Who Needs to Win the Rumble?

We back in this y'all! After a year hiatus, your boy is back. All my posts are back and I'll be doing weekly reviews of Raw, Smackdown, NXT and NXT UK. Maybe 205 Live in the future because it's becoming an amazing show. I'll dabble in ROH and NJPW here and there and I'm planning to lose sleep to watch Wrestle Kingdom 13. Omega/Tanahashi, Ospreay/Ibushi, Jericho/Naito II, Okada/White and Ishii/Sabre Jr?!?! Plus perhaps the last NJPW appearances from The Elite? It's a must see event. Fear not though, if you're not a wrestling fan, I'll also talk about my lifelong hobby of video games and how could I not talk about all the amazing movies that I plan to watch in 2019. If you like entertainment, I'll have you covered. Well, nerd entertainment I guess. Onto the actual post!

2018 is coming to a close, which means WWE will be gearing up for the Road to Wrestlemania. The first major stop is the Royal Rumble, which will be held inside Chase Field, a baseball stadium in Arizona. This will be a first for the event and it gives it it's big feel. For the 2nd year in a row, there will be two Royal Rumble matches, one for the women and one for the men. Seeing as how the women's is a bit more obvious, let's discuss that one first.

WWE has some strong women's champions right now in Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey and Smackdown Women's Champion Asuka. Whoever wins the Rumble is in for a rude awakening either way. WWE has pretty much set the table here with this one. If you remember, during the Triple Threat TLC match with Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Asuka, Ronda came out and pushed both Charlotte and Lynch off the ladder, making it an easy climb for Asuka to grab the championship. With WWE forgoing on the guaranteed rematch clause, Becky won't be getting a shot without working for it but honestly, why would she go after Asuka just yet when there's some unfinished business with Ronda? Charlotte does as well. It's pretty easy to see that either Lynch or Charlotte or both of them will win the Rumble in 2019. With everyone thinking Lynch and Flair will Luger/Hart the Rumble, I don't know if the obvious choice will be the one WWE does though. Am I contradicting myself already in my first post back? Of course I am! I do think it's the smart choice. WWE has a gold mine with this feud so it does make sense for it to have some pay off at the Rumble and lead to a mega main event at Wrestlemania 35. There really is no other alternative than Becky and Charlotte. It's not a bad thing as Asuka was the obvious pick in 2018 so let's just see what WWE does. That does make me question who will face Asuka at Wrestlemania though. The remaining Smackdown women's roster is a little weak in terms of star power. Naomi would be my pick but she already lost to Asuka on the SD following TLC. Nikki Cross and Lacey Evans are coming up or there could be another call up. Sane/Asuka anyone? Anyway, we'll see what happens. The men's Rumble, now that's a little more interesting.

The winner of the men's Rumble is up in the air for 2019. Depending on the match placement of the World Title matches on the card, it could give us a clearer understanding of who will get the rub. Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar will do battle for the third time in 16 months for the Universal Championship. While Strowman should get the victory, I don't see Vince letting Lesnar lose the title before Mania. It would certainly be interesting if he did though. Bryan will definitely enter Wrestlemania as champion, which would mean a face from Smackdown would have to win to challenge him, which they're lacking in. My top three stars to win are Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre and The Miz. Rollins hasn't gotten back to the main event scene since 2016, despite being the best performer on Raw. He's never even gotten a shot at taking down Lesnar. Lesnar has shown how great his matches can be, putting on great shows with AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan in the past years. A true Lesnar/Rollins match at Wrestlemania 35 would be good and a great main event coming out party for Seth Rollins. Drew McIntyre is the future. The man has IT. Size, speed, the look, and convincing on the mic. McIntyre's only problem is that he's heel and both World Champions are the same. With the men most likely not main eventing Mania 35, McIntyre/Lesnar could be a plan for them, even if they are both heels. The fans would be solely behind McIntyre, if not for a fresh start but because Mania is usually filled with people from all over the world, especially the UK. It would definitely be the changing of the guard on their biggest stage. Of all the stars on Raw, Reigns, Strowman, and McIntyre are the only guys who have the look of toppling The Beast. With Reigns out and Strowman getting what should be his last shot, McIntyre might be the last chance for Raw. The Miz is in limbo. It looks like he'll be teaming with Shane McMahon going forward but that's strange and definitely won't last. Miz should be a major singles star. With his biggest rival as a heel, Miz as a face would work. He was right all along about Bryan and Bryan could hate him for it. Miz has been long overdue for a WWE Title shot and again, with the men taking a backseat to the Rousey/Charlotte/Lynch expected main event, Bryan/Miz for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 35 would not only make sense, but would be a captivating title match

If I had to pick one, it would be Seth Rollins. Rollins is way too good to not be in the main event picture. I know his match with Ambrose at TLC was a bit slow paced and disappointing but is that really his fault? Why wouldn't there be a major stipulation between one of the most heated rivalries on the card? WWE failed with that, not Rollins, He shouldn't be punished for that. Give Rollins the Rumble victory he so desperately needs and has earned.  Miz/Bryan can still happen but they can make Miz earn it in the Elimination Chamber match following the Rumble. McIntyre can always break out following Mania but hopefully doesn't get lost in the shuffle with big men Strowman and a lurking Lars Sullivan or they can do McIntyre/Cena match at Wrestlemania.

With Cena's time dwindling down, the up and coming stars need to get to him while they can. That includes Samoa Joe as well. That's what WWE is missing. A gatekeeper. A star you can beat to elevate your career further. Reigns and Cena are both out right now. With Cena's rising film career, there may not be many chances left for stars to say they've defeated Cena. Look how far Kevin Owens and AJ Styles have come since defeating Cena clean. The only gatekeeper now would be AJ Styles and now that he's no longer champion, it's a role I think he would absolutely flourish in.

TL;DR, Seth Rollins/Drew McIntyre need to win the men's Royal Rumble while Becky Lynch/Charlotte need to win the women's Royal Rumble. I'll start talking entrants, stats and such about my favorite match type in the weeks leading up to the Rumble itself.

Get hype!

Smackdown 1000 was interesting

Celebration episodes of WWE programming are generally hit or miss. Yes, they usually get the nostalgic factor but what about upcoming storylines and pushing future talent and things of that nature? Raw 25 was boring. Smackdown 1000 though, was very interesting. It started with the typical McMahon segment and then gave us an Usos/Styles and Bryan tag team title match, which saw The Usos get the victory following miscommunications between Bryan and Styles. Can we give The Usos a title shot now please?

Evolution (the group from 2003 and not the PPV) was out next and it was the best part of the show for me. Evolution is hands down my favorite faction of all time and this was the first time where all four guys reunited and were on the same page. HHH, Orton and Batista did the mini reunion in 2014 but this was the real deal. While not apart of Smackdown's history at all as a group, Smackdown was fundamental in building Batista and Orton. They both got their start on the show and then after Evolution, they both reigned as World Champion on the show. Plus, there is 49 World Title reigns between the four. They can go anywhere they want. The big news coming out of this was Batista calling out Triple H for never beating him, which is a strange but true fact. Triple H and Batista had only one feud; Batista's breakout feud in 2005, which saw Batista win at Wrestlemania 21, Backlash and Vengeance, inside Hell in a Cell. Will this finally give us the match Batista has been clamoring for? Batista/HHH intrigues me as a Wrestlemania match, but only if Batista works some shows before it and there's a good enough storyline to go with it.

The American Cup, sorry, World Cup got its last two participants in The Miz and Rey Mysterio, making the entire 8 man field a group of former World Champions. I don't know how the format will be done but there are a lot of interesting matches to be had in this tournament, namely Mysterio/Hardy, Cena/Rollins and Angle VS anyone. If the tournament comes down to one guy from Raw and one guy from Smackdown, then I'm going with Rollins VS Mysterio in the finals. Here's my predictions for the setup:

Angle VS Ziggler
Cena VS Rollins
Miz VS Mysterio
Orton VS Hardy

Angle VS Rollins
Hardy VS Mysterio

Rollins VS Mysterio

That's ONLY if they save the inter promotional match for the finals. I got Rollins winning this and maybe getting a title shot down the line because of it. Rollins taking down Cena, Angle and Mysterio in one night would be exactly what he needs to get back in the main title scene.

Becky and Charlotte continued their great rivalry with the help of Edge. Normal stuff. Becky telling Edge to leave the ring and be careful not to hurt his neck was amazing. Rude, but amazing. Becky/Charlotte deserve to main event Evolution but we all know while they probably will have the best match, they won't close over Ronda.

We got an unannounced Smackdown Tag Title match between The Bar and The New Day, probably thanks to Theodore Long. Another good match in their rivalry with a shocking result. Big Show turned heel and provided enough of a distraction for The Bar to defeat The New Day for the Smackdown Tag Team Titles. The Bar have now beaten New Day for both brand's tag titles. Big Show has aligned himself with The Bar, making The Big Bar! Bar Show? The Big Bar Show?!? I don't know. I'm fine with it. Will this be Big Show's last hurrah in WWE before retiring? Regardless, Big Show looks like Sheamus and Cesaro did a fusion dance so the pairing works out.

Taker closing the show with a simple promo was stupid. He barely said anything. It was a waste that they could have given Mysterio and Nakamura.

Smackdown 1000 was a good celebration of the show and provided some questions for the future. Overall, I'll give it a 7.5/10.

Pros:
Good matches
Triple H/Batista incoming?
The Big Bar!
Truth TV segment
Cutting Edge

Cons:
No women's match/Evolution hype
Ending segment with Undertaker
Nakamura/Mysterio wasted in basic TV match
Crown Jewel is still on
Should have been 3 hours