The Road To WrestleMania Began Last Night, And We're Off To A Hot Start!
Just a few hours ago in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, we kicked off the Road To WrestleMania with the Royal Rumble, and you know what? For the first time in, I don’t know, EIGHT YEARS, I’m actually more excited post-Rumble(s) than I was pre! The Road To WrestleMania is basically wrestling’s playoffs, if you were unaware, and spans from January to April, obviously culminating at the Grandest Stage Of Them All. I wrote in my Rumble preview blog that every year, we chase the high of yesteryear when the other-the-top-rope elimination matches were fun and featured winners that fans liked, and this year, they actually delivered that! TWICE! Let’s talk about it.
The Men’s Rumble took place first in the night, which many thought was a weird decision at the time but was ultimately the right call in the end, and I was almost waiting for something to go wrong the entire time because it was THAT good. I was sitting/standing there thinking, “Someone like Roman is going to win and put a dark cloud over this whole match, right? Has to be. Things are going way too smoothly, and they’re pleasing the fans too much.” I feel like I’ve been a blackjack player that was caught counting cards by the casino for a near decade now. The WWE just pulled me into their back room, tied me to a chair, and started beating the piss out of me to make sure I never enjoy a Rumble again. Last night I broke free of that chair and saw the sunlight of the Las Vegas Strip, however, when Shinsuke Nakamura tossed Roman Reigns’ ass over the top rope, punching his ticket to WrestleMania!
The surprises this year were perfect, the comedy bits were hilarious, Kofi’s elimination-save spot was another “No fucking way” moment, and there was such little filler. The match began with the unbelievably over Rusev and Finn Bálor, the latter of which made it to the final four, and never slowed down for a second or gave the crowd a second to breathe, which was fine by me even though I was physically exhausted by the end of it. One thing you don’t think of about being AT a Royal Rumble is the fact that you have to stand up and down for every countdown, so that’s 30 times every 90 seconds, and then since we had two on this show, double that. It was a bit taxing on our pal Natedawg’s knees and he tapped out around entrant #8. Anyway, here’s some of the surprise entrant videos:
Andrade Cien Almas
Fresh off a 30+ minute main event at NXT TakeOver the previous night, Almas had a great showing in the Rumble and lasted longer than most!
The Hurricane
One of my absolute favorites growing up. The Hurricane and Rosie were one of the all time comedy duos in tag history. Loved seeing him last night.
Adam Cole
ADAM COLE BAYBAY! Right where his career all started, Adam Cole got to enter the Royal Rumble to a THUNDEROUS reaction from the crowd. From a kayfabe standpoint, you almost have to consider this appearance non-canon due to the abuse he took as TakeOver on Saturday. I mean…
Rey Mysterio
Obviously my favorite surprise entrant of the night. Rey Mysterio is probably one of my top five favorite wrestlers of all time, and a few years ago in Philly, he entered at #30 when everyone thought it’d be Daniel Bryan stepping through that curtain, so he was booed with the fire of 1000 suns. Last night he got his redemption, and I was so excited I gassed myself like I fought in a 12 round boxing match…
He looked to be in incredible shape, much better than when he left the company, so I wouldn’t mind one last run although it seemed Kenny Omega was angling for a match earlier this week. I can’t even imagine how cool it must’ve been for Adam Cole to get eliminated by him.
Heath Slater had a bit where he kept getting beaten down before he could enter the ring for the first third or so of the match that was also hilarious, and had the best payoff possible…
And of course, Kofi’s spot…
After Shinsuke Nakamura dumped Reigns, Renee Young got in the ring to ask him if he already knew which title he’d be going after at WrestleMania, and sure enough, he did. In New Orleans, we’re getting a WrestleKingdom rematch. AJ STYLES VS SHINSUKE NAKAMURA. OMG.
Now, onto the Women’s Rumble (there were other matches as well last night, but I’m going to leave my thoughts on those on Twitter due to this blog already being super long), I thought this was incredibly well done and just so much fun overall. The surprises were amazing, many of which actually made me think “Why the hell did they do that segment with the women on RAW 25?” as it would’ve been so much cooler to see Trish, Torrie, Jacqueline, Michelle McCool, The Bella Twins, and Kelly Kelly if we hadn’t already seen them six days ago, but even beyond them we got Lita, Beth Phoenix, Molly Holly, Vickie Guerrero Ember Moon, and Kairi Sane! This match felt like a celebration of women’s wrestling in the company, and not a shoehorned celebration, like a really nice one. It honored the past, and made room for the future. It gave us moments like Sasha Banks and Trish Stratus facing off, Beth Phoenix and Nia Jax going eye to eye, Lita and Becky Lynch trading blows, and my favorite…Trish and Mickie reuniting.
That Sasha/Trish face off was pretty damn good, though, and Trish doing Sasha’s taunt? SHEESH!
Here’s some of the surprise entrants…
Lita
Fuck yeah Lita! She did the moonsault and almost snapped her neck but didn’t, so BIIIIG dodged bullet there. She was a lot of fun to have in this match.
Molly Holly
Molly Holly came into this match and whopped some major ass! Her finisher always looks like it’s going to actually kill whoever she hits it on, and since it was Sasha this time, it ESPECIALLY looked like that.
Ember Moon
The NXT Champ with one arm! Asuka actually had a savage elimination of Moon where she basically snapped her broken arm off the top rope. Fun to see those two go at it once again.
Beth Phoenix
Beth Phoenix is now the first person to compete in both the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumbles! How’s that for a stat?
Trish Stratus
Trish didn’t only look as good as ever, she wrestled as good as ever. Instantly took control of the match and showed she hasn’t lost a step whatsoever. The highlight of the match for sure.
Asuka eliminated “The Queen Of Strong Style” Nikki Bella last to win the Rumble, which was a great closing stretch and definitely the right person to have eliminated for the win. The Bellas were actually one of the best parts of the whole match, to be honest, as well as Michelle McCool. They played their heel veteran role to a T.
Post match, I got my girl Ronda Rousey coming out and facing down Asuka, Charlotte, Alexa, and Stephanie (lingering heavily on Stephanie), and while that was cool, it was a tad underwhelming. Looking back, I think not putting her in the Royal Rumble was a really good call, not ending Asuka’s undefeated streak and not revealing what Ronda is like in the ring, that’s still a huge unknown, and now her first match will have double the eyeballs on it that the Rumble did. According to Dave Meltzer they may be trying to put together Ronda Rousey and The Rock vs Stephanie McMahon and Triple H at WrestleMania this year. Can’t wait. Ronda being as happy as she was, even getting choked up afterwards, also just makes me so happy.
Overall, I had a GREAT time at the show and can’t wait to see what the rest of the Road to WrestleMania has in store for us. As I said earlier, my thoughts on all other matches of the night can be found on my Twitter page. Thanks folks!
P.S. Forty-one/Forty-two/Forty-two. How the fuck do they do it?
