Does Anyone Watch Wrestling? (WWE, AEW, TNA, NWA, etc)

[MUSC4EVER]

Rey Mysterio and Andrade Almas had an excellent match last night, and I hope they have many more in the near future, the news from that match really is Almas is the latest to lose his surname, he is now being called Andrade.

 

[Darla Starch]

The Revival reputedly asked for their releases after the match on Raw last Monday. Status is up in the air, but it's almost as if there's a high-profile new promotion starting up in the coming months that could use a good ol' low-frills tag team...*thinky-face.gif*

 

[Northstar]

Can't say I blame them, seems the only tag teams who get consistently booked well are The Bar, New Day and Uso's.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Dolph Ziggler is reportedly another one who is going, his contract is up at the end of the month and WWE have offered him a producer role.

Mike Bennet and Maria Kanellis have asked for their release to as well as the Revival, all this has happened this week.

 

[Northstar]

I think Dolph has been "leaving" since I got back into wrestling 2 years ago.

 

[GTPVenomZombie]

Fudge the Revival.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

WWE will announce the 30 participants for the Women's Rumble match today, they will announce a participant every 30 minutes from 12 noon eastern time, someone should tell them that we like surprises!

 

[Northstar]

WWE will announce the 30 participants for the Women's Rumble match today, they will announce a participant every 30 minutes from 12 noon eastern time, someone should tell them that we like surprises!

Turns out they pretty much just went over the list of people who were already more or less confirmed. There's still 9 open slots for the Women and 12 for the Men.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Rusev v Nakamura US title match moved to the Rumble kick off show, a reminder that Nakamura actually won the Royal Rumble last year, and now is not really on the main show this year, Rusev cant be happy with this decision either.

 

[Northstar]

Rusev v Nakamura US title match moved to the Rumble kick off show, a reminder that Nakamura actually won the Royal Rumble last year, and now is not really on the main show this year, Rusev cant be happy with this decision either.

The way WWE has handled the U.S. Title over the last year or so has been rather annoying. Really I can't remember any real memorable feud revolving around the title since A.J. held it and that was in 2017.

 

[BKGlover]

Here's hoping that AEW can get off the ground.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Here is the card for NXT Takeover tomorrow.

Matt Riddle v Kassius Ohno

NXT Tag Team Championship
The Undisputed ERA (c) v The War Raiders

NXT Women's Championship
Shayna Baszler (c) v Bianca Belair

NXT North American Championship
Ricochet (c) v Johnny Gargano

NXT Championship
Tommaso Ciampa (c) v Aleister Black

 

[Northstar]

Here's hoping that AEW can get off the ground.

I think they certainly have most of the pieces to make that happen, really the only thing missing is a TV announcement (hopefully on a channel HULU Live has). I just hope they're not trying to run before they can walk.

Here is the card for NXT Takeover tomorrow.

Matt Riddle v Kassius Ohno

NXT Tag Team Championship
The Undisputed ERA (c) v The War Raiders

NXT Women's Championship
Shayna Baszler (c) v Bianca Belair

NXT North American Championship
Ricochet (c) v Johnny Gargano

NXT Championship
Tommaso Ciampa (c) v Aleister Black

Apart from the non-title match it's an overall great looking card. I really like Riddle, but Ohno makes me want to take a nap.

 

[Gotbeefboy564]

Betting the final four will be Strowman, Balor, Drew and Rollins for the men’s rumble. Honestly thought the ppv was last week but didn’t see it was the 27th.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Right then, here is the final card for the Royal Rumble tonight, this might be a bit of a long post!

Kick-Off Show

Cruiserweight Championship-Fatal Four-Way Match
Buddy Murphy (c) v Hideo Itami v Kalisto v Akira Tozawa

United States Championship
Rusev (c) v Shinsuke Nakamura

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Bar (c) v Shane McMahon & The Miz

Smackdown Women's Championship
Asuka (c) v Becky Lynch

Raw Women's Championship
Ronda Rousey (c) v Sasha Banks

Women's Royal Rumble Match
Confirmed Participants:
Natalya, Bayley, Ember Moon, Lacey Evans, Alexa Bliss, Sarah Logan, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Mickie James, Alicia Fox, Mandy Rose, Sonya DeVille, Naomi, Tamina, Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair, Zelina Vega, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Dana Brooke, Lana, Nikki Cross, Carmella (number 30)

WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan (c) v AJ Styles

Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (c) v Finn Balor

Men's Royal Rumble Match
Confirmed Participants:
John Cena, Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Samoa Joe, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Big E, Elias, Bobby Lashley, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Jinder Mahal, Jeff Hardy, Titus O'Neill, Andrade, Rey Mysterio, Mustapha Ali, R-Truth (number 30)

And that's it, 23 participants for the Women's Rumble and 20 for the Men's so there will be surprises, CW title has been moved to the 2 hour pre-show as well.

Really enjoyed Takeover last night, another top class show. 👍

 

[MUSC4EVER]

John Cena not competing in the Rumble match tonight because of the ankle injury he picked up on Raw a fortnight ago, Strowman replaces him.

 

[Northstar]

2 things so far.

1) The set is great.

2) The ref for the U.S. title match is a complete moron. Yes, I know how wrestling works, but crap like him looking right at Nakamura untying the turnbuckle and doing nothing just breaks the immersion.

 

[Darla Starch]

Jeff Jarrett in a WWE ring in 2019. Amazing.

 

[Gotbeefboy564]

Nia calm down lol you’ll win the Elimination Chamber.

 

[Stephan]

Spoiler

I'm glad Seth Rollins won the Men's Royal Rumble.

.....but at the same time not quite happy with Brock retaining the title.

 

[GTFan24]

Hey um Kenny? Yeah listen it's best that you stay in Japan quite honestly don't even bother approaching Vince whatsoever.

 

[Eva]

I actually really enjoyed the card, minus the tag team pre-show match. Everything made sense, and aside from Double J, they didn't lean on legends for appeal. No Cena, no Taker, no Triple H, just the present and the future.

Spoiler: Main Takeaways

There's a lot of things that can be taken from the show. Becky facing Ronda for the Raw Women's title is a no brainer, but the 4 horsewomen vs. 4 horsewomen thing is beginning to ramp up, so I have no idea where they plan on going. Asuka has the Smackdown Women's title, which is good, though I don't think a second match with Charlotte is the way to go come Wrestlemania. There's just 3 weeks until the Elimination Chamber PPV, which could unravel things further.

I would very much like to see a Balor vs. Lesnar II, but with Balor in demon paint at Wrestlemania. Likewise, I think there is more money in having Rollins go after Bryan and Styles, because let's face it, Rollins has had matches with everyone important on Raw ten times over, and there needs to be a bit of a refresh.

The U.S. title, I can see it becoming a hot potato. Andrade, Ali, Nakamura, Rusev could hop it around quite a bit while Andrade gets pushed to the moon. The I.C. title, while on Lashley, is kinda pointless. Not a downgrade from Ambrose, but definitely not an upgrade either.

Men's tag titles are a tale of two halves. Raw titles are essentially paperweights. Smackdown has a very loaded tag team division, more teams than they know what to do with, which sucks, but the tag titles are a constant there, and that's good.

Cruiserweight title continues to be overlooked despite routinely amazing matches. Not much else to say there.

Also something to note, Lesnar's match with Balor is the first time since he returned in 2012 where he never landed an F5. In fact, he only attempted it once, and it was countered. There's gotta be more to that than a one off.

Hey um Kenny? Yeah listen it's best that you stay in Japan quite honestly don't even bother approaching Vince whatsoever.

Why do you say that? I felt like this Rumble card was one of the strongest cards WWE has put together in quite some time.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Great show, main highlights were the Ronda/Sasha match which was the hardest fought win for Ronda and made Sasha looks amazing, the end of the Women's Rumble match was great story-telling, Shane and Miz winning the tag titles is a nice story, that fact that they didn't use a lot of legends or past wrestlers in both Rumble matches is a big plus, and perhaps more importantly the winners of both Rumble matches were spot on and deserved.

Only real downsides were the Raw tag match on the preshow which was bewildering, and the fact the show fizzled out a bit after the Women's Rumble match, you cant keep the crowd engaged for nearly five hours, which was how long the show was!

 

[MUSC4EVER]

A great Raw last night, main obvious highlight was Becky Lynch showing up and choosing Rousey for Wrestlemania and had a stare-down, Rousey was booed throughout, she better get used to that for the next few months!

 

[Darla Starch]

Dean Ambrose is reportedly on his way out of the company post-Wrestlemania.

 

[Northstar]

Dean Ambrose is reportedly on his way out of the company post-Wrestlemania.

It's now been confirmed by WWE themselves.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Jesus this has come out of nowhere really hasn't it?!

I thought something might be up after watching his performance on Raw, he didn't really Job to Rollins but it wasn't far off, Seth pinned him clean in the middle of the ring following one Curb Stomp, Ambrose did have some offense but it was pretty much all Rollins all match.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Looks like Hideo Itami is gone from WWE after he asked for and was granted his immediate release.

 

[Northstar]

There's growing belief that Dean leaving may actually be a work and after thinking about it I can see that being the case. First, has WWE ever come out and confirmed someone is leaving months before they actually leave? Than you have the timing with AEW trying to sign any big names they can get and it starts to paint a picture of yet another "disgruntled wrestler vs. authority" storyline.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

I think it could be storyline, I cant recall the last time WWE have posted on their website the news of a talent failing to sign a contract with them.

Kenny Omega is now a free agent.