Took a night to watch Raw before really thinking about the Rumble, my first impression right after was disappointment. I didn't see the show very good at all outside of the KO/Roman match, but I saw that I was in the minority as reddit and twitter were eating this show up. I think people get so excited for the idea of the Royal Rumble that they overlook shortcomings because of returns and such.
Womens Tag Titles - Who cares? WWE doesn't give a fuck about tag teams (Especially the female ones) why should we? These belts shouldn't exist, there was 1 legit tag team and they broke them up for no reason. There is 1 current team that actually has a team name (Riot Squad), and everybody else is just two females thrown together to kill TV time. Give us a reason to care about these teams, same could be said for the mens tag division too really although at least they have a couple real tag teams.
Drew/Goldberg - Not gonna lie, I was worried about this one but was glad Drew retained here. Goldberg needs to be done, he just can't go anymore and they need to stop putting people at risk.
Roman/KO - I actually wasn't expecting anything outside of the usual LMS type match, and NGL I fully expected Uso and maybe even Apollo interference to seal the win for Roman. KO is such a likable babyface, and just credible enough to think they might pull the trigger, just a shame he's had to eat so many L's in this feud. Ending hurt though, nothing you can really do in that spot outside of Heyman quick thinking and punching the second ref. Not gonna crap on it for the ending, I just laughed at the botch, and hell it gives KO an out that he can say he won that match but the refs screwed him cause they fall in line with Roman.
Mella/Banks - My wife watched the show with me after not watching anything in months and the first words out of her mouth were man Carmella looks hot. I love this version of Carmella, although she needs to maybe leave a little bit of the NJ out of her character, she's basically still trashy Mella pretending to be all fancy. (Side Note- Sashas outfit did not do it for me, brown is nobodies color) Did Sasha overdue the fake tan or did she have fancy makeup around her eyes? Cause it looked like she stayed in a tanning bed with the glasses on too long. Anyways, match was decent, and these two work really well together, I just wish Mella would be kept away until she's in a spot where they can pull the trigger on a title win for her, cause I think it'd be money.
Womens Royal Rumble - I was legit surprised by how many times I thought man that performer has a large ass. Maybe it's not having as much time and opportunity to train at the PC, or maybe they just big.
Random thoughts - Shotzy is a slightly prettier version of Ruby Riott.
Toni Storm looks...bigger every time I see her perform.
Surprises are nice, but Jillian Hall? We're scraping the bottom of the barrel here. At least Billie made it funny.
Billie is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, while still being trash in the ring.
Dana Brooke really makes alot of these woman look bad, because she doesn't have the experience many do, but she puts in the work to improve and alot of the women tonight are just meh.
Torrie Wilson is still beautiful, still can't really wrestle, but is likely cheaper to bring back then Trish.
Alicia Fox? Really? Along with Hall, there are 15 women I'd pull from NXT before even thinking of these two.
Is Ember really out of shape? Or is she just fat now?
So I actually watched the 2019 Womens Rumble earlier in the day, and some of these women are really different in presentation from that one (And not for the better). Rheas look in 2019 was the most badass ass kicker I've ever seen, and Lacey Evans was debuting and still was that badass Ex-Marine with long hair before this stupid Southern Belle crap.
This match was carried by Bianca, Rhea, and Charlotte, and because of that they missed chances to set up undercard feuds, but that's a modern day WWE Rumble problem. Bliss spot was good, and made perfect sense. I still hate this version of Bliss and nobody should be saddled with Fat Wyatts shitty gimmick ideas. Back to the 2019 rumble, Goddess Alexa was a badass, I want that Bliss back, not this weird pretends to be a child shit. I felt bad for Victoria, she does not move well anymore and probably wanted the payday and chance to perform, but it was just sad seeing her basically immobile in the middle of the ring. I'm seeing people call this the best Womens rumble, and to that I think people need to rewatch the previous ones cause this one was just kind of hoe hum to me. Way to much jobber women when they have a legit solid main and NXT roster to pull from.
They got the winner wrong. Also, putting out the documentary on her BEFORE the Rumble was a dumb giveaway she was winning. Reason it was the wrong winner was she has already began to build a resume on SD and could easily been written into a number one contender match with Bayley. Bianca makes the initial challenge to Banks, Bayley interupts brings up nonsense and we get womens #1 contender match at Fastlane. They can play into the Bayley/Sasha history starting in NXT building to Brooklyn 2 and their main roster feud and build on this is a WM match that needs to happen, and Bianca puts Bayley down again at Fastlane to make her strong going into Mania and it keeps Bayley relevant to the main event scene and continuation of Sasha/Bayley. If Bianca hadn't already had a strong showing last year, and a great year I'd be more open to her win, but she didn't need it....Rhea Ripley did. Rhea has been called up but not debuted, this would have immediately made her a star (She'll get there anyway....I think...god I hate Vince). She could have strutted out on Raw and said she needs no time to decide, she wants the most dominant NXT Womens champion Asuka, not this watered down going through the motions Asuka that is on Raw, and she could continue to get under her skin to bring back the killer Asuka that we used to have. Either winner at Mania there works, either we have super Asuka or another new Womens Champion. Rhea not winning leaves us in the Charlotte zone unless they can drag out Lacey/Charlotte to Mania since they need MANY matches for two nights.
Mens Rumble Match:
Ugh, Orton/Edge 1 and 2 and being last 2....is dumb. Carlito is jacked, Nakamura getting that likely contract almost coming up so we gonna push you a little for now. Priest looked great, Riddle and Bryan shined, Lashley deserves a main event push, Christians return means I get one of my favorite entrance musics back. This match was better in spots then the womens, but we were missing alot of talent in this, not sure if it was COVID related or just booking, but no Uso, Keith Lee (Quarantine), NXT stars that should be up like Adam Cole, Finn Balor appearance, Pete Dunne?. Rumble should be 30 guys who could legit win when your roster is this stacked, get the fucking Mysterio kid, Otis, Corbin, Richocet, all the trash that has no feuds out of here. I hated the storytelling of this match, 47 year old Edge going the distance is dumb, they could have easily had him and Randy out in the middle and pulled the same stuff and got the same result. Edge goes the distance, then at the end eats an RKO from a fresh Randy, only to right after throw him out? I'm fine with the storyline for Edge, just not him winning, he's the old vet who says he needs to win the Rumble to prove something blah blah, and then they get dumped to set up their Mania feud. Bryan had the best storyline going into the Rumble, nearing the end, never won one and also had the comeback story. Edge has 2 Rumble wins, Bryan has 0...one of those guys was the most over guy in wrestling for over a year, that man was not Edge.
Mens Rumble unfortunately was just full of guys that didn't deserve or aren't in a spot to contend this year, bad booking all year leads to that. I would have went Bryan to fullfil his storyarc, and set up what could be a Mania banger with him and Roman, the match people wanted for years. I can't think of another guy that should have won other then Bryan, maybe Lashley to set up a Drew feud again, but they already did that.
So after Raw Edge did not select his opponent, and if I ran this shit, he challenges Roman and I think that's what will happen. SD is the A show now, and in the last 2 Rumbles before this everybody outside of Charlotte challenged Raw champions. Edge built his resume on SD, can do the Roman doesn't respect the business storyline stuff, Spear vs. Spear, and can set up post Mania stuff with E&C vs. Usos and a few other feuds while they are both there. Edge has to win after winning the rumble, and I don't think he beats Drew after the way Drew has been built up (And just beating Goldberg handely, after handling Brock last year). Roman can overlook him, sell crazy for him, and hell you could even have Edge come up short on Roman and it just makes Roman more unlikable.
I think Drew maybe ends up in a triple threat, unless they have a way to say Miz got an extention on MITB. My dream scenario here? Edges words coming true about Drew not watching his back, and he ends up in a feud with an angry at losing new Hurt Business VIP Keith Lee. Lee hurts him bad, maybe takes the title, or Miz picks the scraps and lets Drew feud a bit after Mania without the title, and build up to him winning the following years Rumble with fans and going for Roman at next Mania.