It appears Trish Stratus maybe in tonight’s Royal Rumble. Natalya posted a photo of them together on Instagram relating to tonight, then quickly deleted. While I really hope it’s true it’s rather annoying Natalya has let it slip if so.

My Royal Rumble predictions:

 

Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defeat Charlotte & Asuka

 

Roman Reigns defeat Kevin Owens

 

Drew McIntyre defeat Goldberg

 

Alexa Bliss wins women's royal rumble

 

Daniel Bryan wins men's royal rumble

The women's rumble could go either way as their are quite a lot of credible potential winners, the men's match is surely leading to Daniel Bryan winning. I've heard rumours about Brock Lesnar coming back and if that happens maybe he could win instead.

Getting 3 predictions right isn't bad :lol:, I would have predicted Sasha Banks to defeat Carmella as well but the match wasn't officially announced when I made my predictions.

 

 

I was really surprised at how little impact Alexa Bliss made in the women's rumble match, she did absolutely nothing and it now makes me question where WWE is going with this storyline she's involved with. I suppose I should have seen Bianca's win coming after the documentary about her that was shown recently and a match between her and Sasha Banks at WrestleMania would be good. I thought the women's rumble overall was decent and it was better than last year's but not as good as 2018.

 

 

I'm kind of happy for Edge that he won and winning from the #1 spot to become only the 3rd person to do so after Shawn Michaels and another guy who's name escapes me.....

 

Highlight of the men's rumble for me was the way Rey Mysterio got eliminated by Omos :rofl:, Dominick Mysterio took a huge bump on his way out of the match as well. Both winners of the rumble matches got the iron man/woman spot which must be a first in WWE.

 

I enjoyed the Kevin Owens/Roman Reigns match as there were so nice bumps that took place, especially the swantom bomb Kevin Owens did from a forklift onto Roman through a table.

 

 

Drew Vs Goldberg on the other hand was exactly what I expected it to be. Just the two of them basically pressing the L1 button over and over again until someone couldn't kick out of a finishing move, it was a pointless match that does nothing for either wrestler going forward.

^I actually agree with the majority of that post tbh.

 

My ratings and comments

 

Charlotte/Asuka v Shayna and Nia 1/10 not a good match at all. I think the three excluding Asuka were saving energy for the rumble as it just felt so half hearted. Right winners though as Asuka and Charlotte was only done to boost Charlotte's accolades even more.

 

Drew V Goldberg 1.5/10 I like Drew but I think his face run is pretty boring ngl and his promo stuff has gone down hill too not helped by the script he's given and the match was predictable and I'm sick of matches solely consisting of just finishers.

 

Sasha v Carmella 6/10 Was a decent little match but a bit of step down from TLC.

 

Women's Rumble 7/10 this would be higher If alexas elimination wasn't shit and some bits weren't as sloppy as there were some but I did enjoy the majority of the match. Strong selection up to Charlotte really although I don't know Santana Garett that well. Seeing Jillian return was not what I thought I wanted but got anyway lol. Billie was entertaining in her character mode. Shotzi, Dakota and Toni should have had a bitlonger and more impact than they got. I guess Shotzi did get a lot in two minutes though. Lana eliminating Nia was a fab moment as was Charlotte getting eliminated by Bianca and Rhea. Victoria was the best bit though OMG. Seems WWE have made amends with whatever issue was going on. First match since 2009 and she looked great too. Bianca Rhea were the right final two imo and I wouldn't have been upset at either winning. So a pretty decent match but it did have its sloppiness at times and Alexa again brings it down for me :(

 

Reigns v Owens 9/10 brilliant match and like Houdini the high spots in it were incredible. Both of them told a solid story Imo.

 

Men's Rumble 10/10 I thought this was much more solid than the women's oops. Was intending to prefer the women's but everything ran much smoother in the men's I thought. Pleased Sami and Morrison had a good little amount of time. The start with Sami, Ali, Orton and Edge was great. Carlito looked AMAZING. Wow. Hurricane was a bit of an underwhelming surprise entry cause he entered a few years back but Christian was a great one. Pleased Rollins didn't return as a loveable face. I'm loving his Messiah gimmick now. Not sad about Edge winning either. It's good to see somebody come from life long injury win although I'd have liked Daniel too. All in all I thought this ran more consistent and was slicker.

 

The only thing that confused me too was Edge coming out 1st and Orton 2nd when I swear on Backstage they announced them the other way round :unsure: but never mind!

 

Solid ppv from sasha onwards!

Edited February 1, 20214 yr by Rob S

They must be saving Alexa, seems like they didn’t want to give too much of away last night.

 

Billie Kay though :wub: she was fantastic, absolutely hilarious. So glad she wasn’t the first out, I’m down for Billie & Jillie.

I was confused as well about Edge coming out 1st and Randy 2nd, I can only think the reason why they did it is so that when they mention that more than one person has won from the #1 spot they will actually be able to name someone else in addition to Shawn Michaels. I don't get why they don't make a big deal out of winning from the #2 spot as the wrestler in that spot is there from the very beginning just like the #1. I just realised as well that for only the 2nd time ever the two wrestlers who entered at the start were also the final two.

 

 

 

Yeah I think the same about Alexa and the 1&2 mens thing. I wished they had announced Edge was 1 on backstage to save being inconsistent with their announcements.

 

Just for pure geekiness sakes I noticed a couple of other stats from the mens rumble.

 

Edge of course becomes the 3rd to win from #1. I'm surprised WWE hadn't decided to do a #1 entrant win the whole thing much earlier considering the last person was... Chris Benoit 💀💀💀

 

Randy also has been the #2 entrant twice now, in rumbles when the winner wins from number 1!

 

Christian's first rumble match appearance in 16 years.

Edited February 1, 20214 yr by Rob S

Alexa in the month of january managed to get over 15.5m youtube views from wwe uploads, WAY more than any other superstar.

There is still so much to say from last night, I personally think it was the best Women's rumble so far. The men's felt a bit long to me, also the 2 minute gaps between entries felt much shorter in both rumbles.

 

How great did Lana look?! Her eliminating Nia was great, was happy to also see Tamina last longer than just a few seconds.

 

Victoria didn't miss a step either, hopefully she'll stick around or make more appearances. Shame they had to bring in the 24/7 title but Alicia made that work, wonder what's going on with her. She barely did any moves, wonder if they did that on purpose, was great to see her all the same.

Alexa in the month of january managed to get over 15.5m youtube views from wwe uploads, WAY more than any other superstar.

As much as it means to us, USA aren't going to care about YT views when the ratings aren't great (although they have improved slightly).

 

---

 

A solid top to bottom PPV. It wasn't ALL for me, but I get why things happened and it was pretty much perfect in terms of fan service and it was consistent.

 

Ratings out of 5:

 

2.25 Charlotte & Asuka vs ShayNia | Asuka was the only person who looked interested in this match (but I guess that was due to the other 3 wanting to take it easy as they were gonna be in the rumble), but still. When other wrestlers wrestled numerous times on PPVs they don't look half as bored as those 3 did. I'm literally LMAO that they put the tag titles on Charlotte just to make her a grand slam champion. Ridiculous. There was NO NEED for them to have taken the belts off of ShayNia if the plan was for ShayNia just to get them back when Mandy/Dana or Ruby/Liv (altho I feel like they're building to Mania for their win) could have done with the wins instead? Also, Charlotte losing the match due to interference... AGAIN. Glad that Charlotte reign is over with. What an awful tag run that was. > Asuka hasn't had a chance to defend her title on a PPV since Clash of Champions in September - and that was gonna be pre-show! I feel so bad for her and her reign! She deserves better booking. <

 

2.50 Drew McIntyre vs Goldberg | Nice and quick. But it was just 90% finishers. Kinda makes your finishing move look awful. Wasn't for me. Mega cringe at the endorsement too! This just tells me that WWE are disappointed that Drew isn't hitting his metrics in drawing the viewers and/or the merch sales enough for what he should be doing as their main champion, despite being booked the way he has. He's bland af! (Over Christmas WWE Twitter advertised Sasha merch but the link went to Drew's page, not once... but THREE times lmao)

 

N/A Sasha Banks vs Carmella | My internet literally crashed for the entirety of this match :mellow: So I am about to watch it. I was FUMING.The ONE MATCH I wanted to see lmao. Ugh.

 

3.75 Women's Royal Rumble | This was genuinely, the best first half to a rumble match that I think I have EVER witnessed? Then a certain someone comes out at #15 and, just like last year, the mood quickly changed and (although not awful/bad) everything started becoming overbooked and just a mess... until the final 2, which, I think will go down as a historic moment in rumble history. Bianca and Rhea absolutely K I L L E D that final 2 segment. Probably the best final 2 moment I've seen since Taker vs Shawn in 2007. I am still behind Sasha winning at Mania to finally get that Mania curse out the way and I believe she is the one talent that can make Bianca look a million dollars even in defeat. So I am hoping that she wins at Mania and it sets up to lengthen their story into the Summer, where Belair finally overthrows Sasha. (However, Mandalorian S3 starts shooting literally a couple of days before Mania, so Sasha might lose it, take time off to shoot and come back and win in Boston at Summerslam) But I was so, SO happy to see Victoria. She did an interview recently with Fightful Wrestling and said she would like a backstage role like a coach or something and that'd be perfect for her. I don't think WWE higher ups realise just how popular and well liked she is. The Alexa stuff was hilarious... like, I genuinely don't understand why they did that? :\ but w/e. Billie Kay is a national treasure. I love, love, LOVE her. Some incredibly brutal elimination bumps in this! Victoria, the powerbombs that Rhea and Bayley did, Dakota... Crazy.

 

3.25 Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens | Solid last man standing match. This probably would have been higher for me had they not had that finish? Like... the ref started counting got to 6 until he realised Reigns genuinely was stuck and it was an awkward couple of minutes. I'm disappointed that Reigns and Owens couldn't improvise enough and have Owens stand tall over him whilst Heyman was trying to unlock the handcuffs? The referee wouldn't have been allowed to have counted then as Owens wasn't away from his opponent.

 

3.00 Men's Royal Rumble | I assumed starting with Edge vs Orton was so that they could get some kind of closure to their feud, at least until one of them becomes champ again? So I didn't mind them starting. My internet started cutting in and out throughout the first half so I missed a lot of the big return moments (Christian and Carlito for example) but from what I saw, the match was ok... if very one note? I think it was solid but nothing particularly exciting happened? I feel like this needed a live crowd more than any other match in the evening, imo. Love this story for Edge. A lot of people are mad that he won and not someone younger, but I don't mind with Edge coz I feel like this is just his mission to retire on his own terms. I hope he chooses Reigns coz him vs Reigns would be great! But I feel like he's going for the WWE Championship to face Drew as RAW need it pretty bad atm, seeing as Drew is doing nothing for the ratings.

3.50 Sasha Banks vs Carmella | Agreed, that it wasn't *quite* as good as their TLC encounter, but it was still a lot of fun and they have surprisingly great chemistry together. Carmella's suicide dive was scary looking and immediately Sasha made sure she was ok :cry: Amazing stuff. It's amazing how Sasha has managed to get 2 good/great matches out of Mella. V happy with that match!

Lana & Naomi now a team. :unsure:

As soon as I saw they were a team I knew they would win the 6 woman triple threat tag team match. Asuka continues to be treated badly as well as she was barely in the match but still ended up taking the pin.

As soon as I saw they were a team I knew they would win the 6 woman triple threat tag team match. Asuka continues to be treated badly as well as she was barely in the match but still ended up taking the pin.

 

Maybe this will lead to Asuka getting fed up of Charlotte.

Maybe this will lead to Asuka getting fed up of Charlotte.

Yeah I think that's the direction they will go down which would maybe set up a Raw Women's Championship match between the two of them.

Lars Sullivan has been released from his contact!

 

Not sad about this one!

So glad Bianca won the Rumble it was so deserved :D I hope she ends up facing Sasha that would be a MATCH !

I really want heel Naomi. She's much stronger/better as an in-ring performer when she's heel (the era of Team BAD). As a face the character is PERFECT (best entrance in all of WWE rn too!), but her moves come off as too flashy and her matches have little to no substance to them. She's insanely gifted and talented, but I want to see her give a good-great match and I haven't seen one that makes me want to get on board with her the way that wrestling twitter have.

Nia Jax on last night's Raw was hilarious :lol:

Nia Jax on last night's Raw was hilarious :lol:

 

Just watched their match, was funny, was odd to see her call Naomi Trin too.

 

I don't understand how Lacey is now suddenly number 1 contender?

 

Also, why the Miz in the chamber?!

Nia's "aaaah MY HOLE" is funny. Nice to see them putting some kind of effort into the tag belts again. Naomi vs Shayna was solid last night, just a shame it was so short. Naomi seems to have worked on giving her in ring work some substance and in-ring psychology. Time will tell though. I still need to see that "very good"/"great" match from her.

 

Lacey is number 1 contender coz her match with Charlotte last night (which was as dreadful as the other 400 times they did it) was a #1 contenders match due to Charlotte always having to be next in line, regardless. :rolleyes: I'm genuinely sick of her and it's pissing me off how much she's fallen as an in-ring talent over the last couple of years - but I think that will largely be down to her not having to worry about ever not being in the title picture/a main focus. Where as everyone else kinda has to prove themselves.

 

I'm scared that they've done this to put the title on Lacey and feed her to Charlotte at Mania for "THE LONG AWAITED REMATCH!!!!!!1!!1" that literally NOBODY wants (although I wouldn't be surprised at a multi-woman match for the RAW title this year adding Asuka to make it a triple threat or Peyton to make it a Fatal 4 Way). I feel so awful for Asuka. After one of my favourite runs with the belt during the Summer prog with Sasha & Bayley, they've truly cast her aside like she's worthless. She deserves better... A LOT better. It's so sad to see :cry:

 

Also, YAY at Garza finally being on TV but UGH that he's with Miz/Morrison who are just a team to put over new talent, when he essentially is a new talent himself. He's SO good. I'm hoping he can break away soon enough and get thrown into the US title picture. Hopefully Ricochet and Humberto can break free from the Main Event show too.

 

EDIT: Oh and DON'T get me started on that horrific Chamber match.

 

They should have had qualifying matches. Kofi gets his way into the Chamber, but Mustafa takes him out and takes his place. I'd have had Drew vs Sheamus vs Jeff vs Mustafa vs Ricochet/AJ/Priest (delete one name of those 3) - The Miz has the briefcase so why would he accept a Championship match!?

 

But this match up is great at getting new talent over so Mustafa, Ricochet & Priest could have benefitted MAJORLY from being in there. Have Morrison and Miz cost Priest the match furthering their feud with Bad Bunny (who is doing great btw!), Kofi could do something with Mustafa, whilst Ricochet got that iron-man rub (enters 1 and is last eliminated or something whilst managing to do crazy spots with Jeff etc..)