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Showing posts with label Shinsuke Nakamura. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shinsuke Nakamura. Show all posts

WWE Survivor Series 2018 -- Results & Afterthoughts



Survivor Series (2018) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on November 18, 2018 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was the thirty-second event promoted under the Survivor Series chronology. The theme of the event was brand supremacy, where all but one match involved wrestlers of the Raw brand facing wrestlers of the SmackDown brand.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. The card was highlighted by two traditional Survivor Series elimination matches: Raw's men's and women's teams were victorious over SmackDown's. In the main event, Raw's Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defeated SmackDown's WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. Also on the card, Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey defeated SmackDown's Charlotte Flair via disqualification and Buddy Murphy retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Mustafa Ali in the only title defense on the card, as well as the only non-interpromotional match. Raw won brand supremacy clean sweeping SmackDown in all six interpromotional matches on the main card. Team SmackDown's lone win occurred on the kickoff show, victorious over Team Raw in the 10-on-10 tag team elimination match.


Since I'm a few weeks out on doing a write-up on this show, I'm not going to cover everything in order. As far as I'm concerned this was a two-three match show as most of this easily forgettable. Not to mention that WWE hasn't even worked most of this into their storylines following this event, so what was the point anyway?

Brock Lesnar def. Daniel Bryan

God, I was dreading this match. I joked about it the entire week prior that it might have been Bryan's last match in his career, but as I watched this, I feared the worst, especially after the first German Suplex. Then Brock kept going on and on and on with the punishment on Daniel Bryan that felt like an eternity to watch. At one point I was saying "Just end this already..." to my television as I had seen enough and I didn't want to see Bryan risk his health (especially since he was already on a shaky foundation back with WWE period in terms of them clearing him to compete) any further. About two-thirds of the way into this match, Bryan got like a second wind and started getting some offense on Brock. I wasn't buying this for a second - this match was nowhere as the back and forth contest that Brock had with AJ Styles last year. They were just killing time for Brock to hit the F-5 and win as usual. I'm sure they had a lot of people going that Brock was going to tap to the Yes Lock but do you honestly think that Vince McMahon is going to allow Bryan's ass to beat his golden boy Brock Lesnar? Nope, especially not when Brock Lesnar is set to return to UFC for a few fights while remaining as WWE Champion. They are going to want to make Brock look as invincible as ever until he has that next UFC fight.


Ronda Rousey def. Charlotte Flair via DQ

Boy did this match have a main event spectacle feel to it. I know WWE were pissed that they were saving this for WrestleMania next year and were forced to blow their load early in terms of booking, but there clearly wasn't any other alternative following Becky Lynch's injury.

I haven't talked about it much on Twitter and Facebook about my opinions on it, but I thought Nia Jax should have been fined or suspended for that act. There's NO excuses to be made for her in that situation. You can go back and watch the footage that's out there. Even WWE's own HD footage that was replayed on SmackDown! Live shows that Nia Jax stopped, looked Becky dead in the face, and struck her down. That was complete malice there - you have to be bat-shit insane to call that an "accident". She keeps that up and she'll be blacklisted in wrestling faster than Sexy Star or whatever name she's going by nowadays. The only reason WWE hasn't done anything to her is because who she's related to *cough* The Rock *cough*, but I will say it's a stroke of genius to just run with the heel heat. That girl is tanking on more heat than Roman Reigns and they would be nuts not to make a few bucks off the heat from pissed off fans disappointed that Nia robbed the fans along with Becky Lynch from this match.

As for this match itself, I thought it was a solid performance from both women. I've been critical of Charlotte in the past and I truly think that this year is where she's really coming into her own as a performer. She doesn't have her father's genuine knack for being able to carry anyone or anything in a wrestling ring, but she's definitely deserves to be at the top of WWE's women's divisions without a shadow of a doubt. For someone who has been training in purely MMA most of her career, Ronda Rousey has taken to this wrestling thing like a fish to water over the past year. I don't know who to blame on that turnbuckle bump towards the beginning of the match, but goddamn did that look nasty. Rousey got my respect just from continuing to tank on through the match regardless there. While I wasn't expecting a decisive victory for neither Charlotte nor Ronda here, I was taken back by the post-match attack that followed. There are no other words to describe it here - Charlotte beat the holy piss out of Ronda Rousey with those chair shots and kendo stick strikes. By the time it was all said and done, Rousey was covered with welts all over her body and even bleeding from ear from the damage that Charlotte inflicted. Heel Charlotte is ALWAYS going to be better than Babyface Charlotte any day of the week, so this was a good move in my eyes, especially when you have Becky Lynch running with the anti-hero tweener vibe.


All in all, I suggest that if you don't watch anything else on this show, go out of your way to watch this match and the post-match attack that follows after it. At least for the latter, I have the highlights of that below:



Seth Rollins def. Shinsuke Nakamura

Solid match, but that's to be expected with the talent involved here. I just wish that they had an actual program building up to this match rather than throwing shit against the wall and hoping that it sticks. On the bright side though, if they were to do another Superstar Shake-up between now and before/after WrestleMania, I would love to see Nakamura and Rollins on the same brand to get a full blown feud between them. I wonder if Nakamura's going to renew his contract with WWE in 2019 though or head back to New Japan...


AoP def. The Bar

For some reason, someone on WWE Creative thought it would be a great idea to have Drake Maverick piss himself after being cornered by The Big Show, which led to The Bar taking a loss here during this stupidity since they were "distracted". Ugh... just ugh is all I have to say about this match.


Raw men def. SmackDown men (Strowman, McIntyre, Lashley survivors)

I honestly don't understand why does Shane McMahon put himself through this every year. When it came down to him and The Miz, I knew Team SmackDown! wasn't winning shit. Shane might have won the "Best in the World" tournament in India, but that doesn't mean shit against the wealth of RAW talent that he was across the ring from. I don't watch RAW nor SmackDown! regularly, but from what I gathered from this mess between Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin is going to lead to another match between them and you can count me out on that one. I have as much interest watching that as I do wanting to watch paint dry. This match was ultimately a huge waste of talent for all men involved if I'm perfectly honest.

I can't speak for anyone else but I mentally checked out the moment Samoa Joe went out like it was nothing off ONE Claymore Kick and the crowd erupted into chants of "THIS IS BULLSHIT" for majority of what followed afterwards.


Raw women def. SmackDown women (Nia Jax sole survivor)

Mandy Rose ended up taking the vacant spot on Team SmackDown since Charlotte Flair got bumped up to fill in for Becky against Ronda, but it made little to no difference here. Most of Team SD fell like dominos back to back, but it ultimately came down to Asuka as the last woman standing to attempt to pull out a win for Team SD against the final members of Team RAW, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax. Like I mentioned earlier, it was a very wise move of WWE to take advantage of Nia's massive amount of heel heat that she has garnered as a result of what she did to Becky Lynch, but I don't necessarily agree to "rewarding" her with a win here. The only way I can agree to that is if Becky costs her the win at the Royal Rumble and that somehow sets Becky on the warpath to face Ronda at WrestleMania.

Outside of a few spots in this match, this was easily forgettable.


Kick-Off: SmackDown tag teams def. Raw tag teams (Usos sole survivors)

I didn't see this match personally, but I only bring it up as it was the only match that SmackDown! Live actually won, but commentary made a point to sweep it underneath the rug during the main part of the show like SmackDown didn't the scoreboards at all during this PPV. Xavier Woods tweeted it out too, but it went on deaf ears for the bulk of the PPV and the shows that followed on the week afterwards.


Buddy Murphy def. Mustafa Ali to retain the Cruiserweight championship


As hard as these two guys worked their asses off to make people care about this division following Triple H's revamp over the past year, especially with their high quality of matches here and on the brand as a whole lately, I think most people are finding it hard to remotely care about this division. It's sad too because I hear from people left and right that they tend to have great matches on 205 Live since changing things around, but I'm usually burnt out on WWE programming by that point of the week to even care. 
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WWE Extreme Rules (July 15, 2018) -- Results & Afterthoughts



Extreme Rules (2018) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event, produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on July 15, 2018 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the tenth event under the Extreme Rules chronology.

The card consisted of twelve matches, including two on the pre-show. In the main event, Dolph Ziggler retained the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Seth Rollins 5–4 in an Iron Man match that went into sudden death overtime. This was the first time that an Intercontinental Championship match was the main event of a WWE pay-per-view since Backlash in 2001. In the penultimate match, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Rusev. On the undercard, Alexa Bliss retained the Raw Women's Championship against Nia Jax in an Extreme Rules match, Bobby Lashley defeated Roman Reigns, and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship.


I know it's a few days after the event has passed as we've already seen the PPV fallout episodes of Monday Night RAW and SmackDown! Live, so I'm going to try something different for this write-up. I'm going to include my live tweet reactions from during the event as part of this article.

I didn't watch the preshow/kickoff matches, but I'll comment briefly on them if I was keeping up with those storylines/feuds.




I didn't see it, but if this was as good as their match on SmackDown! last week then it should have been a solid opener for this show. Only thing I know is the right man won.







Again, I didn't see this match as I thought this was the preshow and the actual PPV didn't start until 8PM - regardless of that fact, the right team won.









Didn't watch, didn't care. 'Nuff said.





Since the finish showed up on my Facebook timeline during the PPV, I watched this during the gaps in the action.

I don't understand what is WWE's fascination with "chicken shit" heels on both brands holding their Women's Titles, but it's not doing either brand any favors. The only thing a match like this does is expose how inexperienced Carmella is in comparison to someone like Asuka.







This was over in less than 60 seconds. I've heard that Hardy has been dealing with nagging injuries since after WrestleMania, but I didn't think this match would have been over this fast. As SOON as I turned on the PPV feed, the match was over. I'm not complaining that Nakamura getting his first championship win, but dang, it could've been after a cool match, especially after that explosive dud of a feud him and AJ Styles had going.

Randall... err Randy Orton returning is "meh", but I'll take heel Orton over babyface Orton any day of the damn week.






This is all what everyone needs to see from this show to be quite honest, even though WWE bastardized the spot after showing the crash pad inflating during Owens' landing in the replays. 




Kane was allegedly dealing with a legit ankle injury.






Two weeks later and WWE already reversed what looked like a step in the right direction. Lashley's win here meant nothing as Roman Reigns beat him on RAW to win the right to face Lesnar at Summerslam for the Universal Championship. I hate to say it, but Lashley might have to reconsider going back to Impact Wrestling at this point. WWE obviously don't know what to do with him, or any non-dancing black wrestlers that aren't goofballs. Need proof? Just ask Apollo Crews...










This was arguably the best match on the card tonight in my eyes. Rusev put on a great fight against the Phenomenal One, but ultimately fell short of capturing the WWE Championship, thanks to an unintentional blunder from Aiden English. There's still room here for Rusev to bounce back and capture the title down the line. Unfortunately, I don't see Rusev as the man to dethrone Styles right now. If anyone right now, it should be Samoa Joe at Summerslam.

As of this writing (7/30/18), that's exactly where WWE is going too since Samoa Joe has penciled himself in as the next challenger to Styles' title.






In some ways I can't blame the crowd for not giving a shit about this match when the WWE Championship match can't even main event this card. Even more puzzling is the fact that this match went last with that lackluster finish to boot. If that was going to be the finish this should have opened the show instead of ended it.

As for the fans hijacking the match about the timer and counting down like it was the Rumble match, that was just totally uncalled for. Then WWE took it down and really pissed that crowd off, only to make them get more adamant about it.


As of this writing (7/30/18), Dolph and Seth are still in this lackluster feud with people barely invested in this feud - despite these guys being incredible workers - when WWE's fanbase already see Dolph Ziggler as damaged goods. Even I can see the writing on the wall. Dolph's push is going to only last long enough for that pivotal moment where Drew McIntyre (ugh... Galloway) turns on him Diesel-style and goes on his own as singles main eventer.



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WWE Fastlane (March 11, 2018) -- Results & Afterthoughts


Fastlane (2018) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for the SmackDown brand. It took place on March 11, 2018, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. It was the fourth event under the Fastlane chronology. The 2018 event was the final SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view and subsequently the final brand-exclusive pay-per-view under the second brand split as following WrestleMania 34, all WWE pay-per-views will be dual-branded, featuring wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Rusev


I caught the tail end of this one, but from what I saw it was better than what I was expecting going in to say that they booked this match at the last minute. I hope whenever they do the next Superstar Shake-Up post-WrestleMania they do something with Rusev, Aiden English, and Lana. They need to quit squandering a potential main event player they have sitting on the sidelines here. As for Nakamura, it was a no brainer to give him the win here as he has to look strong going into WrestleMania. It just seems like they are biding their time on his time to shine before WrestleMania, where they (hopefully) make him look like a rockstar in his first WrestleMania match.


United States Championship Match - Randy Orton def. Bobby Roode (c) to become new champion and become the latest entry in WWE's ongoing list of Grand Slam Champions


There were some good moments in this match and a lot of slow bits too. Call me cynical but Orton and Roode just don't click well. They were teasing the RKO reversal from the top rope almost the entire match as even the crowd was ready to see it coming the multiple times that Roode kept going from off the top rope. I kept saying to myself, "Roode's going to get RKO'd out of the air..." I just knew it was going to happen as Roode isn't known for high flying offense and mostly kept his arsenal ground based.

I can't be mad at WWE taking the belt off Roode as that run was a flash in the pan anyway. Orton has more name value going into WrestleMania so I can understand why they went with Roode dropping the title to Orton here. Either they are going to have Orton drop it back to Roode at 'Mania or (groan) drop it to Jinder Mahal...


Carmella and Natalya def. Naomi and Becky Lynch


Nothing really to write home about this match other than the shock I had at Carmella picking up the win. They must be setting up the Money in the Bank winner to fail whenever she cashes in as WWE's mantra is usually to job out the MITB holder until they cash in for their big win. If they are setting up Asuka to win the title from Charlotte then Carmella can definitely count that out if she thinks she has a chance to cash in on Charlotte.


SmackDown! Tag Team Championship Match - The Usos (c) vs. The New Day ends in no contest after the Bludgeon Bros. (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan) laid waste to both teams


Going into this match I had little to no enthusiasm to see this match, despite the fact I knew that this would have been arguably the sleeper hit of the evening. Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against New Day and the Usos' in-ring talents. I'm just sick of seeing them feud. Their promos for this match have been great, but I don't want to see the Usos drop the titles to anyone until or after preferably WrestleMania. This has been the best run of their careers and no need to waste that push on dropping the belts to the New Day for the millionth time.

Seeing the former Wyatt Family members lay waste to the opposition here was the best thing I've seen from any portion of WWE's tag team division in months. Superb booking here. If they can find a way to shoe in Haas and Benjamin... err Gable & Benjamin into the mix too and have a Fatal 4 Way for the SmackDown! Tag Team Championships that's NOT on the damn preshow for WrestleMania then you can call me a happy camper.



SmackDown! Women's Championship Match - Charlotte Flair (c) def. Ruby Riott (w/ Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan); Asuka challenges her post-match for WrestleMania


I hate to knock both ladies here as this wasn't a bad match by any means, but good Lord Charlotte is a far cry from her father in terms of ring psychology. These matches where she takes the bulk of the abuse in the match and barely working her opponent's legs only to win off the Figure Eight drives me nuts. After the Alabama Slam/Modified Electric Chair Slam into the corner, it would've made more sense to win off a Natural Selection than slapping in the submission. I mean, c'mon she was working Ruby's head more than her legs in this match so that just made me throw my hands up in terms of psychology here.

As for the post-match angle that saw Asuka immediately come down to point at the WrestleMania sign, I wasn't surprised in the least. Out of all of the women on the main roster who have been spared Asuka's wrath, it's Charlotte who has somehow dodged the bullet to cross paths with the Empress of Tomorrow until now. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that they were going to have Charlotte drop the title to Ruby when they were building her up for this pending match. The only thing that would have stopped this match becoming reality would be some freak accident/injury between now and WrestleMania in April. Besides, out of the two reigning champions on RAW and SmackDown!, everyone knows that


WWE Championship Match - AJ Styles (c) def. John Cena, Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, and Dolph Ziggler to retain


This match wasn't bad, but it was very telling that AJ Styles was going to retain because he out of the mix for the bulk of the match. When I noticed that, it was very telling that they were going with the safest means possible to avoid any possible injury from the Phenomenal One here. You knew Baron Corbin wasn't winning this and Dolph Ziggler sure as hell wasn't going to win it, especially when John Cena's in the damn thing too. Owens and Zayn were there just to play off their bromance that's been the focus of SmackDown! Live for the last few months (and main reason I haven't cared to watch honestly...)
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WWE Royal Rumble 2018 (Jan. 28, 2018) -- Results & Afterthoughts



Royal Rumble (2018) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE featuring wrestlers primarily from the Raw and SmackDown brands, as well as surprise appearances from competitors on the NXT brand. It took place on January 28, 2018, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the thirty-first event under the Royal Rumble chronology, the first to include a women's Royal Rumble match, and consequently, two Royal Rumble matches.

Nine matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show. In the main event, Asuka won the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match, which was also the second women's match to main event a WWE pay-per-view, and the first to main event one of WWE's "Big Four" pay-per-views. The men's Royal Rumble match was won by Shinsuke Nakamura. Other prominent matches included Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal Championship in a triple threat match against Braun Strowman and Kane, and AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicap match. The event was also notable for the surprise appearance of former UFC star Ronda Rousey following the women's match, officially confirming that she had signed full-time with WWE.



ZX: Serena are back again for our tag team write-up on Royal Rumble 2018 since we already tackled NXT Takeover: Philly write-up together so we might as well go two for two since we did actually watch the entire event together. Kudos to Serena staying up on Sunday given the time difference for her in the Lithuania. I lost her halfway into the NXT show (laughs).

Serena: Once again, ZX left me to fend for myself against the wolves that is the 2 hour, oh so special, Kickoff Show. I don’t know why I bother to turn this thing on. But since in my neck of the woods PPV’s start at around 2 AM, I try to entertain myself with this debacle. Usually, it is just not good. Don’t get me wrong, the matches most of the time are fine, but the panel makes me want to rip my eyes out and my ears off. But hey, I survived, so that is something to be thankful for.


Kalisto, Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik def. TJP, Jack Gallagher and Drew Gulak



ZX: Dang, what hole did they did out Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik? I might actually go back and watch this one (laughs).

Serena: Well, we started with the Cruiserweights. And the saddest part in my eyes was the fact that they wrestled in pretty much an empty arena, since only a handful of spectators were actually present. Yet, the match itself was absolutely okay. Your usual team vs team bout, heelish tactics, hot tags. Nothing to write home about. Except for an absolutely amazing spot nearing the end of the match. Kalisto, Dorado and Gran Metalik all stood on the top turnbuckle and did a trio moonsault on TJP, Gallagher and Gulak, who were all standing outside of the ring. Definitely, a beautiful spot, worthy to be seen by more people.



The Revival def. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson



Serena: Okay… I will confess. I could start acting like I knew that this match was an awesome tag team bout, showing us the absolutely best that the division can offer. Well… Not the case. In reality, before the match started I went to wash the dishes and when I came back, the match was pretty much at its end. So, um… Yeah. Pardon me, I missed this one and only saw the finish and that it is. Hopefully, I didn’t miss much.



United States Championship Open Challenge - Bobby Roode © def. Mojo Rawley



ZX:: As soon as Mojo’s music hit, I flipped the TV back to the game I was playing… Serena, this one is yours. (laughs)

Serena: Another one? Jesus. Okay… Um. “GLORIOUS!!!”. I always mark out during that entrance. It is just too good not to imitate or at least sing along to. Yeah, another throwaway match. Of course, I do understand that WWE creatives had a rough patch here, since Enzo Amore was released by the company not even a week earlier, also some other backstage hiccups happened last minute. So, this match was okay, you can’t really fault neither Rawley nor Roode. But was it a memorable bout that should be on the main card? Nope.



2-on-1 Handicap Match for WWE Championship - AJ Styles © def. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens



ZX: Going into this PPV, I had completely NO interest in watching this match, but I’m glad to say that they definitely won me over by the end of this. AJ Styles is without a shadow of a doubt the best worker on the main roster, if not the entire company at this stage. My only concern is that I hope he stays healthy and injury-free throughout WrestleMania season.

Serena: When you think about it, it is kinda odd to see the WWE Championship title match open the show. After all, that title has a name and a legacy to it. So, a bit saddening to use it as an opener. But, it does make sense, because all three can rip the roof off the building. And it was exactly what they did. The match was highly energetic, fun to watch and a great way to start the PPV. I remember telling ZX during the match that my admiration for Styles has no end. Seriously. What an amazing worker. He can make anyone look like a million bucks. And he, in cooperation with Zayn and Owens, made this match so much more than it was on paper.

Also, as a little side note: Sami Zayn is not a heel. It just doesn’t seem to work. He pretty much tries to copy KO, but whereas Owens shines his brightest as the sarcastic and snarky heel, Zayn is forever the lovable underdog, the optimistic babyface. I don’t really see this working for long.



SmackDown! Tag Team Championship Match - Best of Three Falls - The Usos © def. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin



ZX: A fun match to watch, but I was so damn happy that they didn’t drag this out to three falls. WWE abuses that so much in these Best of Three Falls matches that it’s almost a given. I applauded that they let the Usos retain in a clean sweep. Kudos to Gable and Benjamin for their efforts here, but they aren’t over enough to deserve a title run yet. From what I did glimpse at of the pre-show, letting Jason Jordan verbally bury their failures isn’t doing them any favors either, but I’m confident that they could turn this around by the end of the year.

Serena: In all honesty, this match was also quite a pleasant surprise. I did think that this match will take the reigns as your “bathroom break” match, but no. It was actually quite a fun, high energy match. Gable is turning out to be the stronger one out of the former “American Alpha” union as he is not only pretty good in the ring, but also quite charismatic to boot. Of course, the finish of Usos retaining wasn’t that much of a surprise as the brothers are actually becoming one of the best teams currently in WWE and it would just be odd to take the titles away from them. They grab your attention, they are entertaining in the ring and they keep surprising me with the quality of their bouts. Kudos to both teams.



Winner of Men’s Royal Rumble Match: Shinsuke Nakamura



ZX: We’re going to discuss this in detail since we both had fun watching this together live last night. I don’t see why people were complaining so much about this match when this was the best Rumble match in recent memory. Excellent use of all of the talent and not too many surprises/wasted spots to not enjoy it.

My first favorite spot was Baron Corbin going nuts a la The Big Show after returning during the 2001 Rumble and getting eliminated by The Rock to lay waste to everyone. If they want to continue to insist on Corbin being their next “big” guy then this is the way to do it. If Strowman was in this match, then it would have been the same trainwreck. I don’t even like Corbin in any shape or form and I popped for this spot.

Serena: I know that ZX is not that big of a fan of Mr. Lone Wolf. And the way they were booking him as of late, I wasn’t becoming a fan either. But, what a nice change this was. Baron just went ballistic, pulling out anyone and everyone outside, beating the living crap out of everybody. What especially helps, is that he actually has the physique and the demeanor to pull this stunt off. If this is Corbin’s new character, then I am definitely getting behind it.

ZX: Elias coming out to play in concert during the middle of the Rumble was a rare treat, but boy was I surprised to see Cien Almas in this match. I can’t remember but is this the first time that they’ve had one of the current NXT Champions in the Rumble match?

Serena: I think that might be the case. Also, Elias appearance did make for Corey Graves to throw out a witty jab, that slowly started restoring my faith in him as a commentator: when Elias said that the timer was stopped until he finishes his song, Graves just said in this dry, serious tone: “I sure hope not.”.

ZX: They had Tye Dillinger in the 10 spot again, only to get assaulted backstage by Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Zayn takes his place in the Rumble, so I guess Dillinger joins that select list of Superstars who never were “technically” eliminated from the Rumble match since they never got to enter in the first place.

Serena: Honestly, I was thinking that Owens might actually come out as well, but only later on did I remember that he has some secret injury and that WWE are letting him take it easy. So, there goes that prediction.

ZX: I was surprised that Sheamus went out instantly at the hands of Heath Slater, but then I remembered that he has some neck/spinal injury that they are trying to hide so it’s better that he doesn’t work a full Rumble match when he still has to wrestle again later in the show.

Jinder eliminates all of the New Day save for Kofi Kingston who “Kofi’s” his way out of another Rumble elimination by landing one foot on a stack of pancakes. One of my favorite spots in this Rumble occurs afterwards once Kofi eliminates Jinder Mahal and he’s pummeled by pancakes from the New Day at ringside. God I need a gif of that... AND Orton’s RKO to Almas later in the show.



Serena: And with that The New Day earned my utmost respect and love. They hindered the Jinder… With pancakes… Sometimes I do start to feel that we are fans of quite a peculiar televised programing.

ZX: Broken… err Woken Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt teaming up then eliminating each other didn’t make not one lick of damn sense, but whatever. I’m glad they weren’t in this Rumble for long anyway. The Hurricane’s rather short impromptu return served as the one “silly” throwback that this Rumble needed and I was definitely glad to see Gregory Helms show up again in a WWE ring. I REALLY wanted him to challenge Neville when he was Cruiserweight champion too last year, but he was still employed by Impact Wrestling at the time.

Adam Cole’s inclusion in this Rumble was a HUGE damn shock. Talk about a “Shock to the System” like how Undisputed Era’s theme song goes. Other than his entrance he didn’t make as much an impact here though, not that I’m complaining that he was in this match to begin with.

Serena: Definitely, one of the more exciting appearances during this Rumble. I think that WWE is for sure all in on Cole, so hopefully soon he, along with Aleister Black, is on the main roster, shaking up the competition. I mean, a match between those two for a title? Now that is my kind of fantasy booking.

ZX: Ugh… The Miz and those HORRIBLE looking Yes! Kicks to Cena and Rollins. And here I thought Brie Bella was bad at recycling Daniel Bryan’s offense… I don’t know what worse, Miz’s Yes! Kicks or his piss poor attempt at doing Ric Flair’s Figure Four Leglock a few years ago.

Now we know why Rey Mysterio turned down Impact Wrestling’s offer to attend their last set of TV tapings. Dude looked like he was in better shape than his original run with the company. Hell, he looked better here than even his Lucha Underground appearance for the last two seasons. I dare say Rey was back to form from his WCW days. I wonder if this is a one-off (like Rob Van Dam’s various Rumble appearances) or the start of a full-time deal to do his last hurrah with the company?

Serena: For now, apparently this is a one off appearance and Rey has no deal to appear in WWE on the regular. But hey, his appearance was one of the biggest shockers of the night and definitely brought the entire arena to their feet. Plus, the shape this guy is in is phenomenal.

ZX: Miz ends up getting eliminated via a Shield powerbomb by Reigns and Rollins, who ends up tossing Rollins out immediately afterwards. I guess that was payback for his heel turn a few years back and trying the same thing in a Rumble when the Shield was together. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get Rollins vs Roman at WrestleMania in the undercard if they decide NOT to go with him in the main event against Lesnar.

Dolph Ziggler makes his return as the last man to enter this Rumble match. I took note that Ziggler was acting like Shawn Michaels and had his gear tailored like the “Showstopper” from one of Rumble appearances from his younger days. That proved to be for nothing when he got eliminated just like everyone else before the bottom 6 took the stage.

Serena: During the show we chatted with ZX and both of us were wondering who was going to be the 30th entrant. Undertaker? Lashley? Triple H? EC3? Drew Galloway? Jeff Hardy? A new signee we haven’t heard about? Nope. It was the return of Dolph Ziggler. No, don’t get me wrong. Dolph is a great worker and one of the most underused and underappreciated talent in the business. Without a doubt. He makes even the shittiest gimmick watchable. But, with Almas, Cole, Rey, Cena, Rollins and all of these other names appearing, his entrance was… Underwhelming. And so was his performance. He was eliminated quickly and was underused once more. Please, let this guy go. Look at how great Cody Rhodes is doing. Dolph could do great things in the indies. He needs to move on and change the setting.

ZX: I couldn’t agree more on that statement about Ziggler. His talents are criminally under-utilized in this company and it’s clear that he’s capped off behind a glass ceiling that WWE never let him break through any time soon if ever.

On a positive note though? Whoever booked this Rumble deserves a raise. I loved the visual here as we got two different generations of WWE Superstars at a clash here. John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton (Ruthless Aggression Era staples) stare down with Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, and Shinsuke Nakamura (PG/Reality Era and former NXT Alumni budding stars) as we get a cool representation of old and new guard coming to a clash here. You could sell this year’s WrestleMania poster off ANY combination of these guys headlining this year’s event.

Serena: Also, just a quick mention, but kudos to Reigns for his evolving gimmick. Taking in the fans hatred and despise for his ongoing push, Roman became somewhat of a tweener, with his current character resembling more of a heel rather than a face.

By the way, am I the only person who noticed that Cena was giving a “Rise above Hate”/”Don’t listen to them” pep talk throughout the entire time they were in the ring? That was an odd break of character.

ZX: If you go back and watch that part over, Cena’s actually talking Reigns and Nakamura through the last phase of the match. Gotta love Cena and how loud he calls spots. That will never stop being a staple feature on BotchaMania. At the end, he clearly shouts to Nakamura “NOW! NOW!”

Serena: Hey, admit it, you would do that too. Most of the time Nakamura does seem a tad out of it. Just a little bit.

It came down to Cena and Reigns teaming up against Shinsuke Nakamura, who both did a great job of putting him over as “the guy” for the Rumble winner here. Even though I got scared a few times at the possibility of WWE Creative being stupid enough to go with Roman Reigns as the winner of the Rumble again, I’m glad that they made the right decision in this case. Now we’re getting a Wrestle Kingdom 9 rematch within a WWE ring for WrestleMania for AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. Fingers crossed on both of these guys not getting hurt before ‘Mania.

Serena: Without a doubt, this was one of the best outcomes we could get. Shinsuke and AJ Styles is a wrestling fan’s dream booking and if everything goes smoothly, we’re in for a stellar Wrestlemania.

ZX: Let’s not jinx it. The hard part is wondering whether or not WWE is make this build worth it or will they half ass it like the last few Undertaker WrestleMania match builds.



RAW Tag Team Championship Match - The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) def. Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan ©



ZX: At this point, I had really mentally checked out as this was literally the bathroom break match for a lot of people. I felt sorry for Rollins as he had to wrestle TWICE in this same show back to back when Jason Jordan was reduced to doing a fake injury angle for WWE Creative would have an excuse to take the belts off them and give them back to The Bar.

Serena: Everybody saw this from miles away, especially after Raw 25 and what not, that Rollins was gonna murder Jordan and that they will lose the belts. Well, he didn’t, but the belts are back with The Bar either way. I’m happy with this outcome. Sheamus and Cesaro make for a badass team and they should be champions. So all is good. Also, heard that the reason behind Jordan playing up the knock on the head is because he suffered an injury some time earlier and now has to keep it to the bare minimum, similar to Owens.



WWE Universal Championship Match - Brock Lesnar © w/ Paul Heyman def. Braun Strowman and Kane



ZX: Just as expected, Kane was just here as an afterthought and merely there to get the pin for Brock nor Strowman would have to take a loss here. People keep saying that WWE is going with Reigns vs. Lesnar II at ‘Mania and I have to say that I’m not really convinced of that. It seems like they could have Lesnar drop the title to Strowman at ‘Mania if they want to keep dragging this feud out. It’s either that or drop the title to Strowman next month in the Elimination Chamber match. As for this match, I was honestly half paying attention to it. Brock got some suplexes in, Strowman, Brock, and Kane laid waste to a ton of furniture in this match, and of course, Kane took the losing pinfall. There really wasn’t much to write home about in this one.

Serena: Very much so this match was my bathroom break. Everything you could expect: from the spots to the finish to the outcome. Been there, done that, seen it. Let’s move on.



Winner of Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Asuka



ZX: Much like the Men’s Rumble Match, we’ll discuss this one in detail too.

Maria Menounos can go fuck off somewhere, double for Stephanie McMahon begging for attention during this match on commentary. For some reason, they had RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and SmackDown! Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair sitting at ringside during the duration of this match. They didn’t do this with the men, so I didn’t see what was the point of forcing the champions to sit at ringside when it was just going to piss them off that they weren’t in-ring to be a part of this monumental event in WWE history and women’s wrestling as a whole.

Serena: Menounos tried her hardest to imitate an old school boxing match ring announcer and failed so badly that I wanted to watch the first two entrants on mute. Honestly, Lillian Garcia would have been the best choice for this match. A bit of nostalgia and also, one of the most well known female ring announcers in WWE.

ZX: Sasha Banks (dressed like Wonder Woman) and Becky Lynch started the match off, with Sarah Logan and Mandy Rose entering shortly afterwards. The first big surprise (or rather nostalgia treat) in this match came in the form of Lita making her Women’s Rumble debut. Lita seemed like she was moving around in slow-motion at times, but it was good to see her here regardless. Stephanie McMahon pointed out on commentary that Lita had the names of the women who couldn’t make it for this event written on her left arm (Luna Vachon, Chyna, etc. to name a few). If that doesn’t give you the feels, then I don’t know what kind of heartless monster you are. (Laughs)

Serena: Well, this was my mark out moment of the evening. As a long time fan of Amy “Lita” Dumas, I was beyond ecstatic to see her back in the ring, with her signature red hair and punk rocker look. Even though she was a tad rusty and maybe slower than we are all used to, but still, I choose to put it all aside and just be happy to see that moonsault and hear that entrance theme once more.

ZX: Kairi Sane came out next and looked like a damn kid with most of these women even though she knocked the shit out of Lita at one point of this match. Lita hits her signature DDT on Tamina, then the Twist of Fate on Becky and Sasha before hitting her Diving Moonsault on both Becky and Sasha at the same time. Shortly after that, Becky eliminates Lita which made me laugh a little bit as it seemed like WWE Creative’s way of trying to put Becky over the original model when her NXT gimmick was carbon copy/cheap knockoff of Lita in the first place.

Torrie Wilson returns in this match - looking just as great as she did during RAW 25 earlier this past week and ends up eliminating Dana Brooke. I love Dana, but Mae Young and Moolah could’ve eliminated Dana from the grave from how bad her ring work is… Torrie is eliminated by Sonia Deville shortly afterwards.

Serena: I have to agree with ZX on both points here. Torrie Wilson looks like an absolute stunner. I believe that both her and Terri Runnels blew everybody out of the water at Raw 25. Although, I would have prefered to hear her “A Girl Like That” theme song rather than “Need a Little Time”, but hey, that is just a little preference. Either way, even though I was never a fan, it was still great fun to see her back in WWE.

ZX: Molly Holly enters at the #12 spot and even hits the Molly Go Round on Sasha as I mark the fuck out. My hype dies down as McCool enters this match and eliminates Molly and Lana. McCool looked great too, but goddammit her kicks are just as bad as The Miz’s if not worse - if that’s even possible. To be honest, I NEVER thought she had good offense even during the height of her career, so for me nothing really changed in that regard.

Serena: Oh, even I marked out seeing Molly Holly back in the ring. Knowing that she kept denying her entering the Rumble and how WWE doesn’t even give her enough credit for what she is and what she has done for the business, it made me so happy to see her again. And Molly looks in tremendous shape. Never missed a beat throughout the very short time she spent in the ring.

ZX: Vickie Guerrero came out in this match for some odd reason with her massive amount of heel heat intact. I wasn’t too crazy about her showing up to actually “compete” in this match when they could have given her spot to her and Eddie’s daughter (Aiden English’s real life wife FYI) Shaul Guerrero who was on one of the earliest seasons of NXT during the FCW era. The best thing Vickie did during this match was knocking out Carmella with that MITB briefcase.

Serena: Definitely the gif’able highlight along with Jinder Mahal getting beat up by pancakes. Please, somebody, make this a thing. Please.

ZX: Kelly Kelly returned shortly after Vickie Guerrero’s departure and as much as I liked seeing her, I was suddenly reminded of her ring work. She got better towards the end of her WWE run, but she showed like NO signs of that here. Might be better that she stays out of the wrestling business (laughs). Torrie Wilson put up a better fight than she did. That was on my dream match list at one point too - Torrie vs. K2. But now? I rather not see that at all. Not that I’m complaining but K2 looked like she was about to have a wardrobe malfunction at any moment during that match.

Serena: I think we also have to mention another Hall of Famer making a brief appearance. Jacqueline came out as #21, yet was very quickly eliminated by the powerhouse that is Nia Jax, who entered the Rumble soon after. There were quite a few reports that Jax was favorited as the possible winner of this match. But, after seeing already 30 Rumble matches, it is safe to say that the “big guys” or in this instance the “big girl” don’t usually win. They eliminate quite a few people, but at the end of the day, all of the remaining participants gang up and somehow push the “monster” over the ropes. The same fate struck Jax as six wrestlers in total eliminated her.

ZX: I was glad to see Jacqueline in a WWE ring again, but I honestly didn’t need to see her in this match for “validation” - she did that and then some for in WCW prior to her WWE career and then later as part of TNA/Impact Wrestling as part of the foundation of their Knockouts division with Gail Kim. Then again, someone from her generation of WWF/E Divas needed to be there since Ivory, Sable, Tori, and Debra weren’t anywhere to be found. “Black don’t crack” as the saying goes in terms of her age not showing, but (whistles) Jacqueline could’ve done something about those bald sides showing.

Nia Jax had a strong showing here and I definitely loved her stand off with Beth Phoenix. I was hoping we were going to get a Glam Slam out of that but no dice. Beth Phoenix looked just like her last in-ring appearance and was moving around like she never left. I have to agree with Gail Kim’s tweets about the Rumble, stating that Beth needs to come back full-time and be a road agent/locker room leader for the current crop of women there. It was an absolute joy to see the Glamazon back in full force tonight. My heart melted when her and Nattie shared a hug together and we got a VERY brief reunion of PinUpStrong. Is it too much to ask for a Nattie vs. Beth Phoenix match for WrestleMania?

Serena: “The Glamazon” was another long time favorite of mine, so seeing her in the ring with Natalya was truly a heartwarming affair. I do have to agree with some other reviewers that unlike the male Royal Rumble, the ladies did have a lot more nostalgia and “oh my feels” moments. Maybe… Just maybe, a tad too much. After all, girls like Nikki Cross or Peyton Royce and Billie Kay could have most definitely made an appearance. Sure, we did get Ember Moon making her main roster debut, still playing off the damage done to her by Shayna Baszler the night before. And the girls from Absolution and Riott Squad were there as well. But that is pretty much it. The Bella’s, McCool, Torrie Wilson, Kelly Kelly, Lita, Molly Holly… They brought the big guns and fired everything all at once.

ZX: I didn’t mind the nostalgia as we knew going in that they were calling back a lot of the older women who were scratching and clawing for this opportunity for the longest. It was their moment as much as it was for the current generation of women in WWE. My biggest issue with this match up to this point was how many times groups on groups of the women were rolling out underneath the bottom rope and just laying down at ringside to rest. Sasha Banks was in there for what, 45 minutes and I swear she was out at ringside for 40 of that. At one point, I just said fuck it on trying to keep up on eliminations as I couldn’t tell who was out or who was just resting around at ringside.

Serena: What happened next was both funny and absolutely sad. With the last two spots in the Rumble left, I was trying to guess in my head, who will be entering. I knew that #30 will no doubt be Trish Stratus. Just had this gut feeling, because I just didn’t see Ronda coming out and wrestling the other girls. Wasn’t going to happen. So then, I thought that it could be Kaitlyn or maybe Peyton Royce together with Billie Kay. Maybe Victoria or Melina? Candice Michelle? And then… Bayley’s music hit. And I started laughing, because I completely forgot that she was actually on the roster. Slipped my mind. Shows how little WWE Creative’s are engaging us with The Hugger these days.

ZX: Oh god. We both laughed when we were watching together. I felt bad that I completely blanked out on Bayley even being in this match. We can place the blame on WWE completely shitting the bed on what to do with that poor girl. She had the makings to be the female equivalent of John Cena of appeal to children, especially little girls, but all of that was squandered on the main roster. I saw Victoria wrestle at Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore event that was streaming free on Twitch that past Friday, so I wasn’t really expecting her to be in the Women’s Rumble. She fought a hilarious match against Kenny from the Spirit Squad if you’re wondering. Candice Michelle “retired” properly at one of those events too last year against Victoria, so I wasn’t expecting her either. Bummed out that we didn’t get Melina in this thing but maybe next year? I was surprised that the Iconic Duo didn’t debut in this match either. They haven’t been on NXT for months now and no main roster call-up in sight. Are those two injured or something?

Serena: And here we have the last entrant… No, not Rousey. That would be too easy. Trish Stratus. The Hall of Famer was #30. And yeah.... Huge pop, everybody was excited. Too bad that Lita came out so early and got eliminated before Trish coming out, because a little square off between those two or maybe a little rivalry set up between them and the Bella’s would be actually quite fun. Hey, a girl can dream. The match was fine afterwards. Sasha Banks won worst Rumble competitor award this year, since she kept stopping others from eliminating people. Maybe too many dives got to her head. Even Graves on commentary kept noting that Sasha should stop interfering when other wrestlers are trying to throw someone over the top rope. Albeit, she was the Iron Woman of this match, so kudos I guess.

ZX: I was fine with Trish Stratus getting the last spot as this first ever Women’s Rumble wouldn’t have been “legit” without her and Lita in it. I agree that it’s a shame that we didn’t get a nostalgia moment between Trish and Lita followed by possibly having them setup a rivalry between the Bella Twins that they have teased wanting to do on social media for the longest that I can remember. Trish even said that would be the only match she would actually consider coming back for working a WrestleMania program. Only Trish I liked was heel Trish and her retirement run if I’m perfectly honest. Even I couldn’t deny it was cool to see so many generations of Divas (there I said it, go ahead and flame me…) - past and present - in one match for this historical event. I still say Trish looked disturbingly thin though. She definitely didn’t look like herself.

Serena: And now, the finish of this match. Asuka became the inaugural winner of the Women’s Royal Rumble. Which in my eyes was a well deserved victory. She is steadily built up as a threat to every single female on the roster and, to a certain point, she could be a threat to the guys as well. Skillful and talented, her charisma transcends through the language barrier. With the current female roster, Asuka is probably one of my favorites. And I couldn’t be happier that WWE continues to book her like a strong competitor after her transition from NXT.

ZX: My only issue with Asuka is that she is obviously memorizing her few lines in English. I know Nakamura actually speaks English but his accent is so strong (nowhere as bad as Becky Lynch’s during promos though…). Asuka was the obvious choice for the winner for this match and I’m SOOOOO glad that they didn’t go with Rousey (we’ll get to her in a second). It’s crazy to see that WWE crowned not one but TWO international/Asian talent in one Royal Rumble event. If you told me that WWE would do that 10-15 years ago I would have thought you were insane. My only concern is how do they keep Asuka undefeated until then? Call up some more women from NXT or have her beat jobbers until April? They have already ran the well dry in that regard outside of possibly doing something with Bayley and Sasha Banks, but we already saw how the latter went down on RAW Monday night.



Afterthoughts:


ZX: I thought this entire show as a whole wasn’t bad at all, given I didn’t bother watching the pre-show, but for the most part this show definitely delivered. I dare say that this was one of the rare occasions where the main roster outshined the NXT kids. People can sugarcoat it all they want but there were a TON of massive missteps during last night’s Takeover event that I just can’t overlook. I agree with the majority that the last two matches on the Takeover card were great, but definitely didn’t redeem the crap we saw prior.

After we watched the show together last night, I went back to look on social media (especially Twitter) to read comments on the PPV and was ultimately disappointed on how people were treating the women after they had their moment in this main event. It was far from perfect, but in terms of nostalgia and seeing the women - past and present - getting a chance to shine here was definitely worth that spot on the card. It didn’t take anything away from the men’s Rumble to have the ladies go on last, so I don’t see why people were butt-hurt about that.

The only thing I do agree with the hate on social media was that it was in VERY bad taste to have Ronda Rousey completely steal Asuka’s thunder for her moment after winning the Rumble. They could have started RAW off with that tomorrow night or something.

Serena: Personally, I might have shuffled the card around a bit and switched around the order of some matches. But in the end, this is a minor problem in my eyes. Over all, this was an amazingly fun PPV. Truly. I enjoyed the matches, even the minor faults, they didn’t really ruin the night for me. Especially knowing that I stayed up till 6:30 am to watch this. I was pretty much content with all of the winners. And the Ronda moment… Well… Um… It’s truly hard to say anything. When you think about it, how can you book her? She’s probably as green in the ring as Baszler. So, you can’t really put her in the Rumble, because if she beats someone like Trish, Asuka, Sasha or Nikki, it will look a bit on the ridiculous side. So, debuting her after the match was a safe bet. Yet, I do think that Creative could have given her just a tad bit more to do. Because now, her walking around, pointing at the Wrestlemania sign 5 times and then trying to shake hands with Asuka and Steph… It was kinda on the odd side of things. Sure, making a statement that her goal is Wrestlemania is fine. But if this is her career now, we needed to see something more than this.

Of course, I also agree with most of the ladies on the roster, when they felt undermined by “Rowdy's” debut and voiced their disdain. But hey, this was bound to happen. WWE will throw a new or indie talent under the bus for a cheap pop and a few ticket sells. So, everything made perfect sense to me.

ZX: They could have shown Rousey in the crowd at the start and ran the match normally, that way she wasn’t a distraction from everything else that went down and took away from the ladies’ moment. That way everyone has that mystique of “what’s Ronda Rousey doing here?” and kick off RAW the next night with that. They already had that segment to kick off RAW with Stephanie tooting her own horn about “making the Women’s Revolution in WWE a reality” so Ronda Rousey showing up at the start of RAW would have been perfect for that ratings boost in the first hour.

I can understand why the ladies on the roster were pissed off. They’ve fought for multiple generations for equality and a chance like this, only to have it ultimately overshadowed in the end by Ronda Rousey’s debut. Seemed like a HUGE spit in the face there in that regard. I dare say it was as much in bad taste as Sting’s WWE debut in Survivor Series a few years back when Dolph Ziggler’s big moment was completely eclipsed over the fact Sting made his debut during that same match.

Even women from outside of WWE thought it was a bad idea, with Gail Kim chiming in and few other various female talent from the indies giving their comments on it. They went as far as thinking it was completely disrespectful to the champions, Asuka, and the women that came out to compete in the match. I wouldn’t blame Rousey for that misstep - that was all WWE’s fault in that regard. On one hand, I get why they did it at the end, but on the hand, I’m really not surprised as they have managed to shit the bed on all of these “firsts” for women’s wrestling in their company in one way or another. Remember how they let a man hand Carmella the win in that first ever Money in the Bank match? Boy, that was a powder keg.

I'll end this write-up with a final closing thought. While I'm happy that WWE's women are able to break through the glass ceiling that they have been limited to for so long and allowed to have so many opportunities that have been without their reach for so long in terms of equality with their male counterparts, I wonder if all of these "firsts" truly worth it if the end result are hit or miss? Just something to think about... You take away all of the nostalgia and returns here and would you call this match great? For me, not really, especially if you want to compare this to the debut battle royal that TNA/Impact Wrestling did for the Knockouts division roughly a decade ago.
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