Geektified's WWE Royal Rumble Review 1.30.17
By Anton Ware
Official Results
-WWE Royal Rumble is LIVE from San Antonio, Texas.
-Michael Cole, Bryan Saxton, Corey Graves, Mauro Ranallo, JBL, Tom Phillips, and David Otunga are your hosts.
-Pre Show Six Woman Tag: Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, and Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss, Natalya, and Mickie James: This was your standard tag match to bring all the rivalries from the Smackdown Women’s Division together. We got triple suplex action from the faces and a dive from Naomi, but Team Bliss would get the upper hand by wearing down Becky Lynch. Lynch would get the hot tag to Naomi where she cleaned house and got the winning pin on the champion.
Random Thought: What in the world is going on with Becky Lynch’s attire? She has on white daisy dukes that doesn’t match the rest of her outfit. It's like she had a wardrobe malfunction before the show. Batman, how do you feel about this?
My sentiments exactly, Batman.
-Pre Show RAW Tag Team Title Match: Sheamus and Cesaro(c) vs. The Club: On the January 16th edition of RAW, Sheamus and Cesaro defended their tag titles against The Club. During the match, the referee got knocked out and a second referee came out and counted the winning pin for Anderson and Gallows. When the 1st referee woke up, he overruled the 2nd referee’s decision and disqualified Sheamus and Cesaro, thus giving the win to the Club, but not the titles. This rematch was made to give both teams two referees and a clear, decisive winner. If you’ve seen these teams go at it before, this was nothing new. The Club grounded Cesaro early on until he made the hot tag to Sheamus. Sheamus cleaned house and while doing so he delivered a Brogue Kick to the main referee. The outside referee took over and Sheamus’ hot head demeanor almost got his team disqualified by threatening to punch the outside referee. The finish came when Cesaro and Anderson were the legal men and Anderson rolled up Cesaro with a handful of tights for the win and the titles! NEW CHAMPS!
-Pre Show Match: Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax: The night after her grueling Ironman Match with Charlotte, Nia Jax confronted and attacked Banks. For weeks, Jax taunted the injured Banks and attacked her during Banks’ pre-show warmup. Banks got revenge on Jax by assaulting her with a crutch. The match was then set for the preshow. This was mostly a showcase of Nia Jax’s power and her dissection of Banks’ injured knee. Banks would get the advantage over Jax during the final stretch, but the damage was already done as Jax delivered a pop up Samoan Drop for the win.
Main Show:
-WWE RAW Women’s Title Match: Charlotte(c) vs. Bayley: After Charlotte defeated Sasha Banks in their Ironman Match, she proclaimed her dominance as the true queen of the women’s division. Bayley reminded Charlotte that she’s 2-0 against The Queen and wanted a title shot. Bayley would get two more chances at Charlotte only to come up short by false pin falls and crooked referees. Bayley finally got her title opportunity by pinning Nia Jax on the January 2nd edition of RAW to become the #1 contender to the Women’s Title. A simple little opener with Bayley showing heart and resiliency while Charlotte was the arrogant and confident villain. Throughout the contest, Charlotte proved she was the more dominant competitor by physically and mentally breaking down Bayley (there was a time in the match where Bayley showed frustration for not being able to get the upper hand on Charlotte). Bayley made a fierce comeback with some “unorthodox” offense, but it wasn’t enough as Charlotte nailed Bayley with a wicked Natural Selection on the apron for the win. The Queen is 16-0 in PPV matches.
-Holy Foley promo video.
-WWE Champions app promo video.
-WWE Universal Title No DQ Match: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens: At WWE Roadblock, Reigns defeated Owens via disqualification after Chris Jericho gave Owens a Codebreaker to keep the title on him. Disgusted by the Canadians’ actions, RAW General Manager Mick Foley made Owens defend the Universal Title against Reigns on this show and to make sure it was a fair contest, Chris Jericho would be suspended above the ring in a shark cage. A couple of weeks later, Owens and Jericho faced Reigns in a 2-on-1 handicap match for the United States Title which Reigns lost to Jericho. This was a FUN, wild brawl. Notable moments included Owens frog splashing Reigns through a table on the outside, Owens delivering his own Superman Punch to Reigns with brass knuckles, Reigns Superman Punching Owens through a tower of steel chairs, and delivering a one-man Shield Powerbomb to Owens through an announce table. The finish saw Reigns closing in on the win when Braun Strowman came out of nowhere and assaulted Reigns with a Chokeslam and Powerslam through a table. Owens covered Reigns for the win to retain the title.
-Enzo and Cass KFC commercial.
-Royal Rumble 30 best moments countdown video # 30- #15
-WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Rich Swann(c) vs. Neville: At Roadblock: End of the Line, Rich Swann retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in a triple threat match against T.J. Perkins and The Brian Kendrick. After the match, Neville appeared and attacked both Swann and Perkins. Neville would go on to attack Swann multiple times throughout the next few weeks to show who was the true star of the Cruiserweights. Fed up with the ambushes, Swann called out Neville and demanded a rematch. Neville accepted his challenge which leads us to tonight’s bout for the Cruiserweight Championship. A competitive match that saw the usual from the 205 Live regulars: Superkicks and high spots. The crowd sat on their hands for the contest. At least we’re in times where the “Boring” chants are being phased out. Neville won the match with a modified Crossface submission. NEW CHAMP!!
-New Day Vudu Promo.
-WrestleMania 33 promo.
-WWE World Heavyweight Title Match: AJ Styles(c) vs. John Cena: This match was a result of Cena issuing a challenge to the winner of the triple threat match between AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, and Dolph Ziggler (which Styles won). This match had motivating factors for both men as Cena was looking to finally beat AJ Styles and to win his sought after 16th World Title reign while Styles was looking to earn the respect of Cena, WWE management, and the WWE Universe. It's January and we already have ourselves a Match of the Year Contender. Excellent match from the two cornerstones of Smackdown LIVE! What was different about the contest was Cena’s demeanor every time a big move was hit. As the match went on, you could see frustration in his eyes and the realism that MAYBE AJ Styles and his critics were right that he doesn’t have what it takes to hang with the new wave of WWE stars. The match was competitive as Cena and AJ busted out finishers from other stars. Styles would hit Tye Dillinger’s Perfect 10 and Cena would hit Big E’s Big Ending. Cena even busted out his Code Red which still wasn’t enough. Cena would eventually get the win two back-to-back AA’s for the win and title! NEW CHAMP!! These two have GREAT chemistry together.
-WWE Network Promo.
- Royal Rumble 30 best moments countdown video #15-#1.
-Royal Rumble Match: The order of entrance are as follows:
Big Cass is #1.
Y2J is #2
#3.Kalisto #4. Mojo Rawley #5 Jack Gallagher #6. Mark Henry #7. Braun Strowman #8. Sami Zayn #9. Big Show #10. Tye Dillinger #11. James Ellsworth #12. Dean Ambrose #13. Baron Corbin #14. Kofi Kingston #15. The Miz #16. Sheamus #17. Big E #18. Rusev #19. Cesaro #20. Xavier Woods #21. Bray Wyatt #22. Apollo Crews #23. Randy Orton #24. Dolph Ziggler #25. Luke Harper #26. Brock Lesnar #27. Enzo Amore #28. Goldberg #29. Undertaker #30. Roman Reigns.
This match was all about the Big 4: Braun Strowman, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, and Undertaker. Strowman dominated the first half of the Rumble (only to be eliminated by Baron Corbin). Afterward, there was a lot of down time until the part-time stars came in towards the end. Notable highlights included:
-Jack Gallaher cleaning house with an umbrella.
-James Ellsworth’s near death experience of being dumped by Strowman.
-Sheamus and Cesaro eliminated all three members of The New Day. However, Y2J dumped Sheamus and Cesaro a short time later.
-Orton’s RKO fest.
- The Wyatt Family imploding.
-Brock Lesnar cleaning house (specifically destroying Enzo with a clothesline).
-Lesnar and Goldberg’s “showdown” where Goldberg dominated Lesnar once again.
-Goldberg and Taker’s stare down.
The final four would come down to Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, and Randy Orton. Reigns eliminated Jericho and Wyatt only to receive an RKO afterwards by The Viper. Orton eliminated Reigns moments later to become the 7th man to win two or more Royal Rumble matches.
-END SCENE
Final Thoughts: This was a fun outing by WWE. You had two great world title matches, (both with their own story and style), decent Women's and Cruiserweight Title matches, and a star-studded Royal Rumble match. The Rumble match itself had a lot of hype and expected surprises that didn’t deliver, so I can see why some people may not have enjoyed it, but it did keep my interest and I didn’t feel cheated. There are so many questions coming out of this show:
- Who’s the next challenger for Kevin Owens since Reigns and Rollins have exhausted their title opportunities?
- What's to become of Brock Lesnar since he was once again embarrassed by Goldberg?
- What will become of the relationship between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt since Orton has a guaranteed title shot at the biggest show of the year?
- Is James Ellsworth still alive after that dump to the outside?
It all remains to be seen, but we will keep a close eye on things as the Road to WrestleMania begins!
-What did you guys think of the show? Hit or miss? Let me know in the comment section. Thanks for reading!
-Anton
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