As has become the norm for these weekends, the NXT Tag Team division kicks off the festivities with a major barn burner tag match. I expected the match to be good but not this amazing, edge of your seat thriller the Undisputed Era and the War Raiders pulled off. As I said in the predictions, The War Raiders are the only team worthy enough to dethrone UE and dethrone them they did. Hanson and Rowe won the titles in a fast and furious match. There will definitely be a rematch either on the NXT tapings or Takeover New York. Matt Riddle and Kassius Ohno had another hard hitting war, which saw Riddle take a savage beating before getting the win via stoppage thanks to some hard strikes. Just as predicted, Riddle needed the win but needed to take a beating before getting it. It makes him look like a star and perhaps preps him for a future North American Championship match because.....
JOHNNY FREAKING WRESTLING DID IT! He has finally won a singles title in NXT. The amount of heartbreak Gargano experienced in 2018 was almost too much to bear, not to mention him going 1-4 at Takeovers. It was a tough year but it's one that helped craft a darker and more cunning Gargano and without that, he wouldn't have won the NA Title. Gargano wanted to win at all costs so that included giving Ricochet a brain buster on the concrete, followed by the slingshot DDT for the 1-2-3 and the title. It was a seriously satisfying moment for his long almost 2 year journey as a singles star. Next up, Shayna Baszler faced Bianca Belair for the NXT Women's Title. If you didn't know Belair was a star, you dang sure know it now. This is how to protect a star, even in defeat. Belair powering her way out of Baszler's Kirifuda Clutch and turning it into a suplex was absolutely amazing to watch. She even fought of Duke and Shafir, as expected. The end game when Belair went for the 450 splash, connected and then got caught in the Clutch again. It was enough to give Belair her first loss on NXT TV. Regardless, this will be her year. It reminds me of when Sasha first loss to Charlotte at Takeover R Evolution. The job was to look as strong as possible and Belair did just that. A title win is definitely coming. Finally, Tommaso Ciampa defended his title against Aleister Black in a rematch from their clash on NXT TV back in July. This was another hard hitting match between the two but in the end, it ends with Ciampa winning. Ciampa has now won his fourth Takeover match in a row. NXT ended the show with Ciampa standing on the stage, title in hand and logo at the bottom right of the screen. All of a sudden, Johnny Gargano comes out, stares down Ciampa and holds his title high. Ciampa laughs and does the same. #DIY is now standing tall in NXT but this time, as singles champions. The best part was right before the screen went black and you saw Gargano staring at Ciampa's title.
Storytelling at its finest. Is this all a ruse for Gargano to finally capture the NXT Title and get back at Ciampa once and for all? Guess we just have to stay tuned in. Overall, another great Takeover show. Gargano/Ricochet stole the show to no one's surprise, but that tag match and Bianca's amazing performance are two other major highlights to NXT's first Takeover of the year.
Royal Rumble followed and was a great show in its own right. WWE did something great on the pre show which led to a major moment on the main show. During the Nakamura/Rusev match, which wasn't too bad, Rusev knocked Lana off the apron, injuring her in the process, which in turn allowed Nakamura to hit a quick knee to the back of the head of Rusev and win back the United States Title. Nakamura would then be eliminated by Mustafa Ali in the Royal Rumble so I'm sure a US Title feud between the two is coming and that should be a lot of fun. The Cruiserweight Fatal Four Way was great and a nice showcase of how far the show has come along in the past few months. I was on the edge of my seat for it all, especially the closing sequence with all the flying knees and superkicks. Murphy retaining was expecting and I hope he gets the Ali treatment whenever he's done with 205 Live.
The main show started with Asuka defending the Smackdown's Women's Title against Becky Lynch and these two did not disappoint. They were given enough time to shine and it lived up to the hype for their first ever clash. I loved the spots where both women were trying to hit each other's submissions on each other. It was a nice cocky touch for both women. I never expected Becky to win and Asuka proved me right, tapping out Becky with an inverted Asuka Lock. It was a solid opener and it kept the door open for a moment we all wanted. The Miz made history on Sunday as he now only needs the Universal Championship to say he's held ever active singles title available to him. Him and Shane winning was the feel good moment of the night, even though I do feel kind of bad for The Bar. They keep losing their titles to makeshift teams!
Ronda Rousey defended her Raw's Women's Title against Sasha Banks in a fantastic match. Rousey gets better and better with each defense and Sasha made her look like a million bucks. She even got the suicide dive right! Sasha's attitude as of late has screamed back to her days in NXT days and she gave Ronda the fight of her career. She fought Ronda so hard, Ronda didn't even tap her out! That's a first in title defenses for Rousey. Post match saw Sasha show Ronda respect at first, only to throw up the iconic Four Horsewomen fingers and storm off. Sasha's basically saying, you got me, but there's still more of us for you to beat. And it looks like one of those women may be coming around.
The women's Rumble was a sharp contrast from the inaugural one last year. 2018's was a celebration of all the women who have paved a way to actually get a women's Royal Rumble. 2019 was all about showcasing the current talent WWE has to offer. With 23 confirmed entrants and EVERY woman on Raw and Smackdown being used, it was guaranteed they were going to dip into NXT for some spots. And dip they did! We got Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, Rhea Ripley, Candice LaRae, Xia Li, and Kacy Catanzaro as entrants. Catanzaro had the most creative save from elimination of the night which called back to her days on American Ninja Warrior. It was a sight to see, that's for sure. I was completely wrong with the first two entrants, which were Lacey Evans and Natalya, both who lasted pretty long in the match. Natalya took Sasha's record from last year and lasted 55:58. Ember Moon, at #6, got close as well, lasting 53:10. Fun fact, last year #4 Mandy Rose became the first person to be eliminated first from the #4 position. This year, #4 Liv Morgan followed suit and was eliminated first. The Final Four came down to Charlotte (#13), Bayley (#27), Becky Lynch (#28) and Nia Jax (#29). 3 out of 4 correct for ya boy. First thing, Lana came out as #28, but remember that injury in the pre show? It played into Becky getting into the match. With Lana being unable to compete, Becky came out and pleaded with Fit Finlay to take her spot, which he graciously gave her. The crowd loved that. Anyway, final four all has numbers with previous winners and all were former champions. Bayley went out first, followed by Nia and we're down to the two we knew it was going to come to; Charlotte at #13 and Becky Lynch at #28. Becky was selling a leg injury and despite that, she was able to overcome the odds and win the Women's Royal Rumble. #28 now has three winners; Batista's two wins and Lynch's win. Lynch's win will most likely set up her match with Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, the suspected main event of Wrestlemania 35. Great match, great build and great use of future stars. My biggest gripe? THERE WAS NO FREAKING WRESTLEMANIA SIGN FOR THEM TO POINT AT! Just a LED board with Wrestlemania on it. Not the same AT ALL.
I feel bad for AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan. They were placed directly after the women's rumble match and all the emotions felt after Becky won, so the crowd was pretty quiet for this one. It was a good match with a bit of a shocking ending. We randomly got an appearance from Erick Rowan, clad in a flannel shirt. During the match, Bryan accidentally kicked the ref, which led to Rowan getting involved and chokeslamming Styles, leading to Bryan getting the victory. Does Bryan have his first disciple? I'm very interested in this. Who's next for Bryan to face on Smackdown? Next up, The Beast Brock Lesnar defended his title against Finn Balor. This match was quick and to the point which was completely fine. We all knew Balor wasn't winning but he got his offense in and gave Lesnar a fight. Lesnar locked in the Kimura after Balor's Coup De Grace for a submission victory. Balor looked good in defeat and his push in still in place. Fun match.
The men's Rumble closed the show and started off in a fun way, with Elias as #1 and Double JJ Jeff Jarrett as #2. Jarrett was quickly eliminated, giving #2 the first one eliminated stat. Besides Jarrett, there weren't any other legends but we got unannounced participants, like Kurt Angle, Shelton Benjamin, Curt Hawkins and No Way Jose. NXT was represented as well with Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne and Aleister Black. Black even eliminated Dean Ambrose in the process. A sign of things to come? Something interesting to point out was that John Cena wasn't in the match and when #16 Drew McIntyre came out, Michael Cole instantly put McIntyre over as the person who took Cena out of the match. This is MOST DEFINITELY a sign of things to come for McIntyre's Wrestlemania plans right? McIntyre didn't make it to the Final Four, thanks to Ziggler so a Mania match with Cena is the next best thing. As expected, R-Truth did not get to come out as #30 but it wasn't a major crazy surprise like Kenny Omega or Roman Reigns. No, Nia Jax attacked R-Truth and entered the Rumble, striking men in the process and eliminating Mustafa Ali. Now, WWE has allowed men hitting women on TV, but it that hasn't been the case in a very long time. I really can't remember the last time. That ended at the Rumble as Nia got hit with a 619 and then a massive RKO, much to the crowd's and my delight. Delight because it was unexpected not because I advocate men hitting women. Where this is leading is the question though. Is WWE leading towards intergender wrestling in the future?
THIS. JUST. HAPPENED. 😱😱😱😱 #RoyalRumble@NiaJaxWWE @RandyOrton @reymysterio @HEELZiggler pic.twitter.com/8Qydqkbui3— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2019
It did come down to Seth Rollins (#10), Andrade (#19), Braun Strowman (#27) and Dolph Ziggler (#28). Now honestly, who the heck had Ziggler in this year's FINAL FOUR for the Royal Rumble? I'll wait. Anyway, Rollins at #10 was the only number without a previous winner while for the 2nd straight Rumble, #27 and #28 made it to the Final Four as they made in the women's Rumble earlier in the night. If you count the two traditional Rumbles from January 2018 and exclude the Greatest Royal Rumble, #27 and #28 were apart of the Final Four THREE times in the row. #28 was actually apart of the Final Four in the last four Rumbles in January.
I got two of the four Final Four right in my predictions. Strowman took out Andrade and Ziggler and battled Rollins for the spot at Wrestlemania. Rollins was able to Curb Stomp Strowman on the apron and out of the ring for the victory. #10 now has a Royal Rumble winner in Seth Rollins. Rollins is going to Wrestlemania and will either challenge Brock Lesnar or Daniel Bryan, either one is a match I'd be down to seeing. I'm not fully convinced Rollins is facing Lesnar just yet, as a Bryan/Rollins match excites to me to no end. Part of me thinks Rollins won't get past Lesnar and it would all be for naught and I can't take another Lesnar Wrestlemania disappointment.
We are on the Road to Wrestlemania. Where will this lead? Let's start by finding out on Raw. Great two shows from WWE. I hope they can continue to momentum.
We are on the Road to Wrestlemania. Where will this lead? Let's start by finding out on Raw. Great two shows from WWE. I hope they can continue to momentum.
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