WWE Royal Rumble 2019

WWE Royal Rumble 2019

Pheonix, Arizona - January 2019

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Brock Lesnar held the WWE Universal Championship, Daniel Bryan was the WWE Champion, Bobby Lashley held the Intercontinental Championship, and Rusev held the US Championship. The RAW Tag Team Champions were Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, while the SmackDown Tag Team Champions were The Bar. The RAW Women's Champion was Ronda Rousey and the SmackDown Women's Champion was Asuka. 

COMMENTATORS: B. Saxton, M. Cole, C. Graves, T. Phillips, R. Young, B. Pheonix, J. Lawler, and JBL

The 2019 Royal Rumble kicked off with the SmackDown Women's Championship on the line as the champion, Asuka, defended against Becky Lynch. Lynch begged Asuka to bring the fight to her, an interesting strategy to throw Asuka off her game as its the challenger who often has to bring the urgency to a title match. The action was solid and Asuka's offense remains undeniably sharper and better executed than maybe any other female on the roster. Even with questionable booking, her "it" factor is there on every strike. Lynch, to her credit, took some great bumps and let the emotion of the match permeate her selling. This may not have been a MOTY-level match, but it was more than good and the final 2-3 minutes featured some excellent submission-trading. The result was not a crowd-pleaser and seems a bit puzzling considering how over Lynch is to have her lose. While Asuka's credibility certainly needs long-term repair (and this is a good step in that direction), the WWE should also know that if you have a hot hand, you should play it. (3.5/5)

The Miz and Shane McMahon tagged up to challenge the SmackDown Tag Team Champions - The Bar - next. I dug Miz and Shane's matching gear. Shane set up Cesaro on the announce table for his patented elbow drop, but Sheamus stopped him. Shane ended up crossbodying Sheamus, but ate a big uppercut from Cesaro for his trouble (followed by getting tossed into the barrier). Back into the ring we went as The Bar took full control of things, beating down on Miz. Shane eventually came in for the hot tag, threw some punches, hit a back elbow, and then did some dancing to build up to - another punch! Shane hit a DDT onto Sheamus and set him up for his Coast-to-Coast. He then struck Cesaro with an elbow and stacked him up in the corner too as the crowd went wild in anticipation. Unfortunately, Shane got caught by Cesaro, who swung him around for what seemed like an eternity. Cesaro tried to follow with a Sharpshooter, but Shane applied a not-so-hot triangle choke that had to be broken up by Sheamus. Miz came in to even the sides, but got clotheslined to the floor on the outside. Sheamus hit a Cesaro-assisted White Noise on McMahon, but he kicked out at 2. In the closing sequence, Miz shoved Cesaro into a Brogue Kick and then hit him with the Skull-Crushing Finale, while Shane made his way to the top rope to hit a Shooting Star Press on the Swiss Superman. New Champions! Another good match that some Shane-haters likely ripped to shreds in their reviews, but I wasn't offended and actually enjoyed parts of this - particularly the work of The Bar, who did a fine job of helping to carry McMahon through a match that didn't rely on elaborate stunts and furniture destruction. (2.5/5)

The RAW Women's Championship Match was up next: Sasha Banks challenging Ronda Rousey. This was a tremendous bout featuring some excellent submission-based wrestling out of Sasha Banks, who was playing subtle heel. A match like this reminds one of how good Banks can be - and, maybe more importantly, how she doesn't need to rely on big stunt spots to have the crowd engaged in her matches. This was easily her best bout in years, though it also feels like she hasn't exactly been in the position to have matches like this on PPV regularly for awhile. Rousey, meanwhile, brought the "big fight feel" and sold well. I've seen people call this a "carry job," but that's going a bit too far. Rousey wasn't leading this and didn't have to do as much heavy lifting as she may have against less-experienced, less gifted workers like Nikki Bella or Nia Jax, but its not like she was just a broomstick out there either. I liked the psychology of this match too as Banks attempted to "tap" Rousey, but in all her focus, forgot to calculate in Rousey's strength. The ending was a touch "out of nowhere" to me and I'm not sure the post-match segment was necessary, but this was still a strong outing. (3.5/5)

The 2nd ever Women's Royal Rumble was next. Just like last year, rather than write up a whole paragraph, I'm just going to share some notes:
- Nikki Cross had a great entrance. As a character, she should have a nice long run in the company. Her segments with Regal on NXT were all the proof I needed of that. I loved the energy she brought. 

- The Kairi Sane/Charlotte chop fest was a bit fan fictiony/porny to me. That being said, I'm fully on-board for Sane to be on the main roster. Her character is broad, but broad works and the main roster is loaded with interesting rivals for her. 

- Enjoyed the way the Mandy Rose/Naomi feud continued. This match needed more of that sort of storyline-progression and maybe some teasing of the upcoming Women's Tag Team Title tournament. 

- Rhea Rhipley and Kacy Catanzaro both had good moments, but the crowd really came alive more for the established stars like Charlotte, Bliss, Bayley, and even Ember Moon. They all had great sequences and segments too. 
- Having the #30 entrant known going into the match isn't a new idea and it has its detractors, but here, it worked just fine and gave us an extra (and should've been final) swerve to make people question if Becky Lynch would be allowed to enter the match.
- How many times are they going to recycle the trope of having an "injured" wrestler fight off the refs, continue the match, and win? It was one twist too many for me, unnecessary melodrama that didn't add anything but minutes. 
- All in all, not as beginning-to-end fun as last year's, but the right man won. Pun intended. (3/5)

AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan for Bryan's WWE Championship was next. There's been quite a bit of debate about this match, with many fans noting that the crowd seemed a bit "dead" for it. I didn't think the crowd was as quiet as others, but then again, I was watching this on my iPad cranked up to max volume and it was the singles match I was most excited for - so I was fully in the zone for it even if the live crowd was a bit burnt out after Becky's win. Live crowd reaction aside, this was an absolute clinic of a match and, up until the unfortunate finish, equal if not better than the match they had at TLC. Styles took some great bumps, Bryan's offense looked crisp and nasty, and the counters and cut-offs they had for eachother's signature moves were well-executed. The pacing was right, the intensity was there, the little "character" touches were there. The aforementioned finish was a disappointment, though, as the minute Erick Rowan arrived on the scene, it was easy to predict that he would get involved on Bryan's behalf. An easy Match of the Year Contender for me. (4/5)

The Universal Championship was on the line next as Finn Balor took on "The Beast" Brock Lesnar. This one was a touch too short to be considered a classic, but the action was terrific and this is probably Balor's best main roster match (at least that I can recall off-hand). I continue to go back-and-forth with Lesnar. When motivated, like he was in this match, he remains one of the most compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking workers in WWE history. The bumps he took into the corner of the table were beautiful and made the potential Coup De Gras about as legit a match-ender as possible. Great story there. He also made Balor's offense look dangerous, eating a number of big splashes. I think a couple of extra minutes would've pushed this towards Must Watch status, closer to the level of Lesnar's matches with Styles and Bryan, but it just didn't quite hit that spot - arguably because Balor is a bit "cooler" in terms of overness and credibility compared to Bryan and AJ. I would've liked to see Balor escape a few more F5s and maybe find a way to counter or escape the Kimura a couple times before succumbing to it, but this was still an excellent showing out of both guys. (3.5/5)

Main event time - The Men's Royal Rumble:
- The Jarrett/Elias opening didn't work for me. For starters, as Graves mentioned, on a long show like this (which I only got through by watching in 45-60 minute chunks), it just felt like filler that should've been jettisoned. 
- The Kofi Kingston-inspired near-eliminations have become a trope I don't need to see a half-dozen times on the same show by a half-dozen wrestlers. Plus, with most of the roster also skinning the cat all the time, including Braun friggin' Strowman, it is too much.
- Did Dolph Ziggler not say on Twitter that he had the weekend off? I'm not as anti-Ziggler as most, but I was kind of looking forward to him not appearing here and coming back fresh in a few months.
- The Nia Jax appearance was...something. The live crowd loved it, but man-on-woman violence is just too 30 years ago. Plus, in a weird way, it also kind of made Randy Orton seem unimportant. I mean, what was Orton's story in this match? Basically just to be around towards the end so that he could deliver an RKO to a woman? Remember when this guy was actually a big enough deal that his Mania storyline would be figured heavily into his Rumble appearance? Using Orton to deliver a punchline strikes me as a bit wasteful. 
- The live crowd wasn't offended, but at home, I was chanting "Rollins' Sleeping!" while he sold Bobby Lashley's attack for 10+ minutes. Since when has a Rumble winner needed to be kept off-screen for so long and given a break? The fact that they also "wrote off" Braun for a stretch of time was equally gag-inducing. 
- Maybe its just me, but did the crowd not necessarily give a shit about the final four? Andrade is a heel so I wasn't expecting him to have much crowd support, but there seemed to be such little drama and chemistry between the final three and final two contenders. The finish was fine, but I'm not a Rollins fan, so it wasn't one I particularly enjoyed.
- A pretty forgettable Rumble that, aside from the unexpected (and unsavory) Nia segment, didn't feature all that much in terms of surprises or storyline-furthering or even "dream match" teasing the way last year's edition did. (2.5/5)

All in all, not my favorite Rumble ever - but not necessarily due to the wrestling not being up to snuff. It was the booking that hit too many flat notes for me. Why have Lynch, the company's most popular performer currently, take such a clean loss before then winning the Rumble (and going on to challenge Rousey rather than request another shot at the woman who beat her)? What is with the WWE's obsession with having guys like Strowman and Rollins take extended breaks during their matches when the whole idea of being an "Ironman" is actually sustaining a lengthy fight? The finish of the WWE Championship was unexpected, no doubt, but was it the best of all options? Those gripes aside, there was plenty to love - from the submission-heavy grappling of the Banks/Rousey match to the frenetic, action-packed pacing of Balor/Lesnar. With a pretty strong Kwang Score of 3.21-out-of-5, the 2019 Royal Rumble is a show that is worth watching most of, though maybe not everything.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote In Hand