Paypress testing

Category: WWE News

  • WWE NXT results: Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin, Alex Riley returns!

    • The Big News: Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe both won the #1 Contender’s triple threat match over Baron Corbin
    • The Medium News: Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are now AMERICAN ALPHA!
    • The Little Beaver-sized News: Alex Riley is back. No really.

    I am not spoiling anything, but I cannot wait to go to NXT Takeover: Dallas.

    American Alpha defeated Blake & Murphy (w/Alexa Bliss)

    American Alpha is the new name for Jason Jordan & Chad Gable. Tonight they are here to do battle with yet another former set of Tag Team Champions. They have beaten The Vaudevillians and The Ascension and are now here to do battle with Blake & Murphy. They still have the Lucha Dragons and the Wyatt Family to go. Blake and Murphy were outclassed by Gable at one point. Murphy was trying to get the heat, but Gable took out both men by himself like it was nothing. The fans chanted that Blake’s top know looked stupid. Gable used a hip toss on Murphy that looked more like a power slam.

    After being whooped by Gable, Murphy injured his knee coming down from a leapfrog. Blake tried attacking Gable from behind and IT’S A MIRACLE! MURPHY IS HEALTHY AGAIN! The heels took over briefly until Gable back dropped Blake out of the ring. Jordan got the hot tag and it was Full Suplex University! Jordan suplexed both men time and again before winning with their double team move.

    – Alex interviewed Emma and Dana Brooke. Next week, Emma will face Carmella. Dana pointed out that the tag match last week was all about Bayley and had nothing to do with Carmella. They mocked Carmella for losing to Blue Pants and said Emma will have no problem with her next week.

    – We got an Asuka video package.

    Nia Jax (w/Eva Marie) pinned Liv Morgan

    Brian Witner’s favorite wrestler is in the corner of Nia Jax. Yeah, he’s the only one. Anyway Liv Morgan looks like a low rent Kaitlyn and Nia destroyed her. Something tells me this match was total crap live as we got more than one obvious edit. Nia won with a legdrop.

    – Carmella cut a promo saying she would beat Emma all by herself, calling the Emmalution a freaking joke. Enzo and Cass took over and called Dash & Dawson fat. Enzo said he almost beat up the guy pumping his gas because he thought it was Dash and Dawson.

    – A Baron Corbin video aired.

    – Another heel Vaudevillians video aired. THEY ARE NO LONGER SMILING!

    Alex Riley pinned Bull Dempsey

    Bull has yet another new theme. No seriously. Alex Riley is back. Remember when he quit his NXT announcing job to go after Kevin Owens? How many people does Owens have unfinished storylines with at this point? The announcers talked about how they didn’t even know Riley was here. Well the announcer and the guy who cues the music certainly knew. Riley almost won with a neck breaker and did win with a knee to the face. No one cared. Remember when Riley when randomly get good reactions? Well this was not one of those nights.

    Riley was in a dark corner drinking water. He said the last 4 months he has sent texts and emails to Stamford, Connecticut and got 0 replies. I think Vince was like “Who?” Anyway, Riley was upset because NXT had video packages for Sami Zayn’s return and in depth profiles on Apollo Crews and nothing about Riley.

    Elias Sampson pinned John Skylar

    John Skylar has HHH’s logo on the ass of his trunks. Or at least a logo that looks a lot like it. This match was fine. It was better than Sampson’s other squash matches, but that’s like saying being shot in the foot is better than being shot in the head. Elias won with a spinning neck breaker.

    – The Hype Bros were randomly talking about The Vaudevillians’ promo packages, bro. They became really annoying, bro, when talking about going clubbing, bro. Bro, then they talked about Zubaz, bro and Mojo watching Ryder sleep, bro. They said bro in 30 seconds more than Vince Russo could ever dream of, bro.

    – Next week is Finn Balor vs Apollo Crews in a non-title match.

    Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe both won the #1 Contender’s Triple Threat Match when they made Baron Corbin tap out.

    I always love a good fight and that’s what this was. It was three guys who all had one goal and that was to win and become the #1 contender. Joe tore through both men for several minutes. He kept knocking Baron down and out, outside the ring, while beating on the smaller Zayn. Zayn was finally able to dispose of Joe, but as soon as he did that he ran right into Corbin. Poor guy could not catch a break.

    Sami finally caught a break thanks to the commercial break. Zayn fired up as we came back from commercial and hit an amazing dive over the top rope to both men outside. Corbin almost pinned Zayn with a Black Hole Slam. Joe at one point used a drop toe hold to Sami where Zayn landed in a pinfall on Corbin. The referee didn’t even attempt to count since Joe was doing his running back splash to both men.

    Zayn nearly got a win with a Blue Thunder Bomb on Corbin, but after Baron kicked out, Joe yanked Sami outside the ring and choked him out with the Coquina Clutch. Zayn had to wake up because Corbin had Joe pinned with End of Days and he had to break it up. Zayn had Corbin pinned again, this time with the Halluva Kick, but Joe broke it up. Zayn slapped the Sharpshooter on Corbin…and Joe ran in to put the Crossface on Baron and he had no choice but to tap out.

    Both Zayn and Joe argued that their submission was the one to cause Corbin to tap out. Mr. Regal walked out to talk to the referee. Mr. Regal said he had to go review the tape of the match. The fans had no idea what they were saying and everyone just walked off.

    *****

    That does it for the show. Until that point, thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers! Be sure to check out WrestlingOutsiders.com for 100% free wrestling and MMA podcasts!

  • Nakamura to debut at NXT TakeOver: Dallas

    After news broke that AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson were on their way to WWE, the next obvious question was “When will we see them debut and where?” For Styles, that was answered this past Sunday at the Royal Rumble and with three matches so far this week, he’s officially in the WWE mix.

    Wednesday night, we got our answer as to when we’ll see first Nakamura under his new wrestling umbrella: NXT TakeOver in Dallas, TX, during Wrestlemania weekend.

    During the NXT tapings in Orlando, FL, general manager William Regal played a video for the crowd announcing that the former NJPW Champion’s first appearance will be at the sold-out TakeOver event on Friday, April 1st on WWE Network. Unfortunately, the video hasn’t been released as of this writing. However, at the same Wednesday tapings, fans learned of his opponent for that show. If you want to be spoiled, here you go.

    Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez will discuss this and more on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio for subscribers.

  • WWE Smackdown spoilers: Chris Jericho/Dean Ambrose/Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt/Luke Harper/Erick Rowan

    – New Day opened the show. They ran down The Rock because he didn’t hold any championships. The Miz came out and agreed with them, and said Rock had disrespected him, and he’s a fellow movie star. The Usos came out and ran down Miz. The New Day said that the Usos were riding Cousin Dewey’s coattails. Then Titus O’Neil & Dolph Ziggler came out and we had a match.

    – Usos & Ziggler & O’Neil beat WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day & Miz. O’Neil pinned Miz with Clash of the Titus.

    – U.S. Champion Kalisto beat Neville to retain. Good match with a Salida del Sol finish.

    – Chris Jericho was out for the Highlight Reel.  He talked about his match with Styles on Raw and said had two of the Fast Lane main event participants on the show. Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns came out. Ambrose was cheered and Reigns had a mixed reaction. Reigns said how he and Ambrose started their career in a warehouse in Tampa. (Didn’t Ambrose start in Cincinnati?) Jericho tried to stir things up. They both put over that Brock Lesnar was a monster. Reigns told Ambrose that he’s never been able to beat him before so good luck. The Wyatts then came out and talked about what they did to Lesnar in the Rumble. Wyatt challenged all three to a six-man tag for the main event.

    – A.J. Styles beat Curtis Axel with the Styles Clash in a short match even though the other Social Outcasts interfered.

    – Divas Champion Charlotte beat Natalya in a non-title match.  Quick match. Becky Lynch made the save when Charlotte attacked Natalya after the match.

    – Sasha Banks, Tamina and Naomi were backstage taking about Banks going after the title.  They teased the idea they may be splitting up down the line.

    – R-Truth and Goldust did a comedy segment

    – Chris Jericho & Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper & Erick Rowan via DQ.  Strowman interfered.  The Wyatts were beating up on the faces until Big Show came out.  They all beat down Show until Jericho & Ambrose & Reigns recovered and cleaned house.

  • The Rock leads to huge WWE RAW ratings

    The combination of the day after the Royal Rumble and the appearance of Dwayne Johnson led Raw to huge numbers last night, averaging 4.09 million viewers over the three hours, up 18 percent from the prior week.

    For a comparison, the new audience brought in by the usual Rumble bump and curiosity of where that leads saw hour one up 10 percent from last week, so that’s roughly what Raw could have been expected to do, or slightly more because last week did have that bad third hour, as compared to last week without The Rock. Where The Rock helped the numbers is that hours two (where he appeared in the last few minutes) and three (where he appeared in the first few minutes) help up far better than usual, and hour two outdrew hour one, a rarity these days.

    Still, last year’s post-Rumble Raw did 4.41 million viewers and a 3.27 rating for a studio show where they replayed the Rumble itself due to the blizzard.

    The three hours were:

    8 p.m. 4.14 million viewers
    9 p.m. 4.18 million viewers
    10 p.m. 3.97 million viewers

  • RAW off-air notes, Superstars results

    Submitted by Chris H

    WWE Superstars:

    • Stardust def. Darren Young with the Crossroads.
    • Titus O’Neil def. Tyler Breeze with the Clash of the Titus.

    RAW Notes:

    • HHH got a good reaction for his entrance but he was being booed by the end of his promo.
    • Crowd was very into AJ Styles, chanting his name many times and pulling for him over Jericho.  It will be interesting to see how long they tease the Styles Clash. That was probably match of the night.
    • The guys dressed up as Savage, Hogan, Rock, and Undertaker were sitting in the front row facing the hard camera.  The Savage guy started to stand and do the Macho Man motion during the Kane vs. Wyatt match.  He was asked to cut it out by security.  Then he did it again and security swarmed on them.  During the commercial break, they were playing some videos on the Tron with the lights out and it appeared that they were being ejected.  A few minutes later, they were being escorted to the seats you saw them in during the Rock segment.  The fans chanted for them a few more times but they didn’t draw attention to themselves again.
    • The Miz vs. Kalisto match just destroyed the crowd.  Miz’s long period on offense had people begging for the end.  They somewhat recovered for the main event but not fully.
    • They didn’t make a big deal about the Fast Lane announcement in the building after the opening promo.  Many forgot that it was even coming, as people started streaming for the exits once Reigns and Ambrose won, and especially when Rusev went through the table.
    • After the show ended, and Ambrose and Reigns left, Rusev recovered and took another monitor to the back, to add to his collection from last night.

  • 5 Royal Rumble rules WWE should make

    The Royal Rumble is the most fun show of the year. It’s better than WrestleMania, way better than SummerSlam, and don’t get me started on Fast Lane… But it could be much better. WWE treats the rules of the Royal Rumble so flippantly it weakens the match, and thus draw, of the entire event.

    This year, the Royal Rumble match was booked exactly as one would expect. Reigns started strong and was looking like he could go the distance, but was taken out by the dastardly Vince McMahon and the League of Nations (what year is this?), and then made a valiant comeback, only to come up short. Reigns took home the bronze while HHH took home the gold. (Dean Ambrose won the silver.) The story was well executed, and they got where they needed to be in terms of progression, but good Google people, the rules, what happened to the rules?!?!

    WWE needs to enforce the rules of the Royal Rumble. As it is explained to the fans, the only way to win is to be the last man in the ring after all 30 (ish) members have entered. Elimination occurs only when a participant goes over the top rope and both feet touch the floor. No DQ, no anything else. It’s a free-for-all. There’s no time limit, there’s no “wrestling” rules. This begs the question… WHY EVER GET IN THE RING!

    The huge loophole in the rules is that the wrestlers actually CAN get out of the ring, as long as it’s not over the top rope. Reigns was pulled out of the ring and attacked by the League of Nations and stretchered out. However, since his body never went over the top rope, he was never eliminated. A similar thing happened last year with Curtis Axel. He was never eliminated (yet most didn’t notice). VInce McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin pulled a similar stunt like this in 1999, and it was stupid then. This year, Reigns was carted off, only to re-enter, seemingly fine, and nearly win. Hmmm…. Why wouldn’t EVERYONE get out of the ring, under the rope, and NEVER be eliminated? It’s important, because just like Santino in 2011 hiding under the ring and nearly winning at the end, why wouldn’t everyone use this strategy? It’s so glaring that it’s frustrating. I understand that this is the WWE Universe and every competitor has a larger than life ego and thus wants to ALWAYS fight and ALWAYS win and ALWAYS be the best, but if it were real, even slightly, the obvious strategy would be to wait to actually enter until the very end, then roll in as the fresh man and toss out the final guy.

    Obviously, we don’t need to hash out every little detail to really put it on the level but here are some rule changes that would make this match more legitimate and more of a draw.

    Amendments to the Bill of Royal Rumble Rights:

    1) Make the time a complete shoot.

    We need a clock, a real clock, on the Tron / TV at all times. Make it transparent. I realize that they are trying to hit certain spots at certain times and it’s easier to do if WWE works the time, but that’s on the performers. Plus, I hate guessing what number they are on and trying to count backwards. “Was Dolph number 7?” Just tell us! Put all that info up as it happens! The WWE claims this event is all about the numbers, but really it’s just about two numbers, 1 and 30. How cool would it be to see Rey Mysterio’s longest run streak on the Tron and see everyone’s time in comparison? “Oh wow! If AJ Styles lasts two more minutes he’ll break the record!” Instead, we have no clue. The announcers are doing a better job of telling us cool stats than in the past, but why not show us the numbers?

    2) Once the time is up and the buzzer sounds, you have 10 seconds to get to the ring.

    If you dilly dally, and don’t make it, you’re out. Or make it even simpler and explain that if you’re 23 and number 24 gets in the ring before you because you were jaw jacking with the fans, you’re out.

    3) If any part of your body touches ANYTHING (including people) outside of the ring, you’re out.

    Screw the top rope. You can still eliminate guys over the top, but it’s just not necessary. None of this hopping on one foot, riding Big E’s shoulders, or putting a cookie sheet on the floor, if you’re outside of the ring at all, you’re out. I’m waiting for the year when someone protests, “My shoes touched the floor, not my feet!” As it stands, get yourself a good lawyer, and you could possibly wind up in the main event of WrestleMania.

    4) Yes, you can lose by DQ!

    Why don’t these guys enter the ring with guns and knives or steel chairs? Why not enter the ring as a gang? There’s no DQ.

    5) No managers or posses at ringside.

    There’s enough to keep track of already. We don’t need more distractions.

    Of course, WWE will do whatever it does, and ignore all of these suggestions and even their own rules because then they could not do the stupid Kofi Kingston plate spinning juggling act spot which is why we all watch. Right.

    Hey WWE, rules are important. We need to know the rules of your universe or else it doesn’t make sense and it feels totally contrived. Imagine if we woke up and the rules of our universe just changed. “Uh, red lights now mean green, but just for today. Oh, and when you spit, gravity takes your loogee up.” That wouldn’t end well. Consistency is important when telling a story, and the consistency lies within WWE enforcing the rules of professional wrestling.

  • WWE RAW Live results 1/25: Royal Rumble HHH fallout and a teased “Major return”

    The Big Takeaway: 

    The Rock returned for a 25-minute segment where he dueled with the New Day over the mic. He built up WrestleMania, but there were no plans for him announced for the future. He was still the most entertaining thing on the show, which had its high points. The main event of Fast Lane will be Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar in a triple threat match, with the winner facing HHH in the main event at WrestleMania for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. A.J. Styles made his Raw debut. Shock of shocks, he had the best match on the show, defeating Chris Jericho. It looks like those two are headed for another match, likely at Fast Lane, as well. Easily the best Raw of the year, so far.  

    Vince and Stephanie McMahon came out gloating over Roman Reigns losing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to HHH. Vince said that, just like the fans, Reigns couldn’t rise above adversity. Instead, when adversity faced him, he whimpered and whined. Stephanie said they pulled off a coo in getting HHH into the Royal Rumble. Did she see the odds leading up to the show. She mentioned A.J. Styles, who got a huge pop and “We love A.J.” Chants. Stephanie built up her husband and introduced him. 

    HHH came out and said Reigns might be among the most amazing athletes he’s ever seen, but he lacks respect because he’s arrogant and cocky. He claimed Reigns lacked respect for Vince, who might as well be God because he’s the one who created all this. The man who went from 6.7 ratings in September 1999 against football to a 2.3 running unopposed? Alrighty…HHH said anyone who disrespects Vince might as well be distracting his religion because the ring was his church. 

    HHH then spoke to those who said his time had come and gone as a wrestler. He admitted he didn’t have to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but now he wanted to be because people need to show proper respect. That started a light “Roman” chant. 

    Stephanie said the main event for Fast Lane would be announced tonight, and the winner of that match would face HHH in the main event of WrestleMania.

    Kevin Owens defeated Dolph Ziggler (8:45)  

    As usual, a good match between the two. Kevin Owens won with the Pop-Up Power Bomb. Ziggler went to the top rope trying to give Owens a huracanrana, but Owens crotched him. Owens looked like he was going for the F-Cinq, but they couldn’t get in position for it. The show-long storyline is wrestlers are trying to impress the Authority in order to get the spot in the Fast Lane main event. 

    Flo Rida is in the building. 

    JoJo interviewed Reigns backstage. He told her to let the Chairman and the champion know that he was here and he wasn’t leaving until he hears the Fast Lane announcement.

    Social Outcasts came out. Heath Slater saw Flo Rida at ringside and ordered him to not make him mad. Bo Dallas challenged Rida to come in the ring and face the four Superfriends. He got in the ring. Slater challenged him to a rap battle against Bo Rida. Bo ran down Florida and said he had a Full House “just like Danny Tanner.” Had to use Wikipedia to find that Danny Tanner was the role that Bob Saget played on that show. It’s scary that Bo Dallas rapping was ten times more entertaining than that show that Adam Rose hosted, but it’s unlikely we’ll see Bo Rida again. Flo Rida said Social Outcasts had no skills and “Welcome to Dudleyville.” Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley came out to their nu metal song from 2000. It’s more dated than Petey Pablo. 

    The Dudley Boyz defeated Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel (4:27) 

    The Dudleys won with the 3-D on Curtis Axel. Devon got the pin. Rida was in the Dudleyz corner. There was a spot when Flo Rida dumped Slater into the ring, and the Dudleys gave him Wazzup. Dallas now has a singlet. He looks like Eric Embry in 1990 Memphis when he let himself go. There’s a spot where the four members of Social Outcasts walked around the ring together that’s called the “Bo Train” Michael Cole announced later this year, the Dudleys would celebrate their “20th year anniversary” together. Thank you, Phil Simms. 

    Styles did an interview with Rene Young. She asked him, for those who don’t know, tells us exactly who you are. Chris Jericho walked up, called I’m the hottest free agent in the world. Jericho derisively said “Welcome to the Big Leagues, kid.” Why do I have these images of Braden Walker floating through my head? 

    They announced that Nikki Bella will miss the next six months because of neck fusion surgery. It was supposedly reported by E! To promote Total Divas.

    A.J. Styles defeated Chris Jericho (13:43)

    A very good match where Styles won by reversing a cradle after Jericho escaped the Styles Clash. Jericho appeared to be calling the match and Styles looked like he was trying find his footing in a new ring. Some of his trademark spots, like the flying drop kicked, weren’t executed perfectly. In the final eight minutes, it was excellent. Jericho got the Liontamer and Styles had a lengthy struggle before getting to the ropes. Crowd popped big for that. Fans embraced this match from the opening bell, chanting “This is awesome” right from the outset. Styles went for a splash but missed, leading to Jericho going for a lionsault, but Styles got his knees up. Afterwards, Styles extended his hand for a handshake. Jericho shook his hand, then pulled Styles together for a face-to-face confrontation. Looks like this could be a program and that’s goodie, goodie gumdrops. 

    Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch went to a no contest (3:33) 

    Sasha Banks had Becky Lynch in the Bank Statement when Charlotte ran in for the DQ. Charlotte gave Banks Natural Selection and also sent Lynch out of the ring. BK<anks wrestled as the heel even though she got more cheers.  

    Goldust found R-Truth backstage. Golddust was doing a combination of his original effeminate gimmick and his Tourette’s Syndrome promo, asking R-Truth to be his partner. R-Truth showed him his wedding ring and said he was a married man. After R-Truth bolted, Goldust said he meant tag team partner and claimed they could call the team “Gold and Truth.”

    Bray Wyatt defeated Kane (7:05)  

    Bray Wyatt won with Sistery Abigail after a distraction from Luke Harper.  Crowd was dead, which isn’t a good sign since they teased Wyatt vs. Brock Lesnar at some point over the next few months. Wyatt is basically a ring entrance now. There was a fan who was dressed up as Randy Savage at ringside who took attention away from the match. Crowd started chanting for him and Wyatt didn’t look happy about it. It looked like the ushers forced to tone it down, which got the ushers more heat than the match. Later, those four men turned up away from the hard camera during the Rock’s segment. Braun Strowman gave Kane the head-and-arm choke afterwards. 

    A WWE reporter knocked on the door of a limo parked backstage. Crowd chanted for the Rock, but the Miz got out. He started to do an interview, but then a big black truck pulled him. And it was the Rock who got out. 

    Rock handed Miz the keys of his truck to park it. On his way to the ring, Rock shook hands with Rick Ross. Then Rock saw the Big Show and they talked about the Royal Rumble in 2000 where they were the last two in. They did a finish that year where they went over the top rope together and the Big Show’s feet were supposed to hit first, but it was the Rock who did it by mistake. Rock was awarded the win. Rock admitted the Show should have won that year, and said producers from the Scorpion King were going to give the role in that film to the winner of the Rumble that year. It could have been the Big Show who was in the Fast and Furious sequels, chasing Van Dielsel around. Big Show got this classic sad look on his face and broke a laptop that he was holding for no reason in two. He wasn’t mad at Rock at all, but Show had some great timing and facials here. 

    Rock stumbled on to Lana, where they talked about the last time Rock confronted Rusev. He claimed that after the show, Lana said she didn’t want to be with Rusev anymore. They went inside a hotel room and did special exercises like the Wisconsin Wheelbarrow, and the D.J. Mustache Ride. Rusev came up from behind. Lana informed Rock they were now engaged to be married. Rock told Rusev that Lana was flexible as all hell. 

    Rock continued his walk backstage, where he slapped hands with Pat Patterson, to the Gorillia Position. Finally he made his way out to the crowd to the Miami fans, who chanted “This is awesome” before he even started speaking. Rock said he was ready for WretleMania and asked the fans if they were. He pretended not to know Byron Saxton’s name. 

    Rock saw four guys dressed at ringside and went totally off script. He interviewed the aforementioned Savage impersonator, a Hulk Hogan impersonator, an Undertaker impersonator and someone dressed as Rock.The New Day came out doing this scripted material. Kofi Kingston said the Rock was supposedly the People’s Champion, but he didn’t have any gold around his waist. They were WWE tag team champions. 

    Big E. Said the Rock was like LeBron James, he bolted Miami for greener pastures. Xavier Woods did an impression of Rikishi saying “He did it for the picture.” Even Rock couldn’t hold back a smile over that one. 

    Rock said the New Day found a way to be entertaining with llama penises strapped to their heads. Rock said they looked like three Chocolate Cornholes running their mouths all of the time. He said Big E. Was so nerdy, he looked like what would happen if the Incredible Hulk banged Urkel. 

    Rock challenged them to get in the ring. New Day started to leave. Rock said he had a Plan B: family. The Usos came out. Rock gave Big E. The Rock Bottom, Kingston took a double superkick from the Usos and Woods took the People’s Elbow. Rock delivered his catchphrase and that was that. All of this shows that ther’s only Rock, and there will never be another. 

    Paige and Natalyia defeated Brie Bella and Alicia Fox (2:45) 

    Paige pinned Brie Bella with the Rampage. They had to rush because the Rock segment took over 25 minutes. 

    Kalisto (C) defeated the Miz (10:23) in a nontitle match. 

    Kalisto won with the Solida Del Sol after Miz attempted the Skull Crushing Finale. OK match, but the U.S. Title around Kalisto’s waist feels like the championship is a secondary belt again. Highlight of the match was when JBL said Rock was ” the number one international box office hit” in 2015. Box office hit as opposed to box office attraction. Even Cole couldn’t hold back a chuckle after that one. JBL launched his candidacy to win the Worst Announcer award again next January in quality fashion tonight. 

    Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns defeated Rusev and Sheamus (15:19) 

    Dean Ambrose got the heat after Rusev threw him into the timekeeper’s table. Ambrose, who had his left shoulder taped up after his match with Owens last night, took three Irish Curse backbreakers from Sheamus. Sheamus hit a Brogue Kick on Reigns, but Ambrose made the save. Sheamus shot Reigns into the ropes, but Reigns came off with a spear for the pin.  

    Afterwards, to get payback on the League of Nations for jumping Reigns during the Royal Rumble, Ambrose helped Reigns get Rusev up to power bomb him through the announcer’s table.

    Stephanie came out to announce that the main event for Fast Lane would be a triple threat match: Ambrose vs. Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. 

    SUMMARY: 

    It’s always so entertaining to see the Rock on Raw because he makes it feel like an event. It’s always so depressing the week after the Rock visits Raw because you know the product will never be as good as it was during his prime. And not just because of his personality and his presence, which comes along once in a generation. It’s because the fabric of what made the Rock special has changed. He would have never become the personality that endeared himself to millions with scripted interviews on weekly three hour shows. When he first appeared, Raw was an one hour show and still relied on syndication for first-run matches. The Rock was only as good as his creative ability, which might be his most underrated quality. Nowadays, most wrestlers don’t get that chance because it’s how the system is. Anyway, hate to sound old, but that’s what it feels like watching so far ahead of the modern pack. Show was largely entertaining. Styles-Jericho was worth going out of your way to see. 

  • WWE teases a “major” return to RAW tonight

    WWE has teased a major return to Raw tonight in Miami.

    Given that the show is in Miami, Dwayne Johnson, whose roots are in the city, would be the obvious speculative choice to set up his role in the WrestleMania build.  Undertaker, who also needs to have a WrestleMania angle set up, would be another possibility as many expected him for last night’s show.

    The actual wording of the tweet sent by the company was “Breaking News: Rumors are running rampant that a major star returns to Raw tonight on the road to WrestleMania.”

    Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, who were never advertised for tonight’s show, are not expected at the show tonight.

    We’ll have full coverage of RAW later tonight both with Jeff Hamlin’s RAW Report and with myself and Bryan Alvarez later tonight on Wrestling Observer Radio. Listen to Bryan and I discuss the 2016 Royal Rumble on Wrestling Observer Radio here.

  • Monday Night RAW Inside the Numbers Jan 18, 2016

    Last week, Monday Night averaged 3,497,000 for the 3 hour broadcast which translated to a 2.45 household rating. The numbers were slightly up from the previous week which went against the college football national championships but way down from the same week in 2015. The January 19, 2015 RAW did a 3.02 ratings and averaged 4,090,000 viewers – down 18.9% and 16% respectively.

    The cumulative average for January now stands at a 2.43 rating and 3,463,000 viewers. The rating is down 17.5% from 2015 and the viewership is down 14.2%. This is the 14th straight month that the rating and viewership will drop from the same month the previous year.

    The main reason for the poor rating last week was a dramatic drop in the 3rd hour. The show opened at 3.78 million viewers, dropped slightly to 3.59 million the second hour and plummeted to 3.12 million for the 3rd hour, which was built around a Chris Jericho highlight reel featuring Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. The 3.12 million viewers was the lowest viewership for an hour of RAW in January dating back to the early days of the Monday Night War.

    This week should see the typical post-Royal Rumble boost as fans who may not have tuned into the PPV/network special want to find out who won and what’s next on the Road to Wrestlemania. The most recent RAWs have been averaging an average of 10.53% lower than the same week the previous year. The post-Rumble RAW in 2015 did 4.41 million viewers and a 3.27 average. If the year to year drop as it’s been in recent weeks, this week’s number should be around the 3.9 million range and a 2.9 rating. Anything lower than these numbers would be a sign that the RAW ratings are still in a declining phase. If the numbers are at or above these levels, things would be levelling out and it could be a sign that the ratings are turning around.

  • WWE Royal Rumble Reader Feedback

    Thumbs in the middle

    I’ll just give my thoughts in the Rumble match:

    – Triple H wins…yay…yay…….Is he up to Ric Flair’s record now? Speaking of Ric…

    – Ric Flair won his Royal Rumble by fighting all comers the entire match. Roman Reigns get’s pulled out and get’s to rest for a half hour before returning to a chorus of boos.

    – Who eliminated AJ Styles? Quite a debut.

    – Who knocked the New Day guy off the other New Day guy’s shoulders?

    – Brock got eliminated by guys who were already eliminated. Huh?

    Great effort buy the guys, but I’m tired of the McMahon/HHH show.

    -Thomas Judd

    Thumbs down.

    I watched this show only to see if AJ Styles would debut, and how they would treat him. I was pleased he got as much time as he did, but can’t help but feel that being eliminated by Owens means he’s going to be part of the upper-mid card crew. Personally, I am also confused why they would, in introducing him tonight, bring in ANOTHER wrestler that the crowd would cheer for more than their chosen superstar during the Rumble, but maybe they’d assume that was a given?

    Best match: Owens/Steen

    Worst match: Royal Rumble.  Pretty much a perfect match that captures everything I dislike about WWE booking, and why I haven’t watched anything of their’s since Wrestlemania 30.  Triple H…incredible.  Plus side, I did get to see Stardust, and can now confirm that the gimmick sucks as bad as you have mentioned on WOR.

    Thanks for all your great work!

    Timothy Matayer

    Thumbs Up

    Best Match – Becky Lynch vs Charlotte

    Worst Match – New Day v. Usos 

    Note that New Day v Usos was a good match, but if I had to choose one that one is it and that’s only because the Usos are past the point of tolerable blandness by now. New Day was thoroughly entertainingtonight. 

    Awesome Royal Rumble, awesome PPV. HHH winning may not be much better than Roman but at least it’s not as forced, especially after the whole stretcher/injury gimmick mid match led the viewers to believe a Roman return + win is highly likely.  No bad match on the card, really. Becky Lynch and Charlotte has my nod for match of the night despite the AWFUL finish (and Ric sex assaultish spot) because they really told a story in the ring tonight, and the match was focused on winning, and being the best. That’s a major change for the positive. 

    Highlight of the night for me was most certainly AJ Styles. With the awesome, AJ-appropriate new theme, the Styles Clash tease, and his long run in the match, it was thrilling to see. I hope he isn’t relegated to mid-card hell sooner than later, and he’s utilized like the rock star that he is. Can’t help but be skeptical of what’s in store for him. 

    Thanks Dave! 

    -Yuriy Bortnik 

    Brooklyn, NY

    Thumbs Up

    Best Match: the Royal Rumble match

    Worst Match: Usos vs New Day

    A really great Royal Rumble match, much more exciting and intriguing than the Rumble of the past few years!  It seems like the Road to Wrestlemania season is also the season of booing Roman Reigns.  After the past few months of crowd support, they turned on him!  Perhaps centering the whole event around one single person backfired?  The match was really exciting overall, but it felt like the momentum dropped a bit after Brock Lesnar was eliminated.  It was a clear signal at that point that Roman was going to win (if not Triple H, who wasn’t in at the moment).  What a debut for AJ Styles!  Really glad the crowd knew who he was with rampant cheers throughout.  I was really glad (and maybe surprised?) that they let AJ Styles keep his name!

    Aside from the Rumble itself, I thought they did a good start to the new women’s program!  The Ambrose vs Owens match was a great opener as well.  The other matches seemed insignificant.

    Overall an enjoyable show.

    Thanks Dave,

    Jeff Lam

    Toronto, ON

    2016 WWE Royal Rumble
    Thumbs in the Middle
    Best Match: Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose
    Worst Match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto

    If you’re not watching with Spanish commentary, you’re missing out.
    It’s a much less frustrating experience. Even the commercials are
    considerably more tolerable with the Spanish announcers translating
    them in real time.

    Nice seeing AJ Styles debut as AJ Styles.

    Lou Pickney

    Hello,

    Thumbs Up for the show. Thought that it was an absolute blast from start to finish. There were a couple of lulls in the Royal Rumble but they didn’t massively drag it down. Loved seeing AJ Styles, possible feuds going into Wrestlemania are promising (Bray vs. Brock, Owens vs. Styles or Zayn), and thought the undercard was great. 

    Best Match: Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose – Last Man Standing Match for the Intercontinental Championship. Both men were booked very strongly and it made them seem like they both would do anything for the championship. Great finish to cap off a tremendous slug fest.

    Worst Match: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte – Somewhat narrowly beating out Kalisto vs. Del Rio (which was good aside from some botches) because I thought that the finish wasn’t that great and the action was, at times, slow. I saw that some people really didn’t like the spot where Flair kissed Becky but I thought it was kind of funny. However, I don’t understand why Flair wasn’t ejected or Charlotte wasn’t DQ’d for that.

    Mike Jahrling

    Good evening Dave,

    Just wanted to send my Rumble thoughts to you.

    Best match: Becky/Charlotte

    Worst match: Pre-show tag (didn’t really hate any of the main matches on the show)

    Overall, I thought the Royal Rumble was an enjoyable show but it had some problems.  I know everyone will likely rave about the Owens/Ambrose match but I honestly didn’t get too into it.  I don’t know if it was the Last Man Standing stipulation or the frequent camera cuts in the match, but something kept taking me out of it.  I felt the rest of the matches on the card did a better job building a story than it and ultimately voted for Becky/Charlotte because I’m more into where that will go next after that finish and post-match.

    As for the Rumble itself, I felt it had a strong start but ultimately petered out by the end.  AJ’s elimination couldn’t have been done better and showed some foresight that the last two Rumbles lacked.  Brock’s elimination drew a collective groan from the people I watched the show with as nobody wants to see this feud at all.  But I think what made the ending of the Rumble feel flat to me wasn’t Triple H’s expected victory; it was the tease for a match that I think should really be the main event for WrestleMania.  I’m thinking after tonight it’s time to change directions and go with Dean Ambrose.

    Regards,

    Matthew Moddrelle

    Royal Rumble: Thumbs Up

    Best Match: Royal Rumble

    Worst Match: PreShow Tag Team 4 Way

    The preshow match was nothing special and I really thought the Dudley’s might actually win here, but it wasn’t to be. 

    Main show starts with excellent Ambrose vs. Owens match and what a perfect table smash from Owens. 

    Entertaining tag title bout as well although I am tired of this cominbation.  Wish there were more teams to mix things up.  New Day act is funny, but maybe a little too over done.

    Del Rio vs. Kalisto had some badly mistimed spots, but still pretty good and why Kalisto needed to lose on Smackdown to get it back here I’m not sure.  Let’s see what they do with him now.

    Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte was very good.  Glad they got some time to do a match.  A few weird spots that I thought for sure the ref saw and should have sent Ric to the back and Becky trying to get rid of the jacket off of her was a little too comical, but I guess Charlotte is holding on and the feud with Banks for Mania should be good.

    Royal Rumble match was very good and the best one in quite some time.  Debuting AJ Styles was great and glad he was treated well in the match.  They played it out well although the Triple H was somewhat predictable.  I guess he had to find a way to get the title back.  I mean otherwise how will catch Cena’s number. 

    Overall a very good show.  Good way to start the year.  Hope they continue the momentum.

    Robb Block

    Thumbs up

    Best match – Ambrose-Owens

    Worst match – Kallisto-Del Rio by default (but it wasn’t bad)

    Great show, best WWE show since at least Summerslam.  Opener was so good – two best guys in WWE right now going at it.  There weren’t any stinkers and it was logically booked throughout the night.  Rumble set up so many stories going into Mania – Owens-Styles, Ambrose-Jericho, Bray-Brock, HHH-Reigns.  They wrote themselves out of the corner they put themselves into, let’s hope they can keep it up.

    George Atsaves

    Thumbs up

    Best Match – All were good, probably Ambrose vs Owens.
    Worst – Rumble. Not bad per se, but some blah spots.

    Good Rumble overall. However there were a few points that were troublesome going forward.

    Number one is HHH vs Roman. They undid a lot of good work for Roman tonight. The perception was Romans has been handed everything and hasn’t had to work for it. So the company decided to answer that by giving him the breather at the 20 minute mark, and bringing him back at 29. Meanwhile Styles and Jericho carried large chunks of the in-ring. They can’t be shocked HHH got cheered. Mania could be horrible for him, even if he has The Rock in his corner. They have a star on the roster from the shield. Just that it’s Dean Ambrose. They had a chance to have Roman turn on a Dean win, and have a fresh main event with a fresh dynamic. Instead we will continue to get Stone Cold Roman Reigns.

    Also, I understand the why, but the entire Wyatt family coming back in to remove Brock dragged on, and I think the having people come and go into the Rumble as they please thing hurts the match overall.

    Beyond that, the show itself was great, and most of the Rumble was well done.

    Chris Buchanan
    Sydney, Australia.

    Hi Dave,
       Just some feedback on the Rumble match. I give the show a thumbs up for a really good undercard, but the rumble match itself left a lot to be desired. Hard to pick a best match of the night but would probably go with Ambrose / Owens, and worst match of the night is probably the Rumble itself since it was really predictable and not very excited about the boss making himself the winner.

    1. Pre show match – Fatal 4 way tag with the winning “team” advancing into the rumble. Was hoping the Dudleys would get the win since it would be cool to see them in the Rumble. But no such luck, we get Henry &Swagger advancing, not a good sign. lol

    2. Ambrose / Owens – Very good match, hardcore bumps, probably the best match of the night. Don’t think it really mattered who won the match since neither guy will be affected by the loss, but would be cool to see Owens the I/C champ again. Was great when Cole got bumped and fell over breaking his glasses, which meant we did not have to hear him commentate for at least a few minutes, lol. Would have been nice to see Mario Renallo added to the Rumble announce team as he brings that big fight feel in my opinion. But I digress.

    3. New Day VS Uso’s – A pretty good match, I like the New Day trio. Was not a big fan at first but they eventually won me over. Good match with the Usos.

    4. Del Rio VS Kalisto – Good to see Kalisto getting a push and winning the US title again. Good to see the undercard guys getting elevated. Maybe Kalisto is going to be the next Rey Mysterio. Good match, good win, does not really hurt Del Rio to lose in this situation and pushes Kalisto,

    5. Charlotte VS Lynch – The match told a very good story with the former friendship between the two being built into the match and made it that much more enjoyable. Both women are very talented. and Charlotte is amazing. Very good match. Huge pop by the crowd when Banks came out, I really like where this is going and hope they feature a match at Mania between Banks and Charlotte and give them ample time to build a really good match for Mania.

    6. Royal Rumble match – This match was ok I guess. Have seen better, have seen worse. But no huge surprises in the match with the exception of AJ Styles, which was really cool, otherwise somewhat of a lackluster rumble. The crowd seems to turn on Roman at strange times for some reason. And not really thrilled with Triple HHH basically putting himself in the main event of Mania as the champion since it would seem it’s just really to feed is own ego, but hopefully they will go somewhere positive with this. Hopefully Brock is involved somehow since he was eliminated by guys who were already eliminated, so I’m sure they will make that into a storyline. Will be interesting to see where this goes with Triple HHH as champion. But it’s just a little self serving to push himself as champ when and being in the main event of mania when there is a ton of talent to push right now.

    Thanks,
    Jon Southerland
    Clovis, Ca.

    Thumbs Up
    Best match: Charlotte – Becky Lynch
    Worst Match: Usos – New Day

    Definitely a ton better than the last two Rumbles. The Rumble itself held my attention despite the fact the ending was inevitable. It amazing how over AJ Styles was with the crowd. I’m cautiously excited about watching him on this roster. HHH also super over, which only goes to show how much hardcores still resist Reigns.

    All the matches were at least OK. Opener was tremendous. Owens and Abrose have great chemistry together. A perfect match of brawlers who can go.

    But the women’s match was the highlight for me. Charlotte is tremendous as a heel and Sasha and Lynch played their parts. The Divas are probably the strongest angle in WWE.

    On the negative I couldn’t care less about the tag team division. I wish they would push Kalisto but fully expect him to lose Monday. Just another botched push.

    Mike Trask
    Las Vegas

    Hey Dave,

    Thumbs up for the whole card but thumbs WAY down for the Rumble booking with HHH winning the title.

    Best match on the card was Becky vs Charlotte. Really well done. Hope there will be a 3-way at Mania with Becky, Charlotte, and Sasha.

    To me, with regards to HHH, it’s the same old shit. I will continue to watch this product. But I know casuals who only watch the Rumble and Mania. Maybe Summerslam. They see HHH with the title and think, “this guy was champ when I was in high school or college. Same old shit. Nothing has changed. I’m gonna watch something else on Mondays and Thursdays.”

    You got AJ. Why not book AJ’s debut the way The Giant was booked in his first WCW match, where Giant beat Hogan for the title? Do something fresh. Something different. Something shocking, but in a logical way that makes sense. The announcers stated AJ was a former IGWP champ, like Lesnar. Imagine he comes in and wins the WWE title in his first WWE match? It would have been tremendous and shake things up a bit, and make AJ an instant main event WWE star. 

    Isn’t the WWE in business to make new WWE stars to make money?

    Instead, the casuals see HHH with the title and mutter “same old shit” and tune out. With all the eyeballs on Royal Rumble, this would have been the time to do something daring, take a chance, and elevate AJ, in his debut, to the main event.  And they blew it because they are determined to ge Lex Luger 2.0 over.

    Jeff Rozner

    Best Match: Rumble by default but really HHH winning in a totally non creative way is it 2003 again? Brock vs the Wyatts honestly who cares. Best part of the show Sasha Banks at the end of the really good Charlotte vs Becky match. Girls starting to get better reactions then most of the guys. Even though most of the guys are booked horribly so it’s not their fault. Ambrose vs Kevin Owens was good and the New Day is entertaining for what it is. They better have something huge planned with Rock. Brock vs Wyatts and HHH vs Reigns and Undertaker vs random opponent as your top matches at mania is going to suck if that’s the best they have. Thumbs barely in the middle cause of Sasha and Brock killing people.

    Matthew Sans

    Hi Dave, 

    My Royal Rumble review: 

    Thumbs Up

    Match of the Night: Owens vs. Ambrose

    Worst Match: Kalisto vs. Del Rio

    Thought the undercard was great. The Owens vs. Ambrose match was fantastic and might end of being a WWE MOTY candidate. Both guys looked like huge stars and felt really important. Tag title match was also good and the New Day seemed back on form (they’ve been jumping the shark lately). Del Rio vs. Kalisto wasn’t bad, but it was a bit sloppy… this always seems to happen when Del Rio faces other Mexican guys. The title change didn’t feel important whatsoever though due to all the flip flopping lately. The Divas match was better than usual (on the main roster) and I thought the spot where Flair threw his jacket on top of Becky’s head was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in the WWE in years, I literally couldn’t stop laughing. That got the match bonus points in my book, it was so ridiculous in a crazy old man Flair kind of way. And it’s great they’ve finally set Sasha up for a Mania match as a babyface. 

    The Rumble match itself had its ups and downs. It actually didn’t seem as much as a mid-card geek fest as it appeared it would on paper. For better or worse, basically everything we thought needed to happen in terms of storyline progression happened. HHH/Authority screwed Roman, Wyatt’s screwed Brock, Zayn got his revenge on Owens. 

    It was great to see the reaction AJ Styles got, that was a great reaction and moment. Although, I knew the problem of debuting him in a Rumble match he’s not going to win in that he’s got to end up laying in corners or selling for monsters most of the time. You realize how big everyone in the WWE is when you get a guy like AJ come in and you have all these monsters like Big Show, Kane, Harper, Rowan, Titus, etc. in there. I don’t think they made him look bad or anything, but I would have rather seen Bullet/Balor club debut as a group. At the very least, I think he should have stayed in until near the end instead of Jericho. 

    Back to the match, I thought they took a big step backwards with Roman by stretchering him out and then having him leave the match on his own. Cole noted “he’s refusing a gurney” as if that mattered. Isn’t the babyface supposed to want back in the match no matter what? As Bryan noted on Twitter, Owens the heel dragged himself back out there. They could have at least said the doctors are forcing Reigns out of the match to be tested backstage or something. And then of course later on, just like last years entrance against Sting, Hunter positioned himself with a huge babyface return, so after all the hard word they’ve done to get Roman cheered, they certainly once again positioned him to get booed tonight. 

    I wasn’t a fan of all the interference with the Wyatt’s on Brock since we already had the L.O.N. do a number on Roman earlier. It was a bit overkill in that sense, although I get why they did it. I’m really not excited at all about Bray vs. Brock for Mania. Bray is great with the right opponent, but with Brock I want to see him in a physical/athletic match, not all the wacky goblins and demons stuff we’ll be forced to watch leading up to Mania. 

    As for the finish, did anyone really expect anything different? There was no way around HHH and the Authority getting their revenge. As much as we may like to bitch about it, there weren’t a lot of options due to all the injuries. For all the speculation as to what might happen, when dealing with HHH, just think of this quote from The Simpsons… 

    Marge: “I guess it’s never the most likely suspect.”

    Lisa: “Actually, Mom, in 95% of cases, it is. The rest of the time, it’s usually some deranged lunatic who did it for no reason.”

    – Tim Dudle7

    Troonto

    They killed each other!!! I was so happy that Ambrose won, and it was even better that he and Owens beat the ever loving shit out of each other in one hell of a match!

    Worst Match: Royal Rumble

    I feels weird saying that because I actually liked the Rumble. They did a good job setting up matches for Wrestlemania, and we got the debut of AJ STYLES!!! However, with the exception of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, none of the matches they set up were matches I want to see. Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt? Triple H vs. Roman Reigns? No thanks. Also, Triple H as WWE Champion in 2016? Gimme a break… (One other good thing: I wasn’t ready for Ambrose to be one of the final two. I actually thought he would win at that point, and I was standing up for the rest of the match ready to flip my shit if he won. But, he didn’t…)

    Overall: Thumbs Up

    Despite Triple H winning, I thought the show as a whole was pretty fun and a thousand times better than last year’s Rumble. 

    Daniel Ridgeway

    Royal Rumble Feedback

    Thumbs Up

    Best Match: Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose

    Worst Match: New Day vs Usos

    I thought the show was overall very good. The opening Last Man Standing match with Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose was great and it was the perfect stipulation. I also thought Kalisto winning the US title worked well. I have no issue with the tag title match but it wasn’t as good as the rest of the undercard which was really good. This includes the women’s match.

    The Rumble match itself was almost entirely good. AJ Styles got such a great reaction and performed well. I think he would make a great opponent for either Undertaker or Chris Jericho at Mania.

    HHH winning the rumble and the title doesn’t enrage or interest me really. The biggest problem to me is Roman Reigns being taken out of the match as it took away from the feeling of him being screwed over. But it was better than last year’s rumble match as it got over Styles, Owens, Zayn and Ambrose. Wyatt was doing great but the elimination by HHH killed him a bit. This might sound like a thumbs in the middle review but i enjoyed the show overall, and especially the first match and then AJ definitely liked the show

    Dave Musgrave

    Oshawa, Ontario

    THUMBS UP without question.  Undercard was great, Rumble match itself was great, esp. considering that the winner was obvious as soon as HHH came out as #30.  This show was also helped by a great crowd all night.

    BEST MATCH: Has to be the Rumble match.  There were some disappointments (as there often are in the RR) but overall, one of the best in recent memory.

    WORST MATCH: I didn’t watch the preshow, but by default, I would wager quite a bit the preshow match was not as good as any of the matches on the main card.

    NOTES:

    AMBROSE v OWENS: I was worried somewhat by having Ambrose in a match like this where he would have to actually do some real selling.  (I didn’t foresee his not selling his beating by being the RR runner-up.)  That said, a very strong match, that Owens carried.  If there was a category of performance of the night, it was Owens.  The only negative in the match was a change of momentum because Ambrose threw a chair on Owens head, which negated all the punishment Ambrose had taken.  Ambrose had better watch some Ricky Morton matches: babyfaces need to sell!

    USO v NEW DAY: Great finish to this match, and a lot of this probably has to do with the camerawork.  Big E had to already be in the ring to catch an Uso, but the camera angle made it look like he just slipped in at the perfect time.  The New Day schtick seemed fresh to me, not too overdone.  A lot of strong spots in the match.  Even though this was a “smart” crowd, I think this match supports the idea that the Usos could be heels, and maybe they should be.

    KALISTO v. ADR: A pretty good match that had some blown spots, which is to be expected with these kind of spots, and a great size disparity of performers.  More important is that this was the right result, to resurrect Kalisto.  It was bad enough when he got slapped around by the League of Nations during an interview, but when ADR was slapping him around during the match, I really felt that Kalisto had to win here or else he would really be buried, and he did.  I think he is a good person to put this belt on, and maybe have the US title be a de facto small guy championship, instead of two mid-card titles with basically no distinction.

    BECKY v. CHARLOTTE:  I wish they would let Becky Lynch have human-colored hair.  But for Charlotte, I thought her bedazzled face is in keeping with being a heel.  The match was very solid, exciting, and honestly, I thought Michael Cole did a good job with supporting the challenger in his commentary.  Sasha Banks return, sans BAD and looking for the title, was one of the best 3 moments on the show.  I especially liked how she was true to her character, and threw out Lynch first — she is all about #1, not a team player.  If she goes back to BAD, this moment will be ruined.

    RUMBLE MATCH: I would have been SO pissed if Roman Reigns won after “going to the back without being eliminated” for half the match.  It made NO SENSE that the League of Nations didn’t throw him in the ring to get eliminated after the beat down.  Some kind of worked-shoot fake injury would have been better to get him to the back.  This was the worst moment of the night.

    I loved KO limping into the aisle, reminiscent of Bret Hart.  He was selling his beating earlier like a babyface, whereas Ambrose gets hit by a Mack Truck, and 30 seconds later he is doing his ridiculous mugging.  I like Ambrose as a performer, but I hate his present “lunatic” character.

    SZ eliminating KO was the most predictable moment of the night, and sets up a WM (presumably) that should be good.  KO had the excuse that he was in a tough match earlier, so you can still make him look strong, EXCEPT Dean Ambrose is seemingly impervious to injury.

    Shouldn’t Miz have been eliminated when the number after him got into the ring?  I seem to remember that was the rule in past years, that you have the 2 mins to get into the ring, or you forfeit your spot.  If you don’t have to get in the ring, why doesn’t everyone just wait in the back until #30 is called?  Why does it matter than Roman Reigns was #1 if he never had to get in the ring?

    I knew that Lesnar was going to clear out the dominant Wyatt family, but only when I saw the Wyatts return to eliminate him (the only way you could really do it) I was disappointed to realize that this Wyatt push is only about feeding him to Lesnar at WM.  Disappointing.  VERY disappointing.  (At least the Wyatts understood the need the ELIMINATE their man, which the League of Nations and VKM didn’t figure out.)

    AJ Styles looked GREAT in the ring.  One of the best performances of the night.  But he needs a haircut.

    When you got to the end of the Rumble, with AJ Styles being the only real surprise, it was something of a let down to know that one of the people in the ring would be champion, and since I knew the odds, I knew it would be HHH.  I was interested that the Rumble fans are STILL rejecting Reigns, and were rooting for HHH to eliminate him.  I knew there would be a big pop when Reigns was eliminated, and there was.  The Samoans, Reigns and the Uso, should form a heel stable.  VKM, I knew Steve Austin, I watched Steve Austin during the Attitude era, I felt like Steve Austin was a friend of mine.  VKM, Roman Reigns is no Steve Austin.  At least not yet.  (With apologies to the late Lloyd Bentsen.)

    Richard Orloski

    Overall: Thumbs up. I watched all three nights of NJPW Fantastica Mania. Each night was fun and enjoyable. It is interesting to see the NJPW wrestlers and fans embrace the components of Lucha Libre that make it unique while maintaining some of the qualities of Japanese wrestling that set it apart from other forms of the genre. The mood was light, the atmosphere was happy, and the action was low on stop and high on go.  I did feel a though a level of sameness and repetition set in on each show, hurting the overall presentation and entertainment factor.  Too many of the masked wrestlers (luchadors) are too similar to stand out and the match formulas and spots are strung together in a similar format to the point of being interchangeable. 

    Best Match: Dragon Lee vs.Kamaitachi.  Far and away, this was the standout match of all three nights. With his physique and athleticism, Dragon Lee is a talent who demands your attention. Some of the spots in this match were insane and the timing was spot on. One of my consistent complaints about Lucha Libre is that entertainment often compromises the competition. This match felt like an intense competition between two athletes trying to make a name for themselves.

    Worst Match: The Liger/Virus match was bizarre to a level of being bad.

    Hey Dave,

    Overall: Thumbs up. Start to finish, it was an entertaining show. The undercard, especially the Owens and Ambrose match, exceeded expectations. The momentum was sustained going into the best Rumble match in recent memory.  The outcome was predictable, but the path to the destination was a rollercoaster of surprises. WWE should feel good about booking an entertaining Rumble match and an overall good event. Probably more importantly, WWE should be worried that the momentum that Reign’s gathered after TLC has dissipated going into WrestleMania.

    Best Match: Ambrose and Owens was 20 action packed minutes that started the show on a high note. 
    Worst Match: Nothing was bad and nothing caused the momentum of the show to wane.

    1.  IC Championship Last Man Standing Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens. In WWE, a Last Man Standing Match is as close as it comes to a sure shot for an entertaining match.  The aggressiveness, creative transitions, and awe inspiring table spots pegged this match above the majority of similar contests. Moreover, a lively crowd created a hot atmosphere for an equally seamy match. ****

    2. Tag Team Title Match: The New Day vs. The Usos. Some rough spots during the heat segment, but they overcame the miscues to build a solid match. The good outweighed the bad and the finish was strong. They aimed to steal the show and came up short. They need to turn The New Day face and stop swimming upstream. In addition, wrestling a quasi-fan favorite team handicaps a traditional hero team such as the Usos. **1/2

    3. US Title Match:  Alberto Del Rio vs. Kallisto. For the most part, this was a well wrestled match. The few miscues hurt the build towards the finish and took the crowd out of the moment. Nonetheless, the deciding pin fall got a noteworthy reaction. I still wonder why they did the back and forth with the title. **3/4

    4. Divas Title Match: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch. Timing wise, it was not perfect. From a crowd investment perspective, it was a successful match. I count this as the first notable success in the “Divas Revolution.” We now have an over baby face (Becky) and a heel with heat (Charlotte). And we have Sasha. I don’t know if she is friend or foul, but it sounds like she is over.  Unfortunately, I feel Becky might be pushed to the backburner in favor of Sasha. **3/4

    5. WWE World Title Royal Rumble Match. The video packages and announces were pushing the “one versus all” story way too hard. By doing so, they were asking for a backlash against Reigns.  The backlash did occur, but enough thought went into the Rumble match to control the emergence of an all-out rebellion.  This was perhaps the most well layed out and consistently entertaining Rumble match in recent memory. Twists, turns, surprises, and possible eggs that will hatch into WrestleMania season feuds. The outcome was predictable, but the path to the destination was a rollercoaster of surprises.

    D

    Hi dave,

    Great show, one of the best in a while. Happy they’ve started the road to wrestlemania well after last year’s debacle.

    Thumbs way up

    Best match – the rumble!

    Worst match – preshow tag if counts, if not then kalisto – del rio

    Was really pumped for AJ Styles, they’ve not even changed his gloves. Loved them putting over the styles clash I was worried he wouldn’t be able to do it because he’s injured a few people with it. (saying that I note he didn’t actually do it)

    Would really like to see an AJ styles – Chris Jericho match at wrestlemania which is possibly the direction they were going?! or him involved in the intercontinental scene with KO and dean ambrose.

    Sami Zayn was a bit plus coming out so soon after AJ’s elimination.

    Super rumble put together really well. Very happy fan seeing reigns eliminated, was cheering in my bedroom.

    Kind Regards,

    Stephen Maginnis

    Thumbs Up

    Best Match: Owens-Ambrose

    Worst Match: Pre show 4 way

    All around great show with not even remotely a bad match on the main card.  Typical intense traveling big event crowd too for the event which always adds to the atmosphere.  The one bad match was the 4 way for entry into the Rumble.  With these hour pre-shows I don’t know why they don’t give folks some time and a chance to shine a little and actually warm up the crowd.  Don’t need a **** match or anything just a little something more.

    Last Man Standing was a war, those two really know how to project that hatred for each other and desire to win or keep the title more than most of the roster and for the most part they took time between spots to make the damage mean more.  Was very worried Owens would take a big bump with that chair around his neck thank goodness that wasn’t the plan.  New Day continues to really entertain at times, even though they have flirted with overexposure. Their comedy and work in this one stood out.  Usos worked hard as normal as well. Del Rio and Kalisto had another solid match, I’m hoping the flip flopping of the title lead to a best of 7 series.  The divas title match was on the better side of main roster women’s matches.  Was not feeling the teased Sasha being a lackey and lo and behold she laid Charlotte out and it’s time to pull the trigger on Banks with the title.

    The Rumble itself was very good but had some challenges at times that brought it down a notch or two for me.  The camera work was really bad. Just straight up missing some stuff or some weird angles and cuts really interfered with the viewing experience, and can’t recall the last time this occurred to take me out of a big match.  There’s a lot going on in the Rumble but the crew should be used to it.  It’s not like this is the first WW3 event or something. Missing the Kofi elimination was ridiculous.  Isn’t it odd that they have had a couple years now with the Kofi spot resulting in a no big deal elimination afterwards?  Why was the camera on Reigns when Styles hit? Though this piece of camera view was intentional; I HATED the dedication on the Reigns beat down.  Couldn’t we at least get split screen?  It was on Reigns and the League so long it felt like the 99 Rumble which is not a good reference point.  I felt at times there wasn’t enough of a sense of urgency to get Reigns out or the fact that these people were going for the title which held it down a little as well. After all that though the work in the match was very solid and enjoyed the story.  Not minding Triple H as champion at all because it’s a logical path for him to do it himself after all the failed attempts with a chosen one representing the “Authority’s Best Interests”.  Hoping after Mania though they go in a different direction with some fresh ideas.  Was thinking it was possible Wyatt may stay and be able to eliminate Hunter and Reigns at the end and have Wyatt-Brock for the title as well OR a potential Ambrose turn at the end when it came down to the final 4.  Not saying any of that should have happened but it’s always nice when you feel that the end of the Rumble could have different outcomes.

    Network notes:

    No issues during the show but once again had the monthly issue where it took many attempts to start the show at 7.  Saw a little more feedback than normal on Twitter that folks were losing or lagging, not to a crazy level but noticeable.  Was so tempted to stay up and watch the WWE24-WM31 special but wiped out after a lot of shoveling this weekend on the East Coast. Will be watching it ASAP though, looks awesome.

    Thanks

    Michael O’Brien

    Easy Thumbs Up

    Best Match: Last Man Standing.

    Worst Match: U.S. Title Match (but it wasn’t bad)

    This was a really good show despite some strange booking decisions by the WWE. (We seem to be back where we don’t feel the need for people to be heels or faces).  Example: Sasha hits Becky prior to a face turn.  HHH feels like a face going over Ambrose (the timing, how he made his comeback).  The WWE has really prioritized workers in the talent they hire now so PPV’s (where they get time for the matches and have real finishes) are almost always good.  Best woman’s match in a long time in terms of heat and crowd reaction.  I also love how they teased a future Styles/Reigns program, as well as Zayn/Owens or Styles/Owens.  Any of that would be awesome.  Styles was SO over and the announcers talked about him like he was such a star everyone knew him.  (Former IWGP Champ just like Brock!)  Hopefully the WWE is able to get some momentum from this going into Fastlane. I would assume the main event of that show will be a match for the #1 contender, maybe inside the Chamber or something like that.

    Juan Rosado

    Royal Rumble 2016

    Thumbs Up

    Best Match: Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens

    Worst Match: New Day vs The Usos

    Another record for the books.

    Kane eliminated one more wrestler to continue his dominance of opponents thrown over the top rope in the Royal Rumble.

    Also, HHH won his second Rumble after a 14-year gap. If he were not responsible for the booking, it would truly be a remarkable accomplishment.

    Sasha Banks became the biggest female babyface on the roster, although WWE can botch the booking by setting a three-way for Fast Lane that includes Becky Lynch, in an effort to put off the solo Charlotte-Sasha match for WM.

    The Kalisto/Alberto Del Rio booking becomes even stupider with the recapturing of the U.S. title on Rumble. Now Del Rio has done TWO jobs to Kalisto in the span of two weeks. And is just as dead in his position, as is Kalisto.

    If three-person matches are the way to go for Fast Lane, Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles vs Sami Zayn would be the way to go, putting AJ in with two quality, motivated workers and again pushing off the Owens vs Zayn solo match for WM.

    Strowman is abominable. Atrocious. And looks like the latest monster to be fed to Undertaker for an “easy” victory. There goes the streak of great Undertaker matches.

    Kofi’s annual Rumble spot was fine. But the elimination was completely missed during the Reigns beatdown. They couldn’t wait another two minutes? At least, it should have been used for crowd distraction as Reigns was WALKING to the back for “treatment.”

     R-Truth brought in a ladder into the Rumble as if this was a Money in the Bank match, continuing his “I’m a moron” gimmick. It’s amazing that with the increased awareness of CTE and concussion injuries, they give a guy a gimmick where his long career may have played a part in him not clearly thinking about his surroundings and the matches he’s in.

    Jeff Cohen

    Flushing, NY

    Hi Dave,

    Overall I give the PPV 4.5 stars (out of 5).

    Best Match: Dean Ambrose (C) vs Kevin Owens, Last Man Standing

    Worst Match: If I have to choose one, it would be the Tag Titles match, but I don’t think it was awful.

    1.       Opening match was awesome. It was the perfect way to start. Ambrose and Owens were great as usual, and I am looking forward to big matches for each of them at Mania. They deserve the spotlight.

    2.       Tag match was ok. It seemed a little sloppy to me, or that they were just missing something. All worked hard and the finish was exciting.

    3.       US title match was good too, which I expected given their recent matches together. I expected Kalisto to win, but am curious where they go from here, and hope they keep the belt on him for the next couple months at least.

    4.       I loved the women’s match! Both did a great job, and I thought the match built well. The crowd really wanted Becky to win, which I thought they should’ve done only if they were going to continue the feud. They’re clearly not going to do that, which is fine because Sasha/Charlotte should be great and I’m looking forward to the promos and matches. It bums me out that Becky was literally kicked to the curb here tho. Like she was just a stand in, which is not the right play in my opinion.

    5.       Royal Rumble match was great. Happy to see AJ Styles in, perform well of course, and be in there a long time. Zayn was a good addition as well. I do think they should’ve kept Reigns in the whole match. Even if he doesn’t win, (which I didn’t think he should), it would’ve been a better story in my opinion to have him actually go the gauntlet and get thrown out by HHH at the end. The finish is what I expected, and I’m glad that HHH won, and Ambrose was the last guy he had to throw out.

    Right now I’m looking forward to WM32, which I wasn’t  sure I’d be saying considering how the shows have been the past few months, but I’m hoping they build these new feuds well (fingers crossed).

    Cheers,

    Janice Bates—Denver, CO

    Thumbs Way Up

    I am astonished at the amount of negative feedback this show has been getting on various comments sections. I marked out at Sasha and AJ’s entrances. I also really enjoyed the last 5 minutes of the show. I get people’s frustrations with using HHH and I personally was hoping for Goldberg’s music to hit at #30 but what we got was good enough.

    Best Match – Rumble

    I don’t think people understand how difficult it must be to book a 30 man match that gives the audience as much as this did. Probably in my Top 5 Rumble matches. The flow of the match was one of the all time best and I thought the Roman heroic comeback swerve and timing of Roman’s return at #29 was perfect. They could even play it like HHH decided to take matters into his own hands seconds before #30 was due. 

    Worst Match – Del Rio Kalisto

    I just don’t care about Del Rio. That is, I care as much as he clearly does. He’s been sleepwalking for months now.

    Great job by all involved. If only it can continue…

    Iain Couper, Edinburgh, Scotland

    Thumbs way up
    BEST: Royal Rumble match
    WORST: Preshow 4 way tag match

    – The Preshow match got the show off to a lousy start, when a team with no history (and no one who was over like Sandow) won, then went on to last about a minute combined in the Rumble.

    – Owens/Ambrose delivered greatly.  Everything looked outstanding, and largely safe but they were really drilling each other with the chairs.  Crowd liked both guys.

    – New Day was very over among the hardcore fans in the audience, but they do need new challengers as the Usos seem a bit stale now.  Great display of strength by Big E for the finish.

    – Assuming he doesn’t lose the title on Raw, it’s good to see them doing something with Kalisto as this was a clean win with his finish, unlike the Raw one where he won with a roll up.

    – Hopefully WWE paid attention to the women’s match.  Good presentation, storyline, build up with the video package, match placement right before the Rumble that’s usually the spot of the World title match, plus the championship ring introductions did 1000x more for the women than a blanket DIVAS REVOLUTION branding.  Hopefully they keep this up and this is the feud that goes down as the game-changer.  The crowd was into this the whole way, it was worked like a big time match, and Banks’ return at the end positioned her as a star as it looks like Team BAD is history.

    – Not much bad to say about the Rumble match at all.  Smart move to have Owens eliminate AJ since he’s loved by the same group of fans.  The only thing that didn’t make sense was Brock going meekly to the back after being eliminated.  Most people were expecting him to destroy the Miz at the announce table before he left.  I guess the League of Nations not throwing Reigns in the ring to eliminate him after destroying hiM also didn’t make sense.  HHH as 30 was a surprise as I think people were expecting him to come in after Reigns tossed everyone in more of a screwjob finish.  He really won this one clean, except for the fact that they will probably play up that Reigns was forced to be no. 1 and HHH was given no. 30.  Two of the three top Mania matches appear to be set in stone though, with Undertaker the only question mark.  AJ/Owens and Ambrose/Jericho also look likely for Mania, if not before.

    LIVE NOTES:

    – Building was jam packed from before the pre show match.  Everyone went through metal detectors, but there were no delays getting in.

    – Return date announced for a house show on 6/26.

    – Crowd was mostly into everything.  The tag match was a little flat at times because the crowd didn’t want the Usos and once the New Day gets in the ring they aren’t as over as they are for their promos.  Everyone liked the finish though.

    – There was very bad timing in the Rumble as the spot were Reigns got put through the table and Jericho eliminated Kingston off of Big E’s shoulders happened at the exact same time.  I don’t think anyone saw both as people were explaining the spot other people missed.

    – The crowd really didn’t expect Reigns to be dumped out before getting to the final 2, but it was clear that it was done so HHH wouldn’t get a gigantic face reaction for winning the belt if he eliminated Reigns last.

    – The crowd getting behind Ambrose was probably the loudest part of the night besides Styles’ debut.  Zayn’s entrance and Sasha Banks’ return also got major reactions.

    – The Rumble match is an awesome live experience.  Probably more fun than any match I’ve seen with the exception of a really major PPV main event or a huge Mania match.

    – Chris H
    Lakeland, FL

    Overall, I give the show a thumbs up. The best match on the card was Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens, followed by the Royal Rumble. The worst match was Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto.

    This Rumble was vastly superior to many of the recent ones, especially the last 2. The perfect guy eliminated AJ Styles in Kevin Owens, and the perfect guy to eliminate Owens was definitely Zayn. While I’m not too eager to see Lesnar/Wyatt, they set it up well. Closing the Rumble with Ambrose and Triple H seemed to be a great choice. Everything about this Royal Rumble match felt far better booked than the previous ones, and it might be one of the best Royal Rumbles ever.

    Josiah MacDonald
    New Brunswick, Canada

    Hi Dave.

    Thumbs up.
    Best Match – Ambrose / Owens
    Worst Match – Tag team match on the pre show

    Really fun show. Not thrilled with the ending. Thought it could have been time to turn Dean and have him help HHH  dump Roman. 

    The problem with Lesnar/Wyatt is that no one will expect Lesnar to lose at Mania. 

    Fingers crossed AJ Styles gets a singles match at mania.

    cheers – 

    Gerry Stumbaugh

    Have to give a thumbs up when all the matches are good or close to good, but this is the third Rumble in a row when you come away with a very negative feeling for the future… Roman was really made to look weak and HHH to strong when HHH won more or less clean with Roman apparently making a full recovery from the earlier beating then not even needing to cheat to win… Roman doesn’t even have the excuse of lasting an hour given he missed half the Rumble. Definitely two steps back for him.

    Best: Ambrose vs. Owens was best, New Day vs. Usos was second best

    Worst: Del Rio vs. Kalisto was the least of the matches

    Ed Branscomb

    Thumbs WAY up.

    Best Match: Ambrose-Owens narrowly edges the Rumble Match

    Worst Match: None.

    Great PPV (or are they now simply “Special Events?”).  For the 3rd year in a row, WWE puts on an overall very good card which has me revved-up for “Wrestlemania Season.”  Would’ve loved to have seen Owens go over Ambrose in the Last Man Standing Match but they still had the show-stealer of the night.  Both Owens & Ambrose should be future World Champions and hopefully their WM 32 match-ups feed into building them up even further.  The Tag Team Title match was entertaining with the right team going over.  The New Day being chased heading into WM is better than The Usos being into that position.  The finish of Del Rio-Kalisto surprised the hell out of me as I thought there was no way Kalisto would go over though I thought it was the right thing to do.   Kalisto has the potential to eventually hold the position on the roster that Rey Mysterio used to hold.  You want to draw in Latino markets and sell some merch to the kids?  Kalisto is the guy and no better time than now to start building him up further.  As much as Charlotte-Becky kicked ass, I things we’re still ways away from Becky getting the strap.  I think stretching out her chase could be money eventually but Charlotte-Sasha is the best Women’s Title match-up they can have.  I don’t think they’ll quite touch what they did in NXT (don’t see Vince giving them the on-air ring time they had at Full Sail) but I’m still excited to see this match-up on the main roster.  I thought the booking of the Rumble match was excellent.  There were no noticeable lulls, the seeds of many storylines seemed to be planted, and a number of new/ different talent was given a chance to shine (especially Braun Strowman & AJ Styles.  On a sidenote:  Michael Cole kept putting over Styles which tells me he’s in a promising position and we shouldn’t assume he won’t be utilized well)  ) Loved the Owens-Zayn clash and LOVED how they set-up The Final Four of Sheamus, Reign, Ambrose, Triple H.  Was entertained the entire time and though speculation heavily gave away the eventual ending, the ride was still worth it.  I’m a 3 hour car ride outside of Cleveland and I just may have to go to Fast Lane.  The Road to Wrestlemania looks promising.

    Todd Espinosa

    Buffalo, NY.

    Royal Rumble

    Thumbs in the middle: Overall an entertaining show but I just can’t relate to their product anymore. It’s like watching a compilation of good matches but with no build up or compelling characters. This was their last opportunity to create a genuine interest for the Mania season and they just did the contrary. Nobody gives a shit about Roman Reigns, or him being champion, or him vs. The Authority. In fact, the heel owner thing is at least 15 years past it’s prime, and in this particular case is beyond stupid since everyone knows that he is their hand picked guy and that they have pushed him for the last 4 years with no results. Not to mention that they never explained why The Authority don’t like Roman as champion as part of the storyline. Really, this is one of the worst cases of forcing someone down people’s throats.  

    Best Match: Ambrose vs. Owens

    Worst Match: 4-way opener

    1. Henry & Swagger vs Dudleys vs Sandow & Young vs Ascension. Pointless. Sandow got a better reaction than Roman Reigns, think about that. *1/4

    2. Ambrose vs Owens. Really great match. A perfect was to end a feud but given how this company works they’ll probably have five more matches. Really, the only negative about this match was that they both were booked in the Rumble, specially Ambrose since he is the champion. ****1/4

    3. New Day vs. Usos. Good, but they couldn’t follow the opener and people didn’t care about the Usos (probably because their association with Roman) ***1/4

    4. Kalisto vs ADR. Fine but lacked something. The quick title switches killed this feud. **1/2

    5. Charlotte vs Lynch. Very good match. Charlotte is the only real heel in the company and Becky is great at the underdog role. The post-match was fine, although they treated Becky like an afterthought. Again, Sasha got a better reaction than Roman. ***3/4

    6. Rumble Match. Match was good early on but lost heat at the end. The Wyatt vs. Lesnar segment took forever and mostly dragged. AJ, an outsider doing his debut, got the best reaction on the show but you could see their backhanded intentions in the booking. He sold like 80% of the time he was in and then was eliminated by Owens who himself was selling a beating. If they knew any better he should have been the last one with HHH. At least that way people would have been mad about Hunter winning. Dean Ambrose as the next to last was lame as everyone knew that he, as IC champion, had no chance of winning a second belt. The biggest pop was the Roman elimination and this year they don’t have the Daniel Bryan excuse. ***1/2

    So Mania looks like Roman vs HHH for the title, Brock vs Bray and Taker vs Braun. If Vince McMahon thinks that he is going to sell 100,000 tickets with those main events he should quit WWE and join Sarah Palin as one of Donald Trump’s supporters because he is equally delusional. Actually, I feel bad for the the people who already got Mania tickets since that show is going to suck. 

    Leonardo Mendez

    San Sebastian, PR

    How you doin’ Dave,

    Thumbs Up

    Sandow & Young vs. Ascension vs. Henry & Swagger vs. Dudleys **1/2

    Was surprised The Dudleys didn’t win, although really I shouldn’t have been, the treatment they receive continues to flummox me. Fair enough they should be putting the younger guys over, but I feel they’re taking it a little too far. Thought the match was ok, although the finishing sequence was extremely awkward.  

    Best Match: Ambrose vs. Owens ****

    Felt it was a very good match with high work-rate and lots of spectacular spots, that was well-paced for the most part. Ambrose’s need to work on his showmanship was very apparent again I thought. For awhile he was trying a spot where he’d be on his knees and then lift his head, similar to Taker’s sit-up spot, attempting to garner a reaction. Now for awhile, especially in matches with Owens, he’s been doing this deal where he travels to all four corners selling strikes and then no-sells, but he does it very poorly. If you’re going to do that spot, do that spot. Slap yourself on your own chest after taking chops, pull down the straps, fire-up and get the heel to beg-off, do something. Instead he rushes the spot with very little dramatics and it fails every time. Just an observation. Also I liked the finish as it somewhat protected Owens, with it being a semi-fluke finish.   

    Worst Match: New Day vs. Usos **

    Thought the match was an absolute clunkfest for the first two-thirds, although it did pick-up towards the end. After months of killing babyfaces with his antics, it amused me that Woods tried to heel himself by not obliging the crowd requests to play the trombone. New Day simply have to turn.  

    Del Rio vs. Kalisto ***1/2

    Thought the match was quite rushed, but it had some nice spots as well as a lot of good fluid work with good technique, although there was one particularly large botch. Taking the title off Kalisto made no sense at all. If it was a babyface who was already established and quite over, and you want to play hot potato with the title, fair enough. But his big singles push had just started, it wasn’t productive at all, it can be overcome but they’ve made life harder for him and themselves.     

    Becky vs. Charlotte ***1/4

    Thought it was a good smooth solid match, although they did start rushing towards the end. This storyline has really enabled Becky to gain some steam, and to prevent it from fizzling out I would’ve liked her to come with the title, at least for a short run, especially with the nature of the storyline. However part of that maybe my preference effecting my judgment, as I am quite fond of Becky Lynch. I’m just worried she may lose the overness she’s gained. Thought the post-match angle was really good.

    Royal Rumble Match **** 

    Thought it was absolutely gripping rumble, and a damn sight better than the two previous years. Had good pace to it and not a lot of lulls.  I expected Styles to get a big pop, but I must admit not that big. It was absolutely thunderous. Overall the crowd put to bed the East Coast rumble crowd myth. It was a very hardcore Orlando crowd, clearly full of travellers. I enjoyed watching AJ sell like a crazy man for everybody, no doubt to attempt to get over with the locker room, although I did worry about his back. I was fairly happy with his showing, although I would’ve like him to make it to the last six-eight. However I was somewhat understanding as you leave him in too long as there’s a risk it could overshadow the finish, but perhaps I’m giving them too much credit. Also I expect there was a certain amount of testing his attitude, which we’ll no doubt see more of in the weeks to come. He’s not going to be a top guy there so I don’t think we can expect too much, he’ll be somewhere in that 4-6 babyface range.

    Otherwise I thought Brock’s elimination could’ve been handled a little better, would’ve liked Owens to get a longer run especially after eliminating AJ, and wasn’t fond of the winner. I thought there was a chance HHH may just interfere and cause Reigns to be eliminated, or may’ve shown-up on Raw to start-up the feud with Reigns after a Reigns victory. Triple H as champion in 2016 leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Also in all honestly I was hoping/thought there was a small chance Bryan maybe 30, but it wasn’t to be. Reigns being 3rd was a surprise, and I’d be interested to know if that was an audible, in response to the Reigns boos, in a last-ditch attempt to get HHH some heat by beating Ambrose. WWE are just going to have to accept that with the hardest of their hardcore fans, they simply are never going to accept having someone forced upon them, and want a choice in who the top guy is.

    Thanks Dave

    Tom Griffiths

    Big thumbs up for this show.

    Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose – Last Man Standing IC Title Match:

    I can only imagine how great this match was live. Camera work here was horrifying and made me sick. Loved the spots. If it means anything, I had trouble staying in HD using the Network app on my LG. ****

    The Usos vs. New Day – Tag Team Title Match:

    I found it hard to give a shit about this match. Cool spots, but not much in substance. **1/2

    Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio – U.S. Title Match: Solid match! Loved the finish! ***1/4.

    Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte – Divas Title Match:

    Really good match! Post match was EXCELLENT! Really hope it leads to a Mania 4 way with It’s Bayley. ***1/4

    The Royal Rumble Match: Rumble was incredible, best of the ones I’ve watched by a good bit. Only things I didn’t approve of was the handling of Brock. He should’ve jumped back into the ring and whopped Bray’s ass.  You can’t make The Beast sympathetic. AJ was amazing, Sami was awesome, and everything that happened from Triple H on (with the exception of Sheamus) was awesome. ****1/2

    Camera work was terrible throughout the night. Otherwise, a fantastic show.

    Thanks,

    Brady Childs

    Overall: Thumbs down

    Best match: Royal Rumble

    Worst match: Fatal four-way tag team match

    That Becky Lynch-Charlotte match had one of the worst finishes I’ve ever seen in a title match.

    The Royal Rumble, and really WWE as a whole, can be summarized by Owens throwing out AJ Styles while screaming, “WELCOME TO WWE!” Vince’s geriatric mindset never ceases to amaze in its obliviousness. They’ve burned this heel authority angle on both sides of the candle and now that the wicker has turned to ash and the wax is all melted they STILL, in TWENTY SIXTEEN, will not move on. 

    -Matthew Burrill @mattb425

    Thumbs in the middle

    Best match:  Owens- Ambrose

    Worst match: Divas

    Entertaining show, but AJ Styles was the only “surprise” — they had alluded to multiple surprises.

    Rumble was decent,but  not incredible. Styles was good; live crowd support made his appearance even better.

    Liked the clean elimination by HHH of Reigns, which seemed to please the live fans .

    Owens-Ambrose a great opener.  Del Rio-Kalisto also delivered another

    strong match. Usos lost as usual. Divas just filler.

    It sounded on TV like Reigns was heavily booed, so they still have a problem to overcome there.

     –Mike Omansky