Top Ten February PPV Matches

10) No Way Out 2001; Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. X-Pac - We jump start our list with a forgotten classic. On an absolutely stacked No Way Out 2001 card that featured a really good Kurt Angle/The Rock main event and another match that will be on here soon, this is often overlooked. All four of these guys can work and they stole the show early on. The action was fast paced, featured multiple near falls and gave everyone a chance to shine. The finishing sequence was fun and Jericho retained after rolling up X-Pac. All four guys looked great and this featured wall to wall action. ***3/4

9) In Your House: Rage in the Cage; Number One Contender's Match: Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels - The absolute hottest wrestler around this time was Shawn Michaels. Not only did he win the 1995 Royal Rumble, but he turned face that year and went on to repeat in the 1996 Rumble. With a potential match against Bret Hart set for WrestleMania XII, Shawn put his title shot on the line against Owen and they went on to have a great match at the WWF's first ever February Pay-Per-View. These are two of the best performers in the history of the business and this was probably my favorite match between them. It was a great precursor to WrestleMania as Shawn picked up the win before beating Bret a month later. Great match. ****

8) No Way Out 2009; WWE Championship Elimination Chamber: Edge (c) vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H vs. The Undertaker vs. Big Show vs. Vladimir Kozlov - I do realize that the photo I used is of Edge with the World Heavyweight Title. See, Edge opened the show as WWE Champion and defended it in this Chamber. In less than three minutes, Edge was eliminated and that completely shocked everyone. Edge would go on to steal a spot in the World Title Chamber later in the night and win that. However, back to this match, it ended in the best way possible. Triple H and the Undertaker tearing things up before the Game captured the title. This was filled with fun action, shocking moments and an epic conclusion. ****1/4

7) No Way Out 2004; WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Eddie Guerrero - This will probably go down as one of the best David vs. Goliath matches in history. Brock Lesnar could pretty much do no wrong at this point in his career, and Eddie Guerrero was red hot. I didn't think Brock would lose because I expected him to go into WrestleMania and defend the belt against Goldberg. Instead, Goldberg interfered here, helping Eddie to do the unthinkable and capture the title. It was a pretty amazing moment, as one of the better workers in history got to have his moment and be one of the few people to beat Brock. ****1/4

6) Elimination Chamber 2010; World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber: The Undertaker (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk vs. R-Truth vs. John Morrison vs. Rey Mysterio - The best thing to happen in Elimination Chamber matches usually is when the weak links are eliminated early. In this case, that link was R-Truth. He was gone in about three minutes, leaving CM Punk alone in the ring. Just like he did at the 2010 Royal Rumble, Punk began to cut one of his amazing Straight Edge Savior promos. Rey Mysterio came in next and we saw a precursor to their upcoming rivalry. In the end, this came down to the Undertaker and Chris Jericho, who had only one singles match against each other from my memory. When Undertaker seemed near victory, Shawn Michaels came up through the floor of the Chamber and hit Sweet Chin Music on Undertaker, allowing Jericho to win. It was a great match, part of an amazing Undertaker/HBK angle and it all came together perfectly. ****1/4

5) No Way Out 2000; WWF Championship vs. Career Hell in a Cell: Triple H (c) vs. Cactus Jack - At the 2000 Royal Rumble, Triple H had THE match that a lot of guys need to really solidify them as a major player. Yes, he was already WWF Champion, but the Street Fight against Cactus Jack was damn near perfect. The stakes were raised for the rematch as they stepped into Hell in a Cell and Cactus' career was on the line. While this wasn't on the level of the Royal Rumble classic, it was still a brutal match with huge spots. It was a suitable sequel and both guys delivered. Cactus' career ended and Triple H earned another massive win. ****1/4

4) In Your House: Final Four; WWF Championship: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker vs. Vader - The 1997 Royal Rumble was one of the most controversial in history. Steve Austin was eliminated before Bret Hart dumped out Undertaker and Vader. Austin snuck back in and tossed out Bret. This led to a Final Four match, the first of its kind, to see who gets to go to WrestleMania. I recently, along my with my friend Bash, did a video podcast about this show (which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzzRPO2jnaI&feature=youtu.be). The match got a stellar review from us as all four guys were awesome, with Vader stealing the show. See, the rules here were that you could be eliminated by pinfall, submission or getting thrown over the top like in the Royal Rumble. Bret Hart clotheslined Undertaker over the top and became WWF Champion for the fourth time. ****1/2

3) No Way Out 2006; World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle (c) vs. The Undertaker - There are two matches on this list that should have been saved for WrestleMania and this is the first. I get that they wanted the Rey Mysterio title win that year but Kurt Angle as a viable threat to Undertaker's streak would have been better than Undertaker/Mark Henry. Both guys were incredible here and the climax was astounding. While locked in a choke, Angle would roll through and pin Taker's shoulders to the mat to retain the belt in a 30 minute classic. ****1/2

2) Elimination Chamber 2014; The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family - Here's the other match on this list that should have been saved for WrestleMania. There was something incredibly special about these two teams. The crowd was absolutely on fire every single team they even had a stare down. The atmosphere was always red hot and when they finally met at Elimination Chamber, they produced magic. I've not only picked it as my Feud of the Year for 2014, but also as my match of the year in 2014. It was breathtaking, featured non stop action and one of the best things I have ever witnessed. ****3/4

1) No Way Out 2001; Three Stages of Hell: Triple H vs. Steve Austin - Before Steve Austin was set to face The Rock in a MASSIVE match at WrestleMania X-Seven, he had a score to settle with Triple H. A Three Stages of Hell had never happened before, and has only been done a few times since. None would top the first though. We started with a regular singles match, which Austin won before moving to a Street Fight that Triple H won. The final fall was a Steel Cage match that Triple H would also win. For nearly forty minutes, these two beat the hell out of each other and it was glorious. ****3/4

Raw Report 2/2/15

As usual, Raw kicks off with a good old fashioned Authority promo. We expected it this week though because Triple H and Stephanie (who was looking mighty fine) had to make their big announcement. Before that though, they brag about going to the Super Bowl before making #CancelNFLNetwork jokes. Seriously guys, pick a side and stay on it. They say that the Rock's appearance in the Royal Rumble is what made the Rumble controversial and maybe Roman Reigns doesn't deserve to go to WrestleMania. This brings out Roman, who jumps to the conclusion that he's already been removed. He gets in Hunter's face, which instantly makes me want Roman/Hunter at WrestleMania. It would be great for Roman's career. Daniel Bryan comes out, which causes the place to go nuts. He mentions that he never got his rematch and wants to throw his name in the hat for WrestleMania. Seth Rollins joins us and we go to commercial. Well that tells you that this will be an extended opening segment. Basically, they manipulate stupid ass Roman to agree to put his title shot on the line. In our main event, Bryan will face Rollins and the winner takes on Reigns at Fast Lane to determine the number one contender. I like him being the badass to agree, but he should have just agreed and not looked dumb by getting manipulated. Then, to make things better, Triple H brings out Big Show for our weekly Roman/Show match. This has to be the fourth or fifth time they've faced this year already. Rollins interferes and Roman loses. Seriously? Roman is supposed to be the guy, but you job him to Big Show? I don't care if it was by interference, it's Big Show.

Curtis Axel is out and he has a microphone. He talks about the controversy from the Royal Rumble being the fact that he was never eliminated. I liked it, but commentary totally buries it by laughing at him. Axel is not a comedy character so why do this? Dean Ambrose interrupts and tosses him over the top, eliminating him. He gets on the microphone and brings up pinning Bad News Barrett two weeks ago before saying that he's coming for the Intercontinental Title. While I'm interested in Ambrose/Barrett, he's going for the IC Title while Rollins and Reigns are in the WWE Title picture. That should tell you where these three stand with the company. Axel gets back in to attack but is taken out with the Dirty Deeds. Fine segment. After a Black History Month vignette, the Ascension take on Goldust and Stardust in a Smackdown rematch. We're two for two in those. The Ascension win despite the negative response from commentary. After the match, Goldy and Stardust have some tension and Stardust storms off. Returning from commercial, Goldust tries to calm him down and calls him Cody, which only upsets Stardust more. Please, give me back Cody Rhodes. It's all I ask for.

We go to John Cena welcoming Ryback, Dolph Ziggler and Erick Rowan back. If he wanted to welcome them back, why didn't he do it on Smackdown two weeks ago when they actually returned? Is Raw the only that matters? Because we can't have a promo that doesn't plug something else, Cena promotes the Stone Cold Podcast tonight. (There maybe an article coming tomorrow about that) This is a rather quick segment as once the returnees come out, Stephanie McMahon appears on the titantron to interrupt. She shits on anything that they've done, claiming that only Cena has done anything. So Dolph's win at Survivor Series means nothing. She books some matches for tonight for the three, starting with Ryback vs. Luke Harper tonight. This was a good big man match. There are times that I'm not a fan of Ryback's ring work but he's impressed me a bit recently including here. It went about six minutes and Ryback won. Next, Cesaro takes on Jimmy Uso. On Smackdown, Tyson Kidd defeated Jey Uso and here, Cesaro does the same. I don't mind this since it's still relatively fresh and the Usos have never won many singles matches since they're stronger as a unit. I expect Kidd and Cesaro vs. the Usos at Fast Lane and they should steal the show. Backstage, Miz gets upset when someone comes up to Damien Mizdow for an autograph so he fires him as the Stunt Double and makes him an assistant. Not sure how well this will go.

Dolph Ziggler takes on Bray Wyatt next and this delivered. I know that I've gotten on Bray's case before because he hasn't had many standout matches, but this was another. He has been booked incredibly strong since November to try and save his character. The John Cena and Chris Jericho feuds did nothing for him, but earning wins over Bryan, Ambrose and now Ziggler is huge. The match was really good, we got a cool spot where Dolph nailed the Fameasser only for Bray to get up instantly and hit Sister Abigail. They're doing a good job rebuilding Bray. Backstage, the Authority name drop Randy Orton so I guess he's returning soon. Divas time as the Bella Twins are on commentary for Paige vs. Alicia Fox. No Natalya with Paige tonight. Maybe she's upset that Pagie got a singles title shot. Brie is TERRIBLE on commentary, but Nikki plays the bitch very well. After a Paige win, Fox holds her while the Bellas spray her with something. I guess it was spray tan but it looked black so that was odd. At least it helped build the match and wasn't just random. Miz comes out with his assistant to face Sin Cara. Another short but solid match. Mizdow was forced to stand still but the fans still chanted for him. He would randomly break into mimicking the Miz, which distracted Miz and led to a win for Sin Cara. Fun angle but nothing special.

Bray Wyatt cuts a promo backstage, where it seems like he's targeting the Undertaker. Rusev takes on Erick Rowan in his punishment match. As expected, Rowan loses very quickly. John Cena continues to be the worst face from a kayfabe standpoint as he doesn't help Rowan while he's in the Accolade for a while. Rusev and Lana play a "movie" of him kicking ass but the Russian flag gimmick gets stuck and doesn't come down. The fans pop and credit to both of them for playing the frustration well. After a discussion between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan backstage, we go to our main event. While Bray/Ziggler was really good, Bryan/Rollins stole the show. The fact that Raw can be main evented by Tyler Black and Bryan Danielson is a thing of beauty. They put on a great match with shenanigans from J&J Security and Big Show. Reigns got involved and Speared the hell out of Show before delivering a Superman punch to Rollins that led to the win for Bryan. Okay, so now the WWE is in an interesting spot. Bryan vs. Reigns is a big deal because if Reigns wins, the crowd still dislikes it, but if Bryan wins, what happens to Roman? I'm intrigued.

This was a solid episode of Raw. There wasn't really any fluff as everything had a point. We had two standout matches in Bray/Ziggler and Bryan/Rollins, plus the promos were all well done. Also, based on this show, things are shaping up for a potentially good Fast Lane show. Reigns/Bryan, Kidd & Cesaro/Usos, Ambrose/Barrett and Pagie/Nikki all sound good to me. 7.5/10.

Fave Five 1/26/15-2/1/15

1) Bobby Lashley: It was a pretty uneventful week in the world of wrestling. After the world nearly exploded in the fallout of the Royal Rumble, Raw was basically cancelled due to the weather so we were down the biggest show of the week. So, we look to Impact for our number one spot. In what was possibly the best episode of Impact since the move to Destination America, nobody shined brighter than their World Heavyweight Champion, Bobby Lashley. Lashley has been playing up the fighting champion gimmick and did it better than ever this week. With three potential contenders for his belt, he challenged all three to a Fatal Four Way match and came out successfully. Beating Austin Aries, Bobby Roode and MVP is a tough task, but Lashley did it and it made him a shoe in for the number one spot this week.

2) Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy: In the most shocking moment of the week, Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy came from out of nowhere to capture the NXT Tag Team Titles. Blake and Murphy have done well for themselves on the NXT live event scene, but hadn't won much on TV. In fact, I believe their win a few weeks ago over the Vaudevillains was their first. They went out and challenged the NXT Tag Team Champions, Kalisto and Sin Cara and won the belts to open the show this week. It was a very cool surprise since every title change in NXT last year occurred on a live special and not on a taping. You can hear my complete thoughts on NXT this week right here http://runningenzuigiri.com/2015/01/nxt-podcast-episode-1/, along with my very good friend Heather.

3) Daniel Bryan: The biggest match advertised for Smackdown was a Casket match. It pitted Daniel Bryan against Kane. They got to main event the big live Smackdown and were given over twenty minutes. It was a decent bout as Bryan can always get the best out of his former partner, but this needs to be the end of their feud. Daniel Bryan deserves so much more than feuding with the whipping boy of the Authority. I get that they have their history, but Bryan should be doing something better. Regardless, he did win and cut a passionate promo on Raw where he discussed how disappointed he was that he didn't win the Royal Rumble. Hell, he even discussed the David vs. Goliath thing that he and Brock Lesnar could have done, thus booking a better WrestleMania than what we are getting.

4) Taryn Terrell: Taryn Terrell was especially impressive on Friday. Before I get into why she made the list, I'd like to state that I was never the biggest Taryn fan. I enjoyed her as ECW General Manager under the name Tiffany, but wasn't sold when she began to wrestle. She proved herself to me and a lot of doubters during her series of big matches against Gail Kim last year. I checked those out even though I didn't watch TNA on a regular basis. When turning on TNA for the first time on Destination America, I was surprised to see that she was the Knockouts Champion. After retaining her gold in a battle royal, Awesome Kong returned and the focus has been on her and Havok lately. This has made Taryn seem like an afterthought, which is not good for your champion. However, Taryn really endeared herself to me this week. She opened the wrestling portion of Impact by defending her belt against Gail Kim and Madison Rayne. Kim and Rayne are my two favorite Knockouts and Taryn hung tough with them. The match was really fun and proved why the Knockouts division bests the WWE Divas division (NXT not withstanding). Not only did she prove her worth but she also retained the belt and continues to impress me week in and week out. That was long winded but whatever.

5) Jeff Hardy: TNA continues to have the spotlight on my list this week. Jeff Hardy and Abyss busted out a Monster's Ball match like it was 2004 and I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was brutal like it should be and built towards the Hardys vs. Revolution at Lockdown next week. Seeing the Wolves, Matt Hardy and the rest of Revolution get involved made things even cooler but the main star was Jeff. He continues to show that, when motivated, he can still go with the best of them. The sunset flip bomb onto the thumbtacks was sick and the Swanton Bomb spot to finish things was even better. Jeff Hardy picked up a win and I really hope they are able to win the Tag Team Titles at Lockdown.

Impact Wrestling Report 1/30/15

Impact kicked off with the arrival of Bobby Roode. Interestingly, he still had possession of the TNA World Title that he found outside last week. He talked about how much it means to him before he called out Lashley to return it to him. He claims that they are the only two men that belong in the World Title conversation. There are even split chants as the crowd prefers Roode. He hands the title over to Lashley and mentions his rematch, which he wants tonight. The crowd is all about this possibility and Lashley accepted. Before anything could happen though, Austin Aries makes an appearance. He brings up his Feast or Fired Title shot and debates on cashing in to join the match or doing so when one is drained after their match. I truly love that Aries is getting involved in this. He needs to be the World Champion again, the man is just too good. MVP now makes his way out and makes his claim for a shot. Lashley, being the fighting Champion says all three guys will get shots tonight. Speaking of titles being on the line, our opening contest sees Taryn defend the Knockouts Championship against Gail Kim and Madison Rayne in a Triple Threat match. I've never been big on Taryn, but Madison and Gail are my two favorite Knockouts. Commentary does a good job pointing out the similarities between a match like this and Fatal Four Way for the TNA Title tonight. They go for about seven minuets and really impressed me. We saw innovative moves, multiple near falls and a "Better than the Divas" chant. Taryn retained in a really good match. TNA is off to a great start.

Next week will be Lockdown. Already announced are Team Angle vs. The BDC in Lethal Lockdown. Revolution vs. the Hardys for the Tag Titles and Awesome Kong vs. Havok! We get clips of Rockstar Spud and Mark Andrews from earlier today in New York. It's funny as they keep thinking they can find the White House and stuff here. Tommy Dreamer makes his way out to the ring. Interestingly, he calls out Eric Young. It turns out that Tommy, EY and Bobby Roode used to kick it consistently and Tommy doesn't want to see Young turn on his friends. EY calls Tommy a fat loser. Tommy tries to be the voice of reason but eats a piledriver from Young, who then lays out the time keeper and gets a steel chair. Bobby Roode appears to run him off. Jeff Hardy cuts a short promo about the Monster's Ball match tonight. Kurt Angle recruits Gunner for Team Angle. No clue why as Gunner has been irrelevant since the Destination America debut. We now go to see Magnus and Bram meeting up in a bar. Things have been rocky between them since Magnus captured a briefcase in Feast or Fired last week. I had no clue that Bram was married to NXT's Charlotte in real life. Anyway, they have a heated discussion in the bar over the possibility of them working together to get the Tag Team Title shot that Magnus earned. Bram is disappointed that he didn't get to retrieve the briefcase. This is all a trap as Bram ends up beating the hell out of Magnus. I get that this leads to a feud but I wonder where this leaves the Tag Team Title shot and who Magnus will choose as a partner. I expected them to get the shot and then Bram would make the turn on him. I realize that the photo I used here is irrelevant to this Impact episode but I couldn't find any that were and decided to focus on TNA's newest signing, Drew Galloway! I look forward to seeing him around.

We move to the Monster's Ball match between Jeff Hardy and Abyss. I feel that this was a great way to build the TNA World Tag Team Title match at Lockdown. Jeff Hardy is a very marketable name, has good chemistry with Abyss and the Monster's Ball match is a TNA staple that is almost always fun. Josh Matthews continues to shine on commentary, pointing out that Jeff sits out on his Twist of Fate while Matt lays out and that Abyss has been in 95% of the televised Monster's Ball matches. The Revolution comes out but get taken out by Matt Hardy and the Wolves before we get a creative finish to this fun match. Jeff nails a sunset flip powerbomb into thumbtacks and then a Swanton Bomb onto Abyss on the tacks. Post match, James Storm argues with Abyss. Austin Aries is interviewed about how he appreciates that Lashley is a fighting Champion because he was just granted a title shot without having to cashing in his shot. Rockstar Spud and Mandrews come out because they've challenged EC3 and Tyrus. Rockstar Spud's bowtie is the stuff of legend. EC3 and Tyrus come out to say that their request for a match has been denied. They found suitable replacements in the BroMans! They are still a ton of fun, and I'm not really against Angelina Love in a short skirt. This was short and a shooting star press from Mandrews wins it. After the match, Tyrus lays them out with heart punches like he's Crush or something. EC3 says that Spud and Mandrews can face Tyrus inside a cage at Lockdown because they'll never get a match with him..

After some Lockdown hype, it's time for the main event. I'm not sure when TNA began to implement their Ranking System but they discussed it a few times tonight and would show someone's ranking as he came out if he was ranked. I think this is a great idea if done right. It can make wins and losses mean more. I mean, Roode has lost twice recently, but he is the number one contender because he gets his rematch. Pretty cool idea. The match itself didn't disappoint. All four guys worked hard and we saw some cool spots for sure. I love when Roode busts out the Crippler Crossface. Roode looks close to winning after a Tower of Doom bomb but Eric Young comes down and attacks him. Lashley is able to retain and he pins Aries, which upset me. MVP could have eaten the pin, but I guess he'll probably get a one on one shot soon. The BDC come down and beat down on all three challengers until Kurt Angle and Gunner make the save. I still can't get behind Gunner. After a commercial, Roode challenges Young to a match at Lockdown which is accepted. Angle gets Aries to join his team but Lashley declines because he wants nothing to do with either team.

So TNA has been on Destination America for about a month so far and all four shows were pretty solid. Nothing ridiculously dumb has happened and I appreciate that as it is a step in the right direction for TNA. This episode did a great job in building towards Lockdown and featured four fun matches. The two title matches were really good, the Monster's Ball was an exciting brawl and even the short tag was enjoyable. 8/10.

Thursday Smackdown Thursday Report 1/29/15

Triple H opened the show, calling it Monday Night Raw instead of Friday Night Smackdown because it has been a weird week.He then brags about the one million subscribers for the WWE Network. He makes a bunch of ball jokes like he's still part of DX regarding the Super Bowl. He puts over the WWE Title match at the Royal Rumble, because mention of the Rumble match itself gets a negative reaction. Surprisingly he does address how controversial the Rumble match was. He says that he will make a major announcement on Monday night that will shake the WWE to its core. I wonder what that will be. Roman Reigns interrupts but it only leads to Roman vs. Big Show. This was your standard match between the two and, based on the fact that I'm supposed to buy Roman as a guy who can take down Brock Lesnar, he needs to beat Show. That's exactly what happened but the crowd gave him a VERY mixed reaction. He tried some new things, like a head scissors but it looked odd. Still though, their best match together so far. Everyone is left to ponder what Triple H's big announcement on Raw will be. We are told that Vince McMahon is backstage to give us breaking news. This breaking news is that the WWE Network is going to be free for February to new subscribers. Two things are wrong with this. On one hand, it was actually announced during a commercial in between the Reigns/Show match. Second, they need to do something for the existing customers that have paid $9.99 a month for a year now.

Next, we are joined by Seth Rollins and J&J Security. He grabs about how he once again proved that he's the future when he came so close to winning the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble. He even brags about breaking Brock Lesnar's ribs, which is not something anyone else can say. He calls anyone out and his challenge is answered by the Ryback. However, he is beaten down by all three men. Erick Rowan makes the save to no pop but the faces don't get the upper hand until Dolph Ziggler joins in. They chase off the heels, which makes me wonder why we didn't get a six man tag. Teddy Long would have done it. What has happened to you Smackdown? Maybe at FastLane. Kane cuts a creepy promo backstage in front of a casket, but it's weird because he's Corporate Kane and not the Demon. The Usos come out for a singles match and I instantly worried it would be against the Miz. Instead, it was against Tyson Kidd. Maybe we're getting Kidd and Cesaro vs. the Usos at FastLane, which could steal the show. Kidd wins a solid three minute match and I'm liking the sound of this. Give them fifteen minutes and hopefully they go all out.

If you missed it, on the Royal Rumble Fallout Show, John Cena's interview was interrupted by Rusev. Here, Rusev was upset that he won't face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and is booked against Cena at FastLane. He doesn't like that Cena has no titles and isn't a challenge. This brings out Cena, who does his typical stuff about the fans not always agreeing with him. He comes off as kind of a dick when he mentions that he's the top guy and that Rusev is undefeated but he hasn't faced a 15 time World Champion. He says he was winning titles before Rusev had pubes, and Lana had boobs. How old is John Cena? He challenges Rusev now, but nothing goes down. They've interestingly made note of Cena's age a few times tonight. Cena continues to make "ho" jokes at both Rusev and Lana. We are then informed that at FastLane, Nikki Bella will defend the Divas Championship against Paige. Paige is interviewed backstage but the Bellas interrupt and are bitches to her. Paige nails Brie, but the numbers game is too much. I swear I say something like this each week but Brie comes off looking so stupid in this whole Bella Twins angle. Oh well, I don't expect Paige to win but I would like it.

Goldust and Stardust take on the Ascension next. I thought that the Dust Brothers were heels. Regardless, I like this move for the Ascension. Having them work with the actual main roster tag teams was wise, but it should have been Los Matadores. I don't want a million rematches between them, but they should start at the bottom of the tag team division and that's Los Matadores. So yea, the Ascension won in four or so minutes. We go to Kane staring at the casket for maybe the fifth time tonight. Does he take bathroom breaks? After Smackdown, SyFy presents Wizard Wars, which is a show about magicians so a magician was backstage doing tricks. Miz got involved, was douchey and got egg on his face. Literally. Things move again, this time to a Bray Wyatt promo. He talks about fearing nothing living or dead, instantly making me think this is leading towards a WrestleMania match against the Undertaker. The Casket Match is set to begin and it looks like it's going to get a TON of time. They work through two or three commercial breaks. Look, I don't think Kane, or Big Show, should be working main events at this point in their careers, but I give Kane credit for being in solid shape at 47. Jerry Lawler kept selling ending up in the Casket as real death, which was irritating at times. The match itself was good, as Bryan is able to get the best out of Kane and he wins in about 24 minutes. Too long and if it went a bit shorter, you could have added some Dean Ambrose to this show or something.

Overall, for being a live Smackdown, this disappointed. I watched live instead of on Hulu the following morning but not much of note really happened. The Cena/Rusev promo was alright, the main event was solid but overly long and we did get some solid build to FastLane but it seemed to be missing something. Maybe it was Dean Ambrose. Seriously though, despite being a letdown, it wasn't a bad show. 6/10.

The Royal Rumble and Why It Failed

Usually, the Royal Rumble is an annual spectacular that I refuse to miss. Actually, come to think of it, I've never missed a Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View, but I have missed a WrestleMania recently (29). That should tell you how I feel about the event. I've gone back and watched every Rumble match multiple times, even attending one live in 2000. Some aren't good, like 1993 and some are amazing, like 1992, 2001, 2004 or 2010. However, this year's may have been the worst. Let me get this off my chest right off the bat. My feeling this way is not about Roman Reigns winning, but we'll get to that later. Let's start at the beginning. A lot of the time, the best Rumbles got off on the right feet. Whether it be Demolition at 1 and 2, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, Ted Dibiase and British Bulldog or Seth Rollins and Punk last year. A good start is vital. This year we were treated to the Miz and R-Truth. I was even disappointed to see Truth get in. It turns out that he was only in as a proxy to D-Von. Bubba Ray Dudley made a surprise appearance that was fun but it didn't really help how poor the first two entrants were. What followed had potential to be really cool, but came up short. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper were in the ring together and their past as the Wyatt Family came to light. Curtis Axel drew number six but was attacked by Erick Rowan. He never made it into the ring. I recently listened to the Steve Austin show and they did a review of this Rumble. Wade Keller, his guest, came up with a good idea that there should be a rule stating that if an entrant doesn't make it into the ring within 90 seconds, they're eliminated. It would be just a nice and neat way to handle something like this. Anyway, the Wyatts seemed like they were going for a fun interaction but Bray just dumped them out. That's it. No fun, no fanfare, nothing. Bringing in the Boogeyman wasn't anything bad, but it again could have been better. The weirdest thing about the first half of the Rumble was that Bray pulled a 2010 CM Punk and began to call people out on the microphone. I expected Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns, but instead it was Zack Ryder. Seriously? I think he's won one televised match in 2014. Maybe Bray mistimed the promo because Bryan was out next. The crowd erupted for their guy and how cool would it have been if it was Bryan to come out after Bray got on the mic? The ring began to fill up and out came DDP. This was another cool surprise as he gave out a ton of Diamond Cutters before getting eliminated by Rusev. This was around the time that the match turned to shit.

Rusev and Bray Wyatt took on Daniel Bryan and Bray eliminated him.

That's it. This was the big issue. Now this is where some fans get the disconnect. Most people that were upset with the Rumble weren't upset that Roman Reigns won and Daniel Bryan lost. A lot of us expected that. The biggest gripe is that Bryan was treated as an afterthought. I understand trying to get rid of him early sensing that the fans would be upset and maybe get over it by the end of the match. But couldn't they have done it in a way that gave the fans something? If their plan really is to go through with Sheamus vs. Bryan at WrestleMania, why not have Sheamus return and eliminate him? If he wasn't ready, maybe have the Authority screw him. Either way, it shows us that there is a direction in mind for Bryan. This was a random elimination that treated Bryan like shit. To take this even further, why did they even put Bryan in the match? You know that the fans, whether unreasonable or not, were going to shit on this. Save Bryan's return for the Road to WrestleMania and you have Roman save face. Before Bryan announced his return, we all thought he was possibly going to retire. There was no reason to put Roman through this. It was clear that the WWE knew Bryan's elimination would get a bad reaction because the next few entrants were rather useless. Even the usual fun Kofi Kingston spot got a bad reaction from the WWE Universe. The first guy to get the crowd back into this was Damien Mizdow. Again, here was another chance for them to save face. Obviously Damien shouldn't win. But the crowd was feeling him, so he should have been able to get some offense in and hell, save Miz for this time in the Rumble and give them interaction. Instead, Mizdow was gone within a minute and treated like another afterthought.

Besides the handling of Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns' booking was actually the biggest issue. He came out at number 19 or so, and DID NOTHING. I know that some fans would groan at Roman dominating, but if he's going to be the man, that was the way to go. I get that Bray was the "dominant" guy this year, but all Roman did was sit in the corner and kill time. He should have gotten in some cool spots but was just "in" the Rumble. Again, the crowd's hopes were dashed when Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler were tossed by Kane and Big Show. Hell, with Bray dominating, maybe the final two should have been Bray and Roman. Bray's elimination after lasting 46 minutes should have been a big deal. Instead, he was tossed like a nobody. The fact that, in 2015, Kane and the Big Show are in the final four of the Royal Rumble is terribly telling. There is no reason why they should be focal points of the show. In the end, Roman Reigns eliminated Big Show and Kane. But not as the babyface hero overcoming the odds. Because Show and Kane began to argue. Not exactly the way you want the guy who is supposed to overcome Brock Lesnar to look. Another gripe was Rusev. The monster heel that you've been booking for nearly a year, hides outside of the ring like a coward. I don't know what they were going for with this. At least it could have led to a battle where Rusev battles with him and Roman at least overcomes him. Instead he dumped out Rusev like nothing. Hell, even the Rock's appearance came off like crap. It seemed like Roman couldn't handle himself and needed help from his big cousin. In the end, the reason the entire Rumble failed was because it was poorly thought out. Their ideas for Ambrose, Ziggler, Bryan, Bray, Rusev and even their chosen one, Reigns all seemed to come with no effort. It's like they wanted everyone to come off looking weak. The Rumble should not only create and establish stars, but it should also allow others to come off well. Nobody did that this year, which caused things to be as bad as possible.

Fave Five 1/19/15-1/26/15

1) Seth Rollins: For the second straight week, Seth Rollins tops the list. Granted, he didn't win his match at the Royal Rumble, but nobody out performed him. Even though he lost on Raw, it was no big deal because he stepped up on the big stage. Again. Seth was added to the WWE Title match to save us from another John Cena/Brock Lesnar rematch. He did just that. Not only was this the best match of the night and week, it was up there as a top three WWE Title match in Rumble history. I'd only put Angle/Benoit in '04 and Cactus/HHH in '00 above it off the top of the head. Seth was the MVP of the contest as he added something to the match that we've yet to see before. He had the spots of the night when he put Brock through the announce table and busted out the Phoenix Splash. I haven't seen the Phoenix Splash since the Tyler Black days. While he did end up eating the pin, that's not the important thing to look at. Seth stepped into the ring with the two biggest money guys on the roster currently and not only didn't look out of place, but he outshined them. I have a feeling that he will play the Edge role to Roman Reigns' John Cena in the future. He delivers in spades every single night and the Royal Rumble was no different. He isn't lying when he says he's the future and it looks mighty bright.

2) Roman Reigns: My original plan was to put the Royal Rumble winner in the number one spot. However, anyone who watched the Rumble saw that it did not go well to say the least. I'm not against Roman Reigns. I like the guy and believe he has loads of potential, but I don't think he is quite ready. It seems like a lot of fans agreed and it made for an awful moment. He got the biggest win of his career for now but the crowd shit on it because it's not what they wanted. Daniel Bryan getting eliminated early deflated the crowd and they turned on everything they saw after. That was a bad decision. Nothing besides Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler winning would have saved the show. For the second straight year the WWE didn't listen to their fans and it led to #cancelwwenetwork trending for more than 12 hours now on Twitter. That's a lot of people. Regardless, the win was huge for Roman and earns him a spot here.

3) Brock Lesnar: While Seth Rollins was the MVP last night, Brock Lesnar was the guy that won. How did Brock do it? By being a complete and total badass. He suplexed Seth and John Cena around the ring and looked like a monster. It took four AAs, going through the barricade and being put through the announce table to get him subdued. Now he did spend the next minutes hurt outside and they even did the false stretcher spot but he got back in and continued the assault after a while. I thought he might lose the belt near the end, but surviving two briefcase shots only to hit the F5 and retain was a total badass moment. This was the best match that Brock has had since his return in 2012 besides SummerSlam '13 against CM Punk.

4) Austin Aries: The Greatest Man That Ever Lived. The number one choice on my list of top TNA Performers. And now the man with a guaranteed TNA World Heavyweight Title shot. I've gone on record here and stated that I wanted TNA to use Austin Aries in a better manner. He is a damn good X Division Champion but is the best wrestler in the company and I've wanted him to become a focal point of their programming. So, he goes into Feast or Fired, has the coolest spot of the match and retrieves a briefcase. One that just so happens to have a TNA World Title shot in it. Now, according to Josh Matthews, nobody has ever successfully cashed in their shot but Aries should be the one. He should hold it for a bit, while being built up to their new viewers, and win the title. He's that damn good and I hope to see big things in the future for A Double.

5) Bray Wyatt: There was one man who dominated the Royal Rumble this year. That man was Bray Wyatt. He entered at number five and had some awesome moments early on. There was the near Wyatt Family reunion. There was the Boogeyman showdown. There was the elimination of Bubba Ray Dudley. There was the heartbreaking moment that he eliminated Daniel Bryan. Bray Wyatt has been booked strong in the back half of 2014 to make up for the momentum that he lost in the middle of the year and last night seemed like it would be more of the same. Then the Authority entered. Kane and Big Show got rid of him like he was trash. It was a poor ending to a really good night for Bray. I assume he moves into a match with the Undertaker at WrestleMania, but hopefully it's just something entertaining.

Royal Rumble 2015 Review

The Royal Rumble Kickoff Show was scheduled to feature an elimination six man tag pitting Adam Rose, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd against the New Day. Most likely due to Xavier Woods being injured, we instead got a regular tag match where Kofi Kingston and Big E took on Cesaro and Kidd. Regardless, these four still delivered. Cesaro and Kidd wore "Brass Rings" shirts but we know they will never go anywhere. What we were treated to was a fun tag match that the crowd was hot for. They wanted Kidd and Cesaro to win and it happened, which surprised me. Really fun. ***

Onto the actual show and we open with The Ascension vs. the New Age Outlaws. I think this was a dreadful way to start the show. The opener is supposed to be something to get the crowd hot. There wasn't anything that stood out to do so on this show but I would have gone with Usos/Miz and Mizdow here. The crowd loves the Usos and Mizdow and they have the chemistry to perform a good match. I hoped the Ascension would kill the Outlaws in a quick match but it went about six minutes. Wisely, the Ascension won and to make things better, Billy Gunn ate the pin! Anyway, this was pretty dull though it did the job. *1/2

Now we get the WWE Tag Team Title match as the Usos defend against their constant opponents for the past few months, the Miz and Damien Mizdow. These four have wrestled in tag or singles matches so many times over the past few months that they can sleepwalk to a decent match by now which is pretty much what happened here. Miz continued his trend of not being able to catch people diving on him and nearly injured one of the Usos. The crowd was hotter for this than the opener and the Usos retain in just under ten minutes. Can we get them new challengers please? Usos/Kidd and Cesaro will tear the house down even if it's just at FastLane. **1/2

The tag match trend continues as we go to Divas tag action. Paige and Natalya took on Brie and Nikki Bella. The man in me must say that all four girls looked mighty fine tonight. They were actually given about eight minutes and did well with the it but the crowd didn't care much which is what happens when something is built on two minute TV matches. Nattie and Paige worked a nice double suplex but then Nattie played the face in peril. As she got close to making the hot tag, Paige was pulled from the apron and Nikki knocked out Nattie to win. Not bad but to not finish the hot tag was lame. **

The show is completely stolen here. Brock Lesnar defends his WWE World Heavyweight Title in a triple threat match against John Cena and Seth Rollins. This will go down as my second favorite match of the year so far, behind only Shinsuke Nakamura/Kota Ibushi from Wrestle Kingdom 9. Things played out with Brock being a total monster that is unstoppable. Four AA's, going through the barricade and Seth putting him through the table finally took him out for a while. They played the potential stretcher job on him while Seth and Cena both got near falls with the AA and Curb Stomp. Seth busted out the Phoenix Splash from his Tyler Black days, only for Brock to come in and fuck it up for him. After Cena was tossed outside, Seth reversed a German suplex and hit Brock twice with the briefcase. He went for a Curb Stomp on it but Brock, being the badass motherfucker he is, just gave him and F5 and that's a wrap. Excellent match, in which Seth was the MVP. Seriously, Seth Rollins manages to be the best thing about nearly every single show he's on. He is indeed, the future. ****1/2

Time for the Royal Rumble and we get Miz and R-Truth as 1 and 2. AWESOME TRUTH EXPLODES! In all seriousness though, a terrible top two. Bubba Ray Dudley arrives at three and the Philly crowd is marking. Truth is just standing in for D-Von as they even do the 3D. Bray Wyatt comes out shortly after and eliminates Bubba Ray with Luke Harper in the ring. Curtis Axel draws 6 and is taken out by Erick Rowan. He never makes it to the match. In a strong spot, Harper and Rowan seem to want to go after Bray, only to attack each other. Bray also tosses surprise entrant the Boogeyman. Fun so far.

Bray is dominating until Daniel Bryan enters at 10. The crowd is molten hot for Bryan. There have been a lot of jobbers in here like Zack Ryder and Fandango. Tyson Kidd enters and does a fun exchange with Bryan. DDP is our final surprise at 14 and drops some Diamond Cutters on people until number 15, Rusev, eliminates him. Bray and Rusev each eliminated about six tonight. In the moment that turned the entire tide of the show, Bryan gets knocked on the apron by Rusev and shoved off by Bray. The entire crowd completely turned on this match. Stardust, Kofi Kingston and others entered next to nothing but boos. Kofi even does his "I'll survive elimination" gimmick by landing on Adam Rose's rosebuds and being surfed back in the ring. The crowd completely hates everything.

Roman Reigns arrives at #19 and the crowd boos him. This could get ugly. The crowd boos everything until Damien Mizdow came out. Hey, someone is over enough to overcome the Bryan stuff. Miz tries to take his spot, but fails and Mizdow comes in doing Miz offense. However, the one guy that was over enough is eliminated in less than a minute. No pop for Jack Swagger or Ryback, but Dean Ambrose gets one at 25. I expect him and Ziggler to be the only ones and I was right. Dolph arrives at 30, throws out two people, is knocked out and tossed by Kane and Big Show. The Authority toss out Bray like nothing and the same goes for Ambrose. The crowd is chanting "Bullshit" and "We want refunds." Of course, Reigns eliminates Kane and Show when they start fighting and the crowd shits on this. The Authority attack so the Rock comes out and gets a pop but it doesn't save this. A "We want Rusev" chant breaks out because he was never eliminated. He sneaks in but is easily disposed of by Reigns. This was a poorly booked Rumble. **

Overall, this show wasn't great. The undercard was underwhelming and having to sit through so many tag matches dragged. The WWE Title match is MUST SEE and Seth Rollins to continues to do nothing but deliver. The Royal Rumble match was horribly booked. I'm not against Roman Reigns but the booking of the Rumble did him no favors. It got him possibly the worst reaction possible. Yes, the crowd would have been furious if he eliminated Bryan last but having Bryan go so early deflated them like the footballs at a Pats game. Oh yeah, sports reference! Anyway, the show gets a ho hum 4.5/10.

Royal Rumble Predictions

I'm not sure how many people watch Main Event weekly, but these six guys tore the house down a few weeks ago. I remember saying that it was a Pay-Per-View quality match and we're getting just that tonight. The main difference here is that it will be elimination tonight. While I completely expect this to be a damn good match, I don't see it doing much for either side. All six competitors have been running in place for the past few months and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Personally, I'd choose any team that has Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, but my head says New Day wins here.

Winners: The New Day

I happen to be a massive Paige fan and I support the Divas division so I'm looking forward to this. Although even if you take away my undying love for Paige, I'd still pick her team. The way I see it, Paige and Natalya score the win here but both come up short in capturing the Divas Championship over the next month. Maybe even in a Triple Threat at FastLane. Part of me believes that Brie Bella eventually gets her sister back for treating her terribly, but part of me thinks the WWE really just dropped that angle. Paige and Nattie to win, with all the girls looking good tonight.

Winners: Paige and Natalya

Zero part of me is interested in this match. I was never really impressed by the Ascension during their NXT run, but I think they can be a solid heel tag team. I have almost never seen a noteworthy New Age Outlaws match and really don't care to see them. I will never forgive them for ruining the amazing run of Cody Rhodes and Goldust last year at this very event. Anyway, the Ascension to win during my piss break. Ugh.

Winners: The Ascension

I don't think there has ever been a Royal Rumble that is this tag match heavy. I expect this match to be a carbon copy of the stuff they have done about 400 times since November. The WWE has forgotten how to build a match without it being rematch after rematch after rematch. Despite this, the four guys have good chemistry and I expect this to be decent. The Usos are clearly the tag team to carry the belts into WrestleMania since they are the best tag team in the company and Miz and Damien Mizdow have had their time. I sense another tease towards the eventual Miz/Mizdow split, but the greatest concern here is what happens to Mizdow when the time comes. Miz will be okay since he draws heat better than most and always finds a spot, but will the luster of cheering for Sandow wear off when he's not imitating the Miz?

Winners and Still Tag Team Champions: The Usos

As a guy who became a huge fan of Tyler Black seven years ago, the prospect of Seth Rollisn walking out with the richest prize in the game is tantalizing to say the least. Adding him to the match was a stroke of pure genius because John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar for the fourth time sounded painfully dull. The WWE has only booked Brock against guys that have been around forever (except for CM Punk), which has been frustrating, but Seth has proved that the new crop of talent can fit right in with the "money" guys like Brock and Cena. Hell, he has overshadowed them lately. I don't see him winning though since he still has the briefcase. I could see John Cena winning followed by a cash in, but I pick Brock to retain. If he doesn't drop the belt at WrestleMania to someone besides Cena, what was the point in the streak ending?

Winner and Still WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar

Who doesn't love the Royal Rumble? I've been rewatching some past ones leading up to this and I don't think I've ever disliked one. My pick for this has been Roman Reigns since sometime last year. Then Daniel Bryan announced his return and everything changed. I know that Roman is the next big thing, and I've stated how much I don't think he's ready just yet, but would the WWE really risk a Philadelphia crowd turn on him. This is not me claiming that he's hated, but Bryan is BY FAR the most over guy in the company, especially in  a place like Philadelphia, so Roman winning might be bad business. We can always expect surprise entrants and I predict Adrian Neville, DDP and maybe RVD. The marathon man this year is probably going to be Dolph Ziggler again. Reigns should eliminate the most people, Rusev will draw #30 and the final four will be a combination of Bryan, Reigns, Ziggler and Rusev/Wyatt. Yes, I love Dean Ambrose but I don't know if he'll be final four. In the end, I'll pick with my heart, which can sometimes hurt.

Winner: Daniel Bryan