NXT Takeover San Antonio was top to bottom a great show. There was never a lagging match. My only complaint is that the women's title match should have been longer than it was. One of the stand out moments of the night was when Seth Rollins charged the ring and called out Triple H. This was historic as they never have had a WWE on going storyline featured on NXT. And this was involving Triple H no less, the Father of NXT. It was great, unexpected, smart and a great way to continue the ongoing feud of Rollins/HHH. The big winners for the night were the Authors of Pain and Bobby Roode. AOP defeated DIY in a great tag match. AOP have dominated since exploding on the scene back in June. The tag division is currently very light right now so expect plenty of rematches with DIY in the future. I mean, that's the only face team around, unless The Revival is going to turn. Bobby Roode shocked the NXT Universe when he captured the NXT Title from Nakamura. Nakamura had just won the title back in December so the quick title change was unexpected. They did an injury angle with Nakamura, so I expect that to play into the rematches to come. As we go to the next show of Takeover Orlando in 9 weeks, I think it's finally time for the big time women's title match of Asuka and Ember Moon. It's the only thing left, unless they want to give Nikki Cross a one on one shot. I'm not mad at that either. NXT has a lot of guys just waiting for the NXT Title. Roderick Strong, Eric Young, Nakamura will want a rematch, Kassius Ohno just came back. Roode is going to have a lot of challengers gunning for him. Great show from the NXT crew and they continue to raise the bar for the weekend.
The Royal Rumble show crowed three new champions; Gallows and Anderson won the Raw Tag Team Titles, Neville won the Cruiserweight Title and John Cena finally won his 16th World Title by winning the WWE Championship. Can I first say how glad I am Gallows and Anderson FINALLY won tag team gold in WWE? It took them 9 moths but it was worth the wait. For a few hours, Styles, Gallows and Anderson were all champions in WWE. I only hope they took a photo together before Styles dropped the belt to Cena. Neville winning the Cruiserweight Title was much deserved. I love his new submission and he will definitely be a hard champion to dethrone. Well, Internet Wrestling Community, it has finally happened. John Cena has become WWE Champion again. This is Cena's 13th time with just the WWE Championship but he's a 16 time overall World Champion in WWE. This ties him with the recognized record with Flair. I'm glad it happened. Cena is legit one of the best stars WWE has ever produced. It makes sense for him to tie and hopefully, break the record. Cena will probably do it later this year. I only say this because he's definitely losing the title very soon. More on that later.
The Royal Rumble match itself was fun and, I'm sure to many expecting a lot of surprises, disappointing. The first two were Big Cass and Chris Jericho. Jericho had a very impressive outing, lasting over an hour and making it to the Final Four. It was all fun and games until Braun Strowman came out at #7 and he just starting throwing people over. Strowman would get 7 eliminations before be eliminated himself by Baron Corbin. Strowman only lasted 13 minutes and didn't interact with any of the major part timers. That was shocking. The lone surprise (and by surprise, I mean NXT or legend entrant because there were technically 8 surprises entrants since only 22 were announced previously) was Tye Dillinger at #10. First off, this might of been the best thing they did all weekend. I was skeptic that were would introduce Tye at the number, especially after Sasha Banks said it during one of those WWE.com features but it happened! Tye lasted only 5 minutes or so but at least he debuted. The part timers that the match was built around didn't start to come out until late. Lesnar came out at #26. He was met by Goldberg at #28, who with one Spear, eliminated the Beast, getting a measure of revenge from 2004. #29 was The Undertaker and after a brief staredown with Goldberg, Taker was able to eliminate him in one of the best moments of the entire weekend. Lesnar lasted 4 and a half minutes. Goldberg? Only 3 minutes and 21 seconds. Tsk tsk WWE. Ok, then #30 was coming down. The countdown was on. We still didn't get any major surprises, like soon to be Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, soon to be called up from NXT Samoa Joe and soon to make a return from injury Finn Balor. The buzzer blasted through the arena. The camera panned on the entrance way. There was a brief pause. WHO IS IT?!?!?!.......Roman Reigns....
What? Really? Samoa Joe was busy? Balor was out doing his entrance two weeks ago and he's not ready? Come on!! That was my original thought until I saw what they did with Reigns. Roman Reigns ELIMINATED The Undertaker from the 2017 Royal Rumble and had a brief staredown with him afterwards, claiming it was his yard now. OK, it made sense WWE. I'm sorry. So, it looks like Roman Reigns will be getting The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Or, maybe not? Braun Strowman cost Reigns his Universal Title match earlier in the night. Which behemoth will get Taker? Maybe they'll go the HBK route? You know, have Reigns and Strowman fight for the opportunity to face Taker at Wrestlemania? They could do the match at Fast Lane.
Anyway, the Final Four came down to Chris Jericho (#2), Bray Wyatt (#21), Randy Orton (#23) and Roman Reigns (#30). Only Wyatt's #21 has never had a winner. Reigns tossed Jericho over the top but Jericho would hang on, go to the top rope and get Superman Punched right out the match. Jericho brought his total time in all Royal Rumbles he's competed in to 4 hours, 56 minutes and 59 seconds and his time of 1 hour and 13 seconds is the 5 longest time spent in a Rumble match, 3rd longest and didn't win it. Wyatt and Orton jumped Reigns but of course, he powered out and got Wyatt out. We're down to two former winners of the Rumble so for the 4th time in 5 years, someone was going to win their 2nd Rumble. And from a number that has won before no less. Reigns charged up for the Spear but as he came at Orton, he ate a nasty RKO. This would allow Orton to clothesline Reigns over the top rope for the win. Randy Orton lasted 20 minutes and 52 seconds from the #23 spot. Now only Lex Luger and Randy Orton have won from #23. If Wrestlemania were tomorrow, Randy Orton would face John Cena for the WWE Championship. Yuck.
I'm all for Randy Orton winning the Rumble. It was unexpected. He was definitely not on anyone's list to win at the start of the month. I guess I'm all for it because of the plans in place. Orton winning basically sets up Wyatt/Orton at Mania. The Elimination Chamber is two weeks away and there will be the set up for the WWE Title match. It won't be official until then but come on guys, there's no way WWE is doing Cena/Orton 29 at Mania 33. It just won't happen. So expect Cena to have a short run with the title.
After last night, the Road to Mania is much more clear. Lesnar VS Goldberg is still the most likely main event. It could even be for the Universal Title. I could see Owens VS Goldberg being the top match at Fast Lane and Goldberg would go over to give him the title. Or they could just have Lesnar come out to screw him over but why would he do that when he could become champion? Lesnar would have to drop it quick because we don't need another hostage situation with the Universal Title. Roman Reigns VS The Undertaker is a perfect Wrestlemania clash. Kevin Owens VS Chris Jericho for the US Title still makes a lot of sense. Charlotte defending against Sasha, Nia and Bayley looks likely as well. Over on Smackdown, Bray Wyatt VS Randy Orton for the WWE Title looks to be top billing. John Cena will most likely get Baron Corbin or Samoa Joe, if he ever debuts and Styles has been rumored to face Shane McMahon, which the seeds have already been planted. Here's the card:
Brock Lensar VS Goldberg - WWE Universal Title
Randy Orton VS Bray Wyatt - WWE Title
Seth Rollins VS Triple H
Kevin Owens VS Chris Jericho - US Title
The Undertaker VS Roman Reigns
AJ Styles VS Shane McMahon
The Big Show VS Shaquille O'Neal
John Cena VS Baron Corbin or Samoa Joe
Charlotte VS Bayley VS Nia Jax VS Sasha Banks - Raw Women's Title
Ladder match for IC Title
That's 10 matches already...and there's still no Tag Titles, Smackdown Women's Title or Cruiserweight Title bouts on the card, which will probably mean 3-4 pre show matches. I think both tag titles and a multi man Cruiserweight Title match will be on the pre show. there will be an Andre the Giant Battle Royal. That's 15 matches to Wrestlemania 32's 12. There has to be a lot of this on the pre show.
Overall, it was a great weekend. The picture is much more clear. Now, it's time to see how Samoa Joe makes his debut and if Balor will make his return. If so, will he be in a big match at Mania? Looks like all the big dance partners are out.
Trust in the process all...
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