My WrestleMania Moments

Next week signals the biggest week of the wrestling calendar itself as WWE descends on the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana for WrestleMania 34.

With Brock Lesnar set to defend the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns, The Undertaker set to return to take on John Cena, Ronda Rousey set to make her in-ring debut as she teams up with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon amongst other matches, it should prove to be a memorable edition.

WrestleMania 33 will mark the 16th WrestleMania I have watched live and despite the highs and lows of wrestling, it still remains something that always managed to excite me.

I was lucky enough to attend last years WrestleMania in Orlando, Florida, which was the culmination of a lifelong dream. It was a terrific experience, reminding me why I love the wacky world of professional wrestling and all it's highs and lows. 

But what do I see as the most memorable WrestleMania moments since I've been watching? Here are my top five.

The End of The Undertaker's Streak

Certainly the most shocking moment for my money, as Brock Lesnar put an end to a 21 year streak. 

The best thing about this was how low key the build up to the match was. It just seemed like it was going to be yet another victory for Taker,  all the way until the actual finish.

After that, several questions went through people's heads. Was that planned? Did Brock go into business for himself? Was the Undertaker supposed to kick out? When this daft old sport can make you question things like that, you know you're onto a winner. 

Shawn Michaels retires 

The end of the Heartbreak Kid's storied career came at the end of WrestleMania 26 in one of the best moments in recent memory. 

A two year rivalry with a wrestler's competitive spirit and obsession with achieving greatness leading to his downfall was by far the best story told in recent years.  

This is a moment that still lasts to this day, largely due to the fact that it was the definitive end for HBK when so many retirements have gone the opposite way. A true 'WrestleMania Moment'.

Daniel Bryan becomes WWE World Heavyweight Champion. 

If anything could describe Daniel Bryan defying the odds to end the biggest WrestleMania of all time, it would be fan power. 

As the fans hijacked numerous attempts by WWE to force a main event of Batista v Randy Orton on them, they were made to change their plans and the rest is history.

Although the aftermath wasn't what we wanted, there is nothing better than seeing an underdog achieve their dreams, and that is exactly what happened here.

The Rock takes on Hulk Hogan

A clash of two icons during WrestleMania X8 saw The Rock and Hulk Hogan take part in one of the biggest dream matches of the century.

It's a match that had me on the edge of my seat as a child, and my appreciation for seeing two of the best of all-time has only increased to this day. 

Showing their understanding of the crowd, Hogan wrestled the match as as a babyface and added to already electric atmosphere in the stadium, giving the fans exactly what they want.

Cena and Batista become stars  

WrestleMania has become somewhat of a nostalgia trip in recent years, with part timers coming back to take on each other becoming a new theme for the show.

The last time WWE successfully looked to the future was shockingly over a decade ago at Wrestlemania 21 when John Cena defeated John Bradshaw Layfield to become WWE Champion and Batista defeated Triple H to become World Heavyweight Champion.

By creating two detestable heels in JBL and Triple H that had talked and cheated their way to victory for months, WWE helped create two of the biggest babyfaces in recent memory, and in an era where they are severely lacking stars, the company could do worse than to follow this template again. 

Written by Andy Phillips // 

@AndyP_GY

WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 26th March 2018

It was the penultimate episode of Monday Night RAW this week, but could WWE keep the push going for the biggest show of the year. With still no reply from The Undertaker, John Cena took on Kane in a No Disqualification match, Universal Champion Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman addressed the beating Lesnar gave Roman Reigns last week, Ronda Rousey returned after a two week absence whilst Triple H & Stephanie McMahon trained for WrestleMania, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor were the guests on Miz TV, Braun Strowman took on RAW Tag Team Champion Sheamus, Elias faced Rhyno, Nia Jax warmed up for her RAW Women's Championship match at Mania by taking on Mickie James, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson were up against The Miztourage, the Cruiserweights returned to RAW as Mania opponents Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali faced TJP & Drew Gulak and Asuka took on local competitor, Jamie Frost...but was it any good? Here's our review.

No Disqualification Match // John Cena vs. Kane

Before the match - Kane cut a promo in his red rape room, telling John Cena that he should have left The Undertaker alone and he was sending Cena to hell tonight.

A fun and inoffensive house show no disqualification match between two competitors who have faced off 70 times since 2008 (both televised and live events), as John Cena unsurprisingly went over Kane with an Attitude Adjustment through a table. There's very little getting round that this was a house show, complete with a house show finish, with a couple of trinkets added to place it within the current timespan. Cena did a couple of Undertaker's taunts as he tried to get The Deadman to answer his WrestleMania, which got a good reaction and worked for what was needed. It was clear however, that the pair had done this match a number of times before, although the spot with Kane suplexing Cena onto a barricade near the announcers table was a nice addition. The ending took a little too long to come, with two spots that featured a lot of fannying around by tables, but overall this match was exactly what I had expected it to be and nothing more. Cena goes over Kane, the story is moved forward without the need for The Undertaker to appear, the match is watchable, but not worth searching out.

After the match - John Cena cut another promo on The Undertaker, going over some old ground and calling The Deadman a coward for not showing up during the match, despite the No DQ gimmick. This was a solid bit of final set-up for next week, when surely The Undertaker will make his appearance to confirm the match.

Universal Champion Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman address last week's attack on Roman Reigns 

Another strong segment in the Universal title feud this week, as Brock Lesnar left Roman Reigns laying in the middle of the ring for the second week in a row. This week's segment felt very similar to last week's by it's conclusion, but got there in slightly different route, beginning with a good promo from Paul Heyman. Heyman speaks in a way that may go over the head of a portion of the fanbase, but has enough charisma to draw them in no matter what, whilst those who are willing to listen and understand what he's saying get the most out of his words. A sentence that essentially boiled down to calling himself the best speaker in WWE history, but even he couldn't describe the assault last week was magical work, that put over the attack much stronger than simply describing it would have. The build to Reigns' appearance, walking in through the crowd once more, was also very strong with Heyman berating Roman for not being in attendance and blaming his up-bringing, leaving the moment just long enough that it felt like the Big Dog might not show up, meaning the appearance got a lovely crowd reaction. The beatdown was similar to last week, with Lesnar quickly gaining control before setting to work destroying his challenger with a chair and step. All this worked as a nice preview for two weeks time at WrestleMania, although I worry that WWE could go too far with this and end up giving Reigns a "superman feel" which is something we've seen the fanbase push away from in recent times. 

Triple H & Stephanie McMahon prepare for WrestleMania

I wasn't mad about this training montage/interview, mostly because the interview ended up being repetitive and seemed to go on for an unnecessary amount of time. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon must have told us that Ronda Rousey was stepping into "their world" and that this wasn't judo about five or six times across the six minute video. It was cool to hear from their personal trainer, but the whole video felt more like an exercise in public relations than it did a hype package for a match or an attempt to get more heat come WrestleMania. There were two moments that I did enjoy, with the first being Triple H discussing his previous issues with Kurt Angle, with this being an area of the feud that could really do some development, as WWE seems to be missing a trick in mining the past history involving Angle, Triple H and McMahon. The second was the duo discussing how they would "repackage" Rousey following WrestleMania after they had humbled her, with the language used evocative of what we've come to expect from WWE when signing talent who made their name elsewhere.

RAW gets Rowdy 

Basically, Absolution interrupted Ronda Rousey saying some more of the same stuff, before Rousey took out Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville. I didn't really get this segment, to be honest, because Absolution have looked pretty awful as a group since coming up anyway, seemingly dropping in value every time they appear on television, whilst Rousey didn't need to be built up in this manner, because everyone and their dog knows she's tough as nails. The beatdown was fine and having Kurt Angle stop Rousey from breaking Deville's arm was an interesting touch, even if I'm not sure how that can be played into the storyline with Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, but whatever. The segment wasn't helped by an annoying promo from Paige, in which she used the word "babygirl" no less than four times in a couple of minutes, as she attempted to get Rousey to join Absolution, as well as Deville missing her cue leading to an awkward moment where Sonya half-caught Rose off a leg capture suplex. I've probably been a little harsh on the segment, but I just didn't see the point and it did nothing to deliver the on-going story in any way.

Miz TV with Seth Rollins and Finn Balor

Some creative cheap heat from The Miz, some planted seeds for a Miztourage rebellion, some fun babyface work from Finn Balor and Seth Rollins and a crowd that ate up every moment, this was a really good segment in what has been one of the highlights of the Road to WrestleMania. Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel turning on The Miz was the angle that I didn't know that I wanted to see, so to tease it here, as Miz used it to lull Rollins & Balor into a false sense of security means that when it does happen it will be a much bigger moment than it was here and hopefully give Dallas & Axel an opportunity to push on up the card. All three men played it really well, with the highlight coming when Miz named Mr. Perfect (Axel's late father) amongst the Intercontinental Champions that he was better than. It was nice to shift the story onto Rollins & Balor trying to cause trouble for The Miz and it has to be said that the two have potential together as a duo, as they showed nice chemistry and bounced off each other well. The segment could have done with a more impactful conclusion, as Balor nailing Rollins with a clothesline, after Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson had taken care of Dallas & Axel and Balor & Rollins had downed Miz, didn't quite feel like the exclamation point that such an enjoyable segment needed to feel completely satisfactory. 

Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Sheamus (with RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro)

Before the match - Cesaro & Sheamus demanded to know who Braun Strowman's partner would be at WrestleMania, with Strowman saying he'd tell them...if Sheamus could defeat him next. 

A similar match to what we saw between Braun Strowman and Cesaro last week, with Strowman putting Sheamus away in around four minutes, after dominating most of the match despite plentiful distractions from Cesaro at ringside. The commentary team pushed that Strowman may have hurt his knee on a fall to the outside, but it was never quite made clear by the performers, whilst Sheamus' period of control was mostly a rest-hold which I think even the Celtic Warrior knew wasn't the best course of action in kayfabe or otherwise. Apart from a single Beat of Braun, after the Monster reversed the Ten Beats of the Bodhran from Sheamus and a neat finish where Sheamus missed a cornered Brogue Kick, there wasn't all that much to get excited about here and whilst I'd still describe the match as a fun watch, there's no doubt that it came off as a poor relation of last week's Strowman vs. Cesaro match. 

Elias vs. Rhyno (with Heath Slater)

Before the match - Elias brought his cheap heat musical stylings to Cleveland, ripping on one of their spots teams in song form. Despite giving no shits about any American sports, it was still quite funny to hear how the crowd still reacts to something like this, as I'm sure it would work nowhere other than America. 

Elias went over Rhyno with Drift Away after a nothing match. Yeah, that's about all there is to say, not exactly a squash, but not really anything else either. 

After the match - Elias attacked Heath Slater, delivering another Drift Away.

Nia Jax vs. Mickie James (with RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss) 

Nia Jax continued her build towards WrestleMania with a victory over Mickie James in an okay match. Whilst the match wasn't exactly long, I would've liked to have seen a more dominant display from Jax here, with some of her power moves looking a little relaxed at points, whilst James got in too much offence for what should have been a straight-forward bout. The overall idea was nice with Jax's left leg, that had been injured by an Asuka knee bar a few weeks earlier, giving James the opening to gain a short advantage, which I'm sure will be a similar pattern to what we see at WrestleMania between Jax and the smaller Alexa Bliss. I thought a couple of Jax's power moves looked a little tame, with a couple of biel throws in particular not having as much impact as I would've liked to have seen. However, Jax seems to have gained some traction with the live audience, as she got a good response throughout the match, particularly for the finish where Nia gorilla-pressed James into the air before dropping Mickie into a samoan drop to seal the victory. 

After the match - Alexa Bliss attempted to jump Nia Jax, but ended up having to run away.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel

I'm not sure why this didn't come directly after the Miz TV segment, but nonetheless Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson picked up Balor Club's third victory in a row of The Miztourage in a simple tag bout. This really was a basic encounter, a paint-by-numbers tag team match with Luke Gallows taking the hot tag for his team after some minor antics from Axel & Dallas, before a near fall off the Boot of Doom lead into Gallows pinning Axel following the Magic Killer. Passable stuff that filled some time on the show, but entirely forgettable and probably unnecessary as well, but what you gonna do? 

Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak & TJP 

The Cruiserweights returned to RAW this week, after a being absent for a month or so, as WrestleMania opponents Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali picked up a quick victory over Drew Gulak & TJP in a straight-forward tag bout. This was a regular tag structure with Ali as face-in-peril and Alexander on the hot tag, producing some fun action, especially through off the Alexander tag. Ali did overshoot on a tope con giro (or perhaps Gulak was a little too far forward) but apart from that everything here looked nice and had an energy behind it. It was a shame to see Gulak & TJP lose so quickly, because they both have a lot to offer the purple brand and will be needed after WrestleMania to help the brands growth, but it makes sense to have Alexander & Ali as the focus, with the match finishing with a game of one-upsmanship as Ali tagged himself in to take the pin on TJP with an 054, after Alexander had hit a Lumbar Check. I'm looking forward to seeing these two lads kill it at WrestleMania and get the credit they both deserve for their hardwork on Tuesday night's over the last year or so. 

Winner of the First Ever Women's Royal Rumble Match "The Empress of Tomorrow" Asuka vs. Jamie Frost

Before the match - Charly Caruso interviewed the debuting Jamie Frost, who was apparently having her first professional match tonight, but was inordinately confident about beating the undefeated Asuka. 

Asuka beat Frost in about 20 seconds.

Also on the show

- After some great verbal back and forth backstage, the issues between Bayley and Sasha Banks finally erupted after Bayley made a remark about Banks being unable to defend titles, leading to a pull-apart brawl. 

- Matt Hardy announced himself as an entrant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania in his own woken way.

- This week's "Hungry for Mania" moment was Edge winning the original Money in the Bank Ladder match at WrestleMania 21 in 2005. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 

4.67 out of 10

 

 

Written by James Marston //

@IAmNotAlanDale

WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 19th March 2018

With just under three week's until WrestleMania, the latest episode of Monday Night RAW came to us from Dallas, Texas for the first time since 2016's RAW after Mania. The show featured the culmination of the Bray Wyatt and "Woken" Matt Hardy feud as the two faced off in Ultimate Deletion at the Hardy Compound, Asuka putting her streak on the line against RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, the return of Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, a six man tag between The Miztourage and The Balor Club, an escalation of the issues between Bayley & Sasha Banks as they faced Absolution's Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, John Cena demanding an answer to his WrestleMania challenge to The Undertaker, Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro and Titus Worldwide taking on The Revival...but was it any good? Here's our review. 

Commentary - Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman & Seth Rollins 

Interviewer - Charly Caruso 

Ring Announcer - JoJo

The Ultimate Deletion // 

"Woken" Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt

Before the match - As Queen Rebecca played the piano, Matt Hardy introduced us to King Maxel and Lord Wolfgang, told Vanguard1 to scan the Hardy Compound for an intruder and Senor Benjamin to prepare the battlefield - Hardy discussed his plans for the match with the spirit of George Washington, now inside a giraffe - Hardy took a trip around the Lake of Reincarnation, inside his dilapidated boat, Skaarsgard

So, The Ultimate Deletion finally arrived, with Matt Hardy victorious over Bray Wyatt, and it was...good. I'm not sure it was TNA's Final Deletion levels of madness, but it was much closer to that than the House of Horrors thing we saw last April, which is a massive positive. The close camera work produced a claustrophobic feel, that was difficult to get used to at the start, because of the match coming at the tail end of a three hour RAW. The idea of the two moving between different "zones" within the Hardy compound was a cute one, with the on-screen graphic helping to create the feel, with the match shifting in tone numerous times because of this. This could have been jarring, but I felt like the darker moments gave the comedy a more unexpected feel, which helped some of the more out there times. I would've liked Bray to have been a bit more engaged in the wackiness, as his character has more potential than what was shown here, with most of the memorable moments coming from Hardy's utterances, like when he tried to work out whether to use a "chair with wheels" or a "mower of lawns" on his opponent. The finish was the best part of the whole thing, being completely absurd and felt like WWE fully embracing the concept, as Hardy disappeared after Vanguard1 had caused a distraction, Senor Benjamin throwing an inflatable globe (take that Flip Gordon!) at Wyatt (who had found Benjamin hiding under Skaarsgard) to catch, with Benjamin and a debuting Brother Nero singing "He's got the whole world in his hands", before Hardy returned to win with a Twist of Fate. It was very daft and presumably not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed this a lot, especially the second half. Overall, it was simply just a treat to see the Broken Universe fully realised on WWE television, making what felt like an endless and, at times, directionless feud feel worthwhile.

After the match - Matt Hardy pushed Bray Wyatt into the Lake of Reincarnation, with it being insinuated that Wyatt had perished in the water by Senor Benjamin.

RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss (with Mickie James) vs. "The Empress of Tomorrow" Asuka 

Before the match - Alexa Bliss made it clear that she wasn't sorry for what she said about Nia Jax last week in a fairly run of the mill promo for the Goddess. Your classic Bliss bait and switch situation, before being interrupted by Asuka for the match. 

Asuka remained undefeated this week as Alexa Bliss ended up losing by countout after attempting to walk out on what had been a sloppy match. I'm not quite sure what the issue with this bout was, but as soon as Asuka got on offence it went downhill quickly with Bliss taking a number of weird bumps off Asuka's attacks, alongside a weird moment where they dicked around the ropes for a bit and then Bliss took a back bump. Whatever it was it didn't work. Whilst 80-90% of the match didn't come together as well as it should have, there were two nice moments of action that stopped the match from being a complete dud, as Bliss jumping out of the way of a leg sweep from Asuka and immediately landing a dropkick, as well as a Code Red out of the corner from the RAW Women's Champion both looked lovely. It's also worth noting that Dallas was pretty into the match, especially the Code Red near fall. After some fumbling around Bliss spent a lengthy period in the ankle lock before attempting to get out of dodge with the help of James, which at least wasn't another pinfall or submission loss for the champion before WrestleMania.

After the match - Nia Jax charged down to ringside and chased Alexa Bliss through the crowd after sending Mickie James head-first into the ringpost - After Bliss complained about Jax, Kurt Angle made a match between Bliss and Jax for the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania. 

Brock Lesnar returns 

Ruddy hell. After week's of boiling under nicely with no appearance from Brock Lesnar, the Universal title feud was kicked up a gear or two as The Beast returned and brutally assaulted WrestleMania challenger, Roman Reigns. Takeaway the transparency of what WWE have been doing with Reigns lately, because elements of the fanbase will never be convinced for whatever reason they have, this was a great piece of WWE theatre from start to finish. Reigns turning up despite being suspended last week gave him a rebellious edge and even if destroying three US marshals whilst handcuffed was a bit heavy handed and should probably result in Reigns missing WrestleMania, it was at least a fun thing to watch. I think that was the main takeaway from the segment, as the subsequent appearance from Lesnar, as he destroyed a still handcuffed Reigns was at what ever you chose to watch it at an entertaining situation, with a number of well-timed moments tent-poling the segment. Both the initial appearance of Lesnar and when he returned as Reigns was being carted out on a stretcher produced a good sense of foreboding as you knew exactly what was going to happen (whilst Reigns played both moments well) and either you got excited because you dislike Roman Reigns or it made it dislike the Brock Lesnar character for assaulting a defenceless Big Dog. I'm big into this feud at the moment and look forward to seeing what WWE has in store on the final two episodes before WrestleMania.

Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel vs. Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson & Finn Balor

Before the match - The Miz cut a promo about not being on the cover of "WrestleMania Magazine", which had echoes of CM Punk once again, whilst also promising to send "Tyler Black and Prince Nevitt (sic)" back to the bingo halls in a weird moment. 

Nothing special to be found in this six man tag, as Finn Balor got the win for his team with a schoolboy roll-up pin on WrestleMania opponent The Miz. Most of the action was solid, yet unspectacular, with it often feeling like the teams were simply trying to get through the bout and move on to next week, with nothing getting past second gear. The Miztourage have their act pretty nailed on, with lots of creative heely cheating here, as they targeted Balor early on, which made a lot of sense considering Balor challenges for Miz's title in less than three weeks. The one moment of weirdness came as Karl Anderson seemed to struggle with Miz's snap DDT routine, leading to an atrocious looking chain of action, that hurt the match heading into the break. I wasn't a massive fan of the finish either, as Balor and Miz went for the overused reversal of Skull-Crushing Finale, where the person taking jumps when taking the move and rolls through for a pin, before a slightly clunky series of reversals and nearfalls lead to Balor getting the win. The three-way rivalry between Balor, Miz and Seth Rollins (who was on commentary) had been moving at a nice pace and whilst this week didn't quite put the brakes on the IC title feud, it did end up taking the creative foot off the accelerator a little.

After the match - Seth Rollins made the save for Finn Balor after The Miztourage attempted to assault the Irishman, with the Rollins and Balor having a staredown to conclude the segment. 

Sasha Banks confronts Bayley 

We got the closest we have so far to getting some form of explanation for the ongoing issues between Bayley and Sasha Banks this week as the pair got some mic time before their match with Absolution. Whilst I am interested in the feud and there's a couple of good ideas in there, this segment felt a little forced to me, with Bayley especially not bringing much conviction to her promo. That being said, the content she was supposedly given to work with wasn't the best as she had lines like "it ate at my core" and motivation being that Banks smiled after she kicked her off the pod at Elimination Chamber. We again saw glimpses of Banks "Legit Boss" character when she told Bayley she'd allow her to apologise to her, but I think it's taking a little bit too long to get into the meat of this feud. Sometimes a slow-burn can be effective, but the content needs to be stronger than what these two are being given and actually play to their strengths, rather than putting them in awkward positions like this one. It wasn't a bad segment, but it could have been a lot better with either better or looser scripting. Absolution would interrupt before we'd find out anything significant and we'd head into the match.

Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville (with Paige)

A decent tag team encounter saw Absolution's Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville pick up a big victory over Bayley & Sasha Banks as the issues between the later continued to cause them issues. This was a pretty standard tag team match structure, with the relationship between Bayley & Banks being used as fuel to keep things interesting throughout as both women would tag in on each other at various points. It was hardly revolutionary storytelling but it worked well enough within the time and was highlighted by a rather lovely hot tag from Bayley in the final third. There were a couple of moments of awkwardness, mostly revolving around the Absolution duo struggling with pinfalls, as well as a sloppy hiptoss from Banks to Rose at one point. The finish obviously played on the Bayley/Banks relationship as Banks ended up inadvertently distracting the referee by attacking Rose as Bayley had a backslide pin on Deville, before more arguing between the pair allowed the New Jersyan to pick up the win with a jumping roundhouse kick. I'd like to see WWE get a bit more creative with this feud sooner rather than later, as whilst it's been okay, it's been very paint by numbers and has quite often failed at getting into what had made the relationship between the pair interesting in the first place, that being their juxtaposed characters and history in NXT.

John Cena wants an answer from The Undertaker

Another firey promo from John Cena this week, as Big Match John looked to find a way to get The Undertaker to face him at WrestleMania, before Kane turned up and chokeslammed the 13 time WWE Champion, leaving the audience with more questions than answers with just two more episodes before WrestleMania. Cena's promo was a natural progression of what we saw last week, with no answer from The Undertaker on Cena's Mania challenge, as John went in hard on The Deadman with an angry, almost rant-like speech about what he believed to be cowardice. Cena's performance the last two week's have been spot on, managing to portray a number of different things at the same time, as it appears more like the character is simply trying to rile up Undertaker, rather than believing what he's actually saying. Some of the lines in this were superb as well with the pinnacle being "You are not the God that they made you, you are the man that you've allowed yourself to become. And that man, Undertaker, is a coward. The Undertaker is a coward.", as it built towards the coward line and pulled on a number of topics Cena had discussed previously. Adding Kane into the mix is a good way to prologue the feud with Undertaker having to appear, but having the commentary team wonder whether it will be Cena vs. Kane at WrestleMania seems counter-productive, as I'm not sure many people would either be interested in seeing that match on the biggest stage or would even buy into the possibility. It'll actually be Cena vs. Kane next week on RAW , when hopefully Kane's brother will finally make his appearance post-match.

Braun Strowman addresses having to choose a tag team partner for WrestleMania

So we didn't actually find out who Braun Strowman will be tagging with at WrestleMania, but we did get a Mighty Boosh reference from Sheamus. I can forgive Sheamus stumbling all over his promo and having to repeat himself a few times, because he mentioned "Old Gregg" and Old Gregg's got a mangina. What more do you want from a promo? Seriously though, I wonder how many people watching actually got the reference that was tucked away in between Black Panther, Captain America, Ricky and Morty and Dallas Cowboy's owners references. Who cares it worked for me, so fuck everyone else. The rest of the segment was Cesaro & Sheamus telling Strowman they'd give him a beatdown and Strowman being like "Nah pals, you wo" and we'd transition into a match between Cesaro & Strowman, after Sheamus had bluffed that he'd help fight the Monster as well. Oh, there was also a weird moment where it was implied that Cesaro & Sheamus were sleeping together that really popped Dallas for some reason, but felt kinda dated from where I was sitting. 

Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro 

A fairly straightforward Braun Strowman match here as the Monster Amongst Men put away one half of the RAW Tag Team Champions with a running powerslam after catching a crossbody attempt. With just over of five minutes of television time for the bout, the two worked a solid encounter, that saw most of Cesaro's offence coming from dodging a Strowman attack or from a Sheamus distraction, whilst the Swiss Cyborg struggled against the power of his #1 contender. Within the structure there was a number of good highspots, including Braun catching Cesaro diving off the steps and ramming him into the barricade and Strowman charging around the ring to shoulder barge the fuck out of Sheamus, whilst the best wrestling could be found in a nice sequence where Cesaro attempted the Neutralizer and the springboard spinning uppercut to no success. I guess next week we'll see Sheamus step in against the Monster and then at some point we'll find out Strowman's partner of choice, with my money on a returning Big Show.

Apollo & Titus O'Neil vs. Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder

The Revival put away Titus Worldwide with a Shatter Machine to Apollo in what was a completely random, but all-action tag bout. There was some really nice stuff in this bout, especially when Apollo got tagged in, with the Georgian working well with Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder on a couple of sequences. 

After the match - The Revival announced themselves as the first entrants into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Also on the show 

- An extended sit-down interview with Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle, featured an emotional Rousey discussing her previous exploits and how they've lead her to be ready for the Grandest Stage of The All, with very little from Angle. It's weird that WWE announced Rousey would be at every RAW between Fastlane and WrestleMania and now she's missed two in a row.

- Mark Henry was announced for the 2018 Hall of Fame class, with a package including interviews with The Godfather, Xavier Woods, The Big Show and The Rock. No problems with Henry's induction here, he's given the company over 20 years of services, had over 1000 matches with them and his 2011 World Heavyweight title run and Hall of Pain gimmick was one of the highlights of the early part of this decade. 

- This week's "Hungry for Mania Moment" was John Cena defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21. 

ATPW Scale Rating //

5.5 out of 10

Written by James Marston //

@IAmNotAlanDale 

WWE Royal Rumble 2018 Review // 28th January 2018

Ask a lot of WWE fans what their favourite night of the year is and it's highly likely that the majority will say the Royal Rumble. Yeah, WrestleMania is spectacular, but can often be a bit like Christmas, in that it's hyped to death and can often disappoint. Royal Rumble is more like 1st December, you've just started opening your advent calendar, you are yet to spend all your money on presents for people you don't really like and you've just heard Mariah Carey on the radio for the first time that year. The night before WWE had probably put on it's greatest ever show in Philadelphia, so the Rumble had a real job to do, even when you consider the difference in aims and target audience. The previous Rumbles in the city had been a mixed bag, with the 2004 and 2015 events taking place in Philly, but where would 2018 rank? Let's take a look 

At a glimpse

- Men's Royal Rumble Match // feat. John Cena, Randy Orton, The Miz, Cesaro, Rey Mysterio and more

- Women's Royal Rumble Match // feat. Sasha Banks, Trish Stratus, Natalya, Vickie Guerrero, Mickie James and more

- WWE Championship // Two on One Handicap Match // AJ Styles (C) vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn 

- Appearances from Kane, Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, RAW Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan, Cesaro & Sheamus and Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable.

Royal Rumble Match // Shinsuke Nakamura def. John Cena and Randy Orton and The Miz and Cesaro and Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns and Matt Hardy and Dolph Ziggler and Sami Zayn and Sheamus and Kofi Kingston and Bray Wyatt and Goldust and Finn Balor and Rhyno and Rusev and The Hurricane and Baron Corbin and Big E and Heath Slater and Xavier Woods and Adam Cole and Jinder Mahal and Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neil and Andrade Almas and Aiden English and Elias

As expected the Rumble match received a good deal of build-up during the Kick-Off show. The longest portion of this saw 1992 Royal Rumble winner Ric Flair join the panel and just kind of talk for a bit. There was a charm to the way Flair spoke about the Rumble match and his career as a whole, as well as his discussion of the two main title matches. It was clear that Flair wasn't heavily briefed on what to say and the fact that he was talking from the heart lent itself well to getting over what the match means to performers past and present. Whilst Flair wasn't always clear on the details, it appeared that he is up on the current product and that was endearing to see as he discussed a match between Chad Gable and Jey Uso from the previous week's SmackDown. Also on the Kick-Off event were promos for The New Day and Rusev & Aiden English, as well as a Royal Rumble by the numbers vignette (which got replayed just before the match began). 

I have to say I was surprised to see the Men's Rumble match go on third, just under an hour into the show. It seems that these new marathon events have a whole new set of rules to learn and understand. I was worried that the match would feel less important in this role, as has often been the case when the Rumble match hasn't gone on last over the years. That didn't seem to have an effect on the match at all, as Philly remained hot for the majority of the match, rising towards the finish and providing a good backdrop for the surprises and twists throughout the contest. In fact, in a way, having the match begin the show took away some of the pressure that recent year's have been unable to get away from. It freed the bout up a little bit, lowered expectations and allowed the match to just do it's own thing. 

Beyond a lull about a third of the way in, the years match had more going on than has been the case for the Rumbles of the last few years at least. The contest seemed more focused and energetic than we've seen in the last few incarnations, with a solid smattering of spots and moments, with a couple of on-going stories. Baron Corbin's mad rampage after being eliminated was fun stuff, that also set up Elias' little concert which I popped big for, however I'd have popped more for Aiden English coming out next for duet. I had a lot of time for Heath Slater constantly getting beaten down, unable to get in the ring, before picking up an elimination on fellow ginge Sheamus and this showed that guys that are essentially filler performers in a Rumble can actually help to keep things interesting rather than being a drag on the contest. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn beating up Tye Dillinger backstage so Zayn could take his place, Kofi Kingston being saved by pancakes before getting an unbelievable leg-up from his New Day pals and Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy briefly joining forces also stood out as well. The eliminations of Aiden English (enzuigiri off the top from Finn Balor), Andrade Almas (springboard into RKO from Randy Orton), The Miz (Shield bomb to the outside from Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) and Seth Rollins (by Shield partner, Reigns) also deserve mentions.

This years surprises also seemed to be of a higher quality to recent years, with a heady mixture of NXT debutantes and returning stars. They were also well placed within the match with four of the five coming in the last ten entrants, allowing the excitement to build towards the closing stages and boost a tiring audience that needed a little shot of caffeine to rally for the stretch. The two NXT debuts got good reactions as NXT Champion Andrade Almas and The Undisputed ERA's Adam Cole turned up and both gave good showings of themselves. Almas got a big moment in the bout playing spoiler after Kofi Kingston's excellent elimination evasion and whilst Adam Cole didn't receive an elim, he did get to work a lovely sequence with one of the other surprise, Rey Mysterio. Mysterio was a genuine shocker for me, it hadn't even crossed my mind that he'd be appearing in the event. The former WWE Champion looked great out there as well, seeming to be in much better shape that his last few years with WWE and having a number of fun exchanges with younger talent. The Hurricane also turned up for the first time in WWE since 2010, which was brief, yet entertaining. Dolph Ziggler's return after a few month's away ended up being anti-climatic, as whilst he entered at #30 and had a cute sequence avoiding an RKO and Attitude Adjustment, he ended up lasting just two minutes. 

The closing stages were definitely the best part about this Rumble, as things began to get serious when the contest was down to it's final six participants. Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio and Roman Reigns battled it out for the WrestleMania title shot. Even with Balor's stop/start booking, this was six top tier stars, four of which have competed in marquee bouts at WrestleMania's gone by. They provided a sound mixture of cool moments, storytelling and world-class professional wrestling that came together to create a glorious conclusion to what had already been a stellar Royal Rumble. Arguably the three biggest stars in the company for a time teaming up was great to see, as was Cena, Orton and Mysterio hitting their finishers in quick succession, before Reigns took out Orton and Mysterio was sent packing by Balor. If the final six had been good stuff, the scrap between the final four and then the final two was even better. Positioning Cena and Reigns as the heels was a masterstroke that the crowd ate up, whilst Balor and Nakamura shone in their sequence, before Nakkers did the same with John Cena, but it was the two favourites who were left in the ring at the end of it all, as Reigns and Nakamura remained. The pair bought physicality and intensity, selling well their desire to win as the crowd reacted to each movement. I particularly enjoyed the pair working in a number of "near falls" which added a heap of drama to proceedings that has been missed in a recent years. 

Shinsuke Nakamura was the bookies favourite heading into the match and therefore seeing the 3 time IWGP Champion as the last man remaining was hardly a surprise. Yet after a lacklustre run since joining the SmackDown brand in April, it has to be considered a bit of a surprise that WWE would decide to give Nakamura such a big win. All of Nakamura's PPV matches have fallen below the standard one would expect and even when you factor in having to face Jinder Mahal two shows in a row, it's not been a great start for the Artist. Beyond the match with John Cena on SmackDown it's difficult to pick out a memorable match from Nakamura's run, he's going to have to work hard to justify the faith shown in him over the next few months. That being said, Nakamura vs. AJ Styles has bags of potential as one of the top matches at WrestleMania and Nakker's popularity means he's probably the most popular Rumble winner with hardcore fans since Edge won in 2010. 

Royal Rumble Match // Asuka def. Sasha Banks and Trish Stratus and Natalya and Vickie Guerrero and Mickie James and Kelly Kelly and Nikki Bella and Lita and Becky Lynch and Beth Phoenix and Bayley and Brie Bella and Michelle McCool and Naomi and Torrie Wilson and Dana Brooke and Tamina and Nia Jax and Jacqueline and Lana and Carmella and Ember Moon and Kairi Sane and Molly Holly and Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan and Mandy Rose and Sarah Logan and Sonya Deville

Before we get into the ins and outs of the Women's Royal Rumble and the return of Ronda Rousey to WWE, let's chat about all the coverage and hype the match received during the rest of the show, because there was a good twenty minutes. The hype package played on the pre-show and before the match, whilst we also saw RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, SmackDown Women's Champion and Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze all join the Kick-Off panel to discuss the match. The main thing I got from Bliss' interview was that Jerry Lawler appeared to be deeply in love with Little Miss Bliss, whilst Flair's interview involved her seemingly spoiling the appearance of Nikki Bella, when she listed her as one of the Women she'd like to see win the match. It was cool to see Blayze and she felt natural and at ease with the panel, giving real sounding answers and putting over a number of the competitors in the match. Having Maria Menounous as guest ring announcer (seriously, who the fuck is this woman and why does she keep cropping up in WWE?) rightly got blasted by the fans, whilst having Stephanie McMahon as guest ring announcer made it even clearer who this Royal Rumble was for.

Part of this matches charm was the sheer amount of non-regulars that were involved. Everyone loves a Royal Rumble return or debut and with nowhere near 30 women on the main roster they were always going to need to fill the bout with returns and/or debuts. So we got Lita, Kairi Sane, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Vickie Guerrero, Kelly Kelly, Jacqueline, Ember Moon, Beth Phoenix, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Trish Stratus turn up. The majority of these weren't massive surprise as we'd seen most the returnees on RAW 25 on Monday and with Adam Cole and Andrade Almas in the Men's Rumble having a couple of NXT Women wasn't a crazy surprise either. Lita, Vickie Guerrero and Molly Holly were the three that I popped for, for obvious reasons. Holly hitting the Molly-go-Round was a pretty spectacular moment, whilst Lita's moonsault onto Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch was also sweet. Some of the women bought back in where clearly not up to scratch however with Wilson and Kelly in particular looking out of their depth in such a match-up. Also, why on earth did Michelle McCool get the most eliminations in the match? What purpose does that serve?

The bouts booking didn't feel as tight and focused as the men's contest, with the match often relying on a constant flow of surprises to pop the crowd and keep things feeling interesting. There were few pieces of storytelling throughout the contest and often when a narrative did present itself it was forgotten relatively quickly. Carmella getting attacked with her own briefcase by Vickie Guerrero felt bafflingly random (although at least meant that Guerrero's last WWE appearance wasn't getting covered in possibly shit), but was then rendered even more bizarre by Carmella's no-sell of the attack a few moments later when she just got in the ring and starting hitting moves. The use of the Riott Squad and Absolution was also a strange one, as after arriving with so much fanfare just two month's ago, all five women in those teams felt like afterthoughts here, with very little interaction between the partners due to the entry numbers and only Riott and Deville notching eliminations. The two groups could have been used as a real driving force for the match at different points and beefed up the story as well. 

The bouts most memorable spot was Naomi's Kofi Kingston-esque moment, running across the barricade after landing on a bunch of Nia Jax eliminations on the floor and then using a wheely chair to keep her feet off the floor as she walked on her hands to get back in the ring. It didn't feel completely original, but was still an impressive display from the former SmackDown Women's Champion. Jax getting a string of eliminations upon her entry was cool, especially after her inconsistent booking this year. Beth Phoenix and Natalya reuniting as the Divas of Doom, a shining light during the dark days of 2011, was a lovely moment and them tagging up to fight Jax worked well, especially with Natty quickly getting her heat back by lobbing Phoenix out of the match. There was a similar moment with the show down between Trish Stratus and Mickie James which got a great reaction from the crowd, with the two women doing a solid job of signposting what was about to happen so the crowd could begin to get excited about it. My personal favourite part of the match however was the exchange between Asuka and Ember Moon, as Moon sold the arm that had been the focus of her match with Shayna Baszler the previous night as NXT Takeover: Philadelphia and Asuka even used the injury to eliminate her old rival.

There were parts of the finish that I enjoyed and parts that I felt could have been handled better. I'm still unsure how I feel about The Bella Twins being in the final three, because their involvement did create a rather nice piece of storytelling and provided Asuka with two opponents unpopular with the vocal hardcore audience, but also their presence somewhat undermined the majority of the regular roster members. Could any of the regulars have worked as well in the role they were placed in? I'm not sure, but I think I would've rather seen them in there and given the chance to try. What I did enjoy was Sasha Banks' involvement in the closing stages. In fact, Banks deserves massive credit for wrestling for over 50 minutes, which I'd have to assume is a record for a female performer in WWE. Banks eliminating Bayley and then Trish Stratus, following by helping the Bella Twins beatdown Asuka seemed to lay the groundwork for a Banks heel-turn, a role which the Boss excels in. It was clear that Banks was having a great time once again and appeared to have more energy than she's had on television for quite some time. Asuka and Nikki Bella's final showdown was well handled, with a couple of "near falls" and momentum swings, before Asuka was able to send Bella crashing to the floor and pick up the victory.

It would be incorrect to finish this review without chatting a little bit about the return of Ronda Rousey. Many had speculated that she would be involved in the match, in fact, Rousey had been the favourite with bookies until relatively close to the event, so it wasn't a massive surprise when she headed out to the ring just as Asuka was choosing between Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair as her WrestleMania opponent. It was a clever move to have Rousey arrive after the match, working in a similar way to when WWE will flash up the copyright symbol, as I'd decided we just weren't getting Rousey as soon as Trish Stratus came out as the thirtieth entrant and I think many people had done the same. It also meant that Rousey wasn't exposed to an unfamiliar environment like a Rumble before even having a regular pro wrestling match and arguably preserved her mystique for a big time WrestleMania match. Cue lots of pointing at the WrestleMania sign and lots of open questions for RAW and SmackDown to answer. 

WWE Championship // Two on One Handicap Match // AJ Styles (C) def. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn // Pinfall

This match was miles better than it deserved to be. This was mainly do to the bout being tightly structured, the relationship between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and the brilliance of AJ Styles. The section that saw Styles repeatedly out-wrestling both opponents, sending them rushing for the tag in the corner after taking a big move was well-done, lifting the energy and doing a strong job of showing off the tag gimmick that was being used. The monkey flip from Owens to Styles into the champ giving Zayn a hurricanrana was one of the best spots on the entire show, with that spot alone being a case for the match having been made a three way. There were also a couple of near falls for Styles off a Phenomenal Forearm and Calf Crusher. I think the bout could have been improved upon by increased focus on the ankle injury that Owens had been shown to suffer on SmackDown the week before, but at least it was used slightly here.

The finish was more than a tad confusing however, with this not being helped by the commentary team who seemed to have no idea what was going on. Zayn had reached for the tag after lengthy period in the match, but had clearly missed, Zayn was then sent to the floor, allowing Owens to ambush Styles with a superkick, only for the champion to reverse a Pop-Up Powerbomb attempt and get a roll-up for the win. If this was an out for taking a loss in a two on one match it wasn't a particularly good one, as Owens still took the pin and only shouldn't have lost on a technicality. If the bout needed an out anyway, why not simply book this as a triple threat, with perhaps an elimination stipulation to differentiate it from the Universal title match? I don't know. Whatever the plans are next for Owens and Zayn, we'd see them later arguing with Shane McMahon about the result and then attacking Tye Dillinger during the Rumble with Sami taking the Perfect Ten's spot. 

WWE Universal Championship // Brock Lesnar (C) def. Kane and Braun Strowman // Pinfall

This match was a hot mess, a car crash and a beautiful disaster. Rudimentary elements of good wrestling matches, things like timing and finesse went out of the window and instead we were treated to ten minutes of three 265-385lb men lobbing things at each other and lobbing each other at things. It would be hard to make an argument that this was a good match, especially when compared to Brock Lesnar's three-way classic over the last few years, including the doozy from the same event in 2015, but I still felt this was an entertaining watch for the most part. I mean you can't really go wrong with big lads hitting each other with steel chairs, throwing each other through tables and whacking each other the steps...well, apart from when Strowman had to put himself through a table and the commentary team hung him out to dry. The main problem with all the big spots was that the finish ended up being anti-climactic, as Strowman was pushed off the apron before Kane succumbed to an F5 onto a chair. 

Braun Strowman continued to be positioned as a potential threat to the Beast, having recovered well from the disappointing match and loss at No Mercy in September, which was pleasing to see as he's had an incredible twelve months. Strowman dominated the match at points, taking part in the majority of the big spots, including multiple powerslams to Lesnar. Whilst the ease of the move was impressive, I have to say it's time for Strowman to find something new to use as the running powerslam just doesn't feel impactful enough as a finish and now even less so after Lesnar took so many. Two moments that stood out for me were Strowman delivering a German suplex to Lesnar for a nice pop, as well as when Strowman recovered from having the announce table toppled onto him, rising from the ashes like a big massive Phoenix with the intention of fucking shit up. The matches main problem then was that Kane never felt like anything but a warm body in the contest, a warm body that was there to take a pinfall.

RAW Tag Team Championship // Cesaro & Sheamus def. Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (C) // Pinfall (20:10)

After Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan had shared a great segment with Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable earlier in the night, unfortunately Rollins & Jordan's RAW Tag Team Championship defence against Cesaro & Sheamus couldn't match up. That being said a lot of that had nothing to do with the four performers in the ring and a lot to do with some questionable booking decisions, especially when it came to the finish. The story was built around Rollins fighting from underneath against Cesaro & Sheamus, with the bruising European tandem working over the Iowan for the majority of the matches thirteen minutes. This is usually a role that Rollins works well in, due to his top selling and scrappy offence and on this occasion it was again effect. Rollins had a number of nice hope spots, including sending Sheamus into the post, before getting cut off. The contest for the most part had good energy, but then came the finish and it all fell apart. 

Jason Jordan had been taken out earlier in the match, so when Rollins made the hot tag following a double frog splash, Jordan was unable to stay in the match, selling a head injury. Rollins would then quickly fall to a Brogue Kick and White Noise/Diving Neckbreaker combination. I had quite a few problems with this. Firstly, with a handicap match already having taken place, it seemed silly to book this match as a Handicap match in anything but name. Yes, the storytelling was a little different, but it really wasn't different enough to justify it's position on the card. Secondly, I felt really uncomfortable with how Jordan was either made to look like a pussy for being unable to compete due to what looked like a concussion. Rollins shouting at him after tagging out of the match in particular felt in poor taste. Credit to WWE for attempting to tell a different type of tag team story, but this simply didn't work.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship // Two Out of Three Falls Match // Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso (C) def. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable // Pinfall and Pinfall

This was another strangely booked contest. I've got a lot of time for both these teams, but I can't help but feel they were let down by the booking of the second fall. This saw Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable on fire after taking the first fall, hitting their Powerbomb/Diving Clothesline combination off the steel steps on Uso #1, only for Uso #2 to escape the same move inside the ring and get a roll-up for the second fall. Not a terrible finish for a regular match, but as the second and therefore final fall after a first fall that was absolutely electric it felt incredibly flat. Let's chat about that first fall though because it was brilliant stuff. It was packed with lovely fast-paced wrestling, beginning with multiple signature move attempts and building into a series of false finishes. The near falls were made even sweeter by the Two out of Three Falls gimmick, which has often lead to secondary moves getting a fall, so when these lads were kicking out of their top bin moves it was thrilling to watch. Throw in a series of planchas from Jey Uso and Gable pulling out a tiger suplex and sick moonsault and the first fall on it's own was a bloody good tag team match. It's a real shame the lads didn't get more time and two more falls as it felt like the first fall was building towards something spectacular later on, that didn't materialise. 

Kalisto & Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado def. TJP & Gentleman Jack Gallagher & Drew Gulak // Pinfall

It may have played out in front of about sixty-five people, occurring not long after the doors in the arena, but this was the best match on the pre-show. Whilst the lack of crowd noise probably meant the 205 Live sextet felt right at home, they bought a solid six man tag with an energetic conclusion to begin the show. The heels were methodical working over Lince Dorado, after Dorado had worked a lovely sequence with TJP, before the Lucha Trio got to a grand showcase of their talents, with a flip filled, fast-paced comeback. Amongst the big highspots, including a triple moonsault to the floor, the highlight of the match for me was a little bit of character work. This saw Jack Gallagher climb to the second rope, only to be told to get down by his partner, the dive-shy Drew Gulak, with the Gentleman then repeating the phrase "It's fine, it's fine" for what felt like an eternity, even after getting down from the rope, before Dorado was able to counter and find the hot tag. The match showed how much talent and potential there is within the Cruiserweight division, but the fact remains that WWE's audience is still only to get behind the division if WWE decide to do so themselves. 

WWE United States Championship // Bobby Roode (C) def. Mojo Rawley // Pinfall

It appears there is two types of open challenge in professional wrestling. The first being "We've got a super cool surprise opponent" and the second being "If we announced this match then nobody would want to watch, so lets create some intrigue another way". This was very much entrenched in the latter category. I could not give two flying arseholes about Mojo Rawley. If you do care about Mojo Rawley (as a performer, not a human being) then you are wrong to do so. This match was pretty similar to the Semi-Final of the US title tournament the two had a few weeks back on SmackyD. Rawley dominated for most of the match with a variety of dull offence that was at least had some intensity behind it, before Roode blocked Rawley's running forearm in the corner and nailed an elevated Glorious DDT for the win. Even though he dominated the match, at no point did Rawley feel like a threat to Roode's fledgling US title reign and at no point did I give a fuck about this match.

Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder def. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson // Pinfall

This was certainly a match that happened. Not a bad match, not a good match, but it certainly was a match. That's probably a little harsh, because there was some decent tag team wrestling on display here, but it was clear that the segment on RAW last week had hurt the Revival in the eyes of the fans and hadn't done much for Gallows and Anderson either, as the match played out to near silence in Philadelphia. Dawson and Wilder are great when it comes to adding little touches and moments to their matches and that was my main takeaway from the contest as they worked over Karl Anderson and targeted his leg, something which had become their MO when they were on NXT and during their initial appearances on RAW. Everything from Gallows lacklustre hot tag onwards felt flat, with the finish in particular (really a chop block for the win?) having a lack of energy and conviction. These two teams could put on a better match, but after a months of being treated as losers and side-acts it's difficult to get behind or invest to much time into two acts WWE doesn't seem interested in doing the same with. I would've appreciated another Women's match on the Kick Off event instead of this (perhaps a scramble for a spot in the Rumble?) 

Also

The Kick-Off show included a look back at past Rumble including highlights from the first Royal Rumble with comments from winner "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Ric Flair winning the 1992 Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels' win in '95, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin taking it in '97 and John Cena's surprise return and victory in '08...We got highlights of something called the KFC Colonel Rumble, which was won by Ric Flair...There was also a package looking at the success of the previous night's NXT Takeover: Philadelphia event which saw Andrade Almas retain the NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black go over Adam Cole in an Extreme Rules match, The Undisputed ERA's Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly retain the NXT Tag Team Championship against Akam and Rezar, the Authors of Pain, Kassius Ohno put over The Velveteen Dream and Ember Moon keep hold of the NXT Women's Championship against Shayna Baszler... There was backstage segment with RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and RAW General Manager Kurt Angle interacting with SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan, it was pretty empty and didn't leave a whole lot to talk about...

Finally... 

For me, the Men's Rumble was the best match on the show, having more depth than the Women's match, with tighter booking and better storytelling. However, the Women's match was still a good outing with a number of strong performances, particularly from Sasha Banks. The Two-on-One Handicap match was much better than it had any right to be as well, whilst the Universal Championship was mostly an entertaining watch, even if it was also a complete mess. Outside of that there was some good action in the tag team title clashes, but both were let down by the booking, whilst all three of the Kick-Off matches were forgettable and apart from the Cruiserweight match, pretty dull as well. 

Overall, considering the length of the Rumble matches, this was a solid entry into the Rumble chronology, with the Men's Rumble being one of the best in years. I don't think the event as a whole will be remembered as one of the best, but it will almost certainly be rememebered for the historical first Women's Rumble. Whether they'll do another, after WWE threw pretty much all their potential future surprises into this one match, is yet to be seen.