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Here's some ongoing thoughts over the course of the WWE Royal Rumble.
Until the finish, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins was just awesome. Rollins' entrance to The Shield's old theme music and wearing the old gear was a great "mind game" to play on Roman and the work from the bell on was great. They had the crowd in the palm of their hand the entire time and some of the sequences, especially Rollins catching Roman mid-spear with the Pedigree were truly inspired. The Shield powerbomb onto the table was a smart little throwback and they really had a hell of a match, but then they had the weakest finish imagineable, with Roman getting DQ'd for refusing to let go of a hold while Rollins was in the ropes. This would have been a weak house show finish in the middle of a show, much less a PPV title bout on one of the biggest shows of the year.
The crowd turned on Roman and booed the hell out of him and the post-match attack was brutal, helping to accentuate what a bitter monster Reigns is as champion, but this reminded me of Shawn Michaels vs. Mick Foley so many years ago at an In Your House PPV in Philadelphia - a great match that was marred by a weak, weak finish. If they were going to have Rollins take so many brutal chairshots to the back, why not make THAT the DQ instead of Roman not listening to the referee in an anti-climactic ending to what had been a stellar bout?
Second up is the Women's Royal Rumble. It should be interesting to see which of the women who were brought in end up not actually working.
Sasha was number one. Melina was second and went super quick. Her fans on Twitter won't be happy about that. Banks attacked number three, Tamina, on the floor as she came to ringside. Kelly Kelly was in and out pretty quick as well courtesy of Banks. Aliyah was next. Liv Morgan charged the ring and now it was four. Zelina Vega was next and in a bit of a surprise, took out Banks, knocking her off the apron after Tamina had dumped Banks to the apron over the top. Liv did a nice job of selling a near elimination, holding on at one point.
Next out was Bianca Belair. She drilled Tamina with a great looking kick. The crowd was behind Belair immediately. Belair hit some truly nice athletic sequences. 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke was the next competitor. Brooke nailed a handspring elbow in the corner on Tamina. Dana Brooke got a rescue from an elimination as Michelle McCool tossed her but Reggie, who was with her, caught Dana and tossed her back in. That was fun. McCool quickly took out Dana a second time and this time, Dana was out. So far, this has been fine and the crowd has really enjoyed it.
Sonya Deville was next out, but joined commentary as she hasn't taken her jacket off. Great, she's George South. Natalya was #12. They almost tossed Belair, who saved herself. She's so damn great athletically it's insane. Next out was Cameron, playing full Funkadactyl. Realizing Naomi would be upset if something happened to her old pal, Deville took off the jacket and attacked her. Cameron was sent into the ring post and eliminated. With the exception of McCool, thus far, most of the old guard have been used in short roles.
Naomi was out next, so she checked on her friend, then hit the ring, brawling with Sonya. The crowd loved this. Naomi eliminated her, which the crowd popped for. Carmella was next but didn't want to get in the ring and was preening at ringside.
If you wondering why you may be hearing "Turn the Light off" chants, Tim W. is at the show and said a spotlight being used is blinding portions of the live audience, who are chanting in protest.
Rhea was next and the crowd reacted as if a major star just walked out. She tossed Carmella in. They then did a big power spot to get Rhea over as she muscled both Women's Tag Champs over the top, the dropkicked them off the apron. Not much of a flow to this bout thus far.
Charlotte Flair was out next at #17. It was all about her early as she tossed Aliyah and began cleaning house on everyone. She tossed Naomi and she teased a miracle save but was yanked off the apron by Sonya to continue their storyline.
Next out was Ivory, who was in town doing WWE documentary interviews, coming out as the Right to Censor version of her character. She came in cutting a promo about how the woman needed to take care of their men, not their Facebook followers. Yes, really. She was tossed immediately by Rhea. Again, lots of quick cameos from the old guard.
Brie Bella hit the ring and the place went nuts with Yes chants. Nat almost tossed her but Brie saved herself. Mickie James was true to her word next, coming out with the Impact title belt and her Hardcore Country song. McCool attacked her at ringside and they battled in the ring. She used a rana over the ropes to take out McCool, which meant something since Michelle had been in for some time.
Alicia Fox was next. Nikki A.S.H. followed. Rhea called her out but Nikki came out from the opposite side and attacked her former partner. Rhea went after her so Nikki went to the floor, leaving Rhea to be attacked by Flair. Summer Rae was next but I know you will be shocked at this, was tossed out almost immediately.
Nikki Bella was next at #24. The crowd loved seeing her. The Bellas teamed to toss Fox.
#25 was Sarah Logan, making her return. She attacked the Bellas and teased a reunion with Liv but the Bellas attacked. Logan was tossed. The Bellas battled Liv and finally eliminated her, which the crowd HATED.
#26 was Lita. She battled The Bellas, suplexed Nikki and took out Mickie James. Lita and Flair faced off and battled. The crowd loved that.
#27 was MIGHTY Molly Holly, so we are getting the comic book crossover! Yep, Nikki immediately attacked Molly and tossed her into the ring steps. Molly was quickly dumped.
#28 was Ronda Rousey. You know she didn't come back to be eliminated. Shotzi and Shayna Baszler were the final competitors. Brie eliminated Nikki, which was a surprise.
It came down to Rousey and Flair with Ronda quickly tossing in a pretty anti-climactic elimination. It seemed like Rousey was super protected and may have come back with not a lot of lead time. Once you saw her, there was no way anyone else was winning. They announced Rousey would main event Wrestlemania. It's seemed pbvious it'll be her vs. Flair coming out of this, but we'll see.
This was eh. I think out of all the Women's Rumbles, this felt the least special as there was a procession of talents the crowd seemed happy to see but then were let down watching them quickly be tossed and this didn't have one long story as the centerpiece. There were some nice moments but nothing that sustained itself and turned this into a big spectacle or even a massive WTF moment to really shake people up. I did really enjoy the Lita vs. Flair exchange, thought Bianca did a great job as always and felt Natalya, Michelle McCool, Zelina and Mickie James all had nice runs. BUT, nothing here had that sort of fun "zing" to it that made this truly stand out. They really could have used some of the NXT girls in this to carry some of the athletic load and I think a passing of the guard moment was missed by not having the old Divas at one point facing off with the current troupe. The Rumble is supposed to be about dream moments that don't usually happen and that was one they could have delivered on a silver platter, bit didn't. If they didn't have Ronda's return as the big moment coming out of this, I don't know what they could have done. Just a weird hour with moments that could have been nice fan service - the Riott Squad reunion, Naomi and Cameron, etc. that never ever happened.
More thoughts on Page 2!
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