogeyman beat JBL in 1 minute and 54 seconds.
One of the greatest pay per views that the WWE has besides WrestleMania has always been the Royal Rumble just because of the 30 Man Royal Rumble match. It is a match that is considered the first stop on the road to WrestleMania and with good reason as many have cashed in on the opportunity it gives you when you main event the biggest show on Earth. The question going into this year’s Royal Rumble from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas was who was going to win a match that was completely stacked with some giant names like Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, The Undertaker, Braun Strowman, The Big Show, etc. The only thing is that the Rumble had to follow what I am calling a potential match of the year candidate in AJ Styles Vs John Cena. When it came time for the Rumble match, we were all wondering who was going to draw number one? Was it a current superstar? Or was it a potential debut? Instead, we informed by Enzo as if we couldn’t tell that it was Big Cass that drew number one. After a good five minute rant, we found out that Chris Jericho was going to start the match at number two. After Kalisto and Mojo Rawley drew three and four respectively, we were treated to our first surprise entrant in Gentleman Jack Gallagher who brought his umbrella in the ring and did some damage with it including to Chris Jericho’s undercarriage.
It wouldn’t be long before he was tossed out by the sixth entrant in the rumble match in “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry. Business picked up as soon as the massive Braun Strowman entered the rumble. Braun would show his dominant side for about 13 minutes. Braun with his size and power would eliminate seven wrestlers from the rumble that included (in order of elimination) Mojo Rawley, Big Cass, Kalisto, Mark Henry, The Big Show, James Ellsworth (who was tricked by Dean Ambrose to enter the ring), and Tye Dillinger before he was eliminated by Baron Corbin. The amount of wrestlers in the ring would build up for a while until Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, and The Undertaker showed up to take out the trash. Brock would eliminate Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, and Enzo Amore before he was taken out in the same fashion as the Survivor Series by Goldberg who handled him like a rag doll. Goldberg would snag a couple more eliminations before the deadman sent him packing from the Rumble match.
Then it happened, the one moment that disappointed WWE fans all over the world when they found out that Roman Reigns had drawn the number 30 spot. We couldn’t believe that at this point in the match, there were absolutely no debuts from NXT in the rumble besides Tye Dillinger coming out at 10 and no debuts from anyone outside the company. To make matters worse, Roman Reigns eliminated The Undertaker leaving the final four being Chris Jericho (who broke the record for the longest collective time spent in the Royal Rumble matches), Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, and Roman Reigns. Then just like that, Chris Jericho climbs the ropes, gets hit with a superman punch and is eliminated by Reigns. Then Reigns realized that he was outnumbered by Orton and Bray Wyatt as they gang attacked him in the ring. As Bray set up Reigns for the Sister Abigail into the RKO, Reigns countered with a superman punch for each of them and using Bray’s own momentum, he eliminated him. Reigns then set up for the spear, but got an RKO outta nowhere for it and then was clotheslined over the top rope making Randy the winner of the match. It was an Ok rumble match with things that obviously could have been improved, but that’s the breaks.
Usually the Raw before a big pay per view can be not as exciting at times, but that was kind of different with this week’s Raw from Cleveland at the Quicken Loans Arena. Mick Foley went backstage in the locker room to talk to Seth Rollins about the fact that he was going out to face Sami Zayn, but the only problem with the match was that if Sami Zayn won the match, he would be in the Royal Rumble and Seth would be out. This didn’t sit well for the former WWE Champion who is looking to use the Royal Rumble to spring back into main event status. Nevertheless, Seth made his way down to ringside to take on a man he teamed up with the week before in Sami Zayn. The beginning of the match belonged to Seth who was getting the best of Zayn as he was out wrestling him what was a technical wrestling showdown in the beginning. The match quickly turned into a fight though because both men knew what was at stake. Before the commercial break, Sami thought he had Seth who was reeling on the outside, so he set up for a suicide dive. When he came running forward, Seth cut him off in the ring and then threw him out for a successful suicide dive of his own.
When we came back from commercial break, Seth was in control of the match, but it quickly changed when he attempted a springboard maneuver off the ropes that was countered by Zayn into a blue thunder bomb. The two began seemingly throwing everything but the kitchen sink at each other from this point on as Sami tried to beat Seth with a Michinoku driver, but Seth would kick out. Seth tried to beat him with a blockbuster, but Zayn hung in there. We even saw Rollins hit him with not only the Avada Kedavra, but he hits Sami with the Falcon Arrow and Sami kicked out at two during the pin attempt. Both men were hungry to stay in the Royal Rumble match this Sunday, but who was going to get beat? At one point in the match, Zayn was going for the helluva kick on the apron, but it was countered and turned into a pedigree on the apron by Rollins. Everyone thought the match was over, but right before he could go for the cover, Triple H’s music hit the speakers. It distracted Rollins to the point that it gave Zayn enough time t recover and roll up Rollins in a small package for the 1-2-and 3. Rollins was now out of the Royal Rumble match and Zayn was in. This was a great match for a show that desperately needs to catch up to what Smackdown Live had been producing.