Wrestle Review: Get Ready to Rumble! Submitted by Andy Sullivan on 01/26/2019 at 02:25 PM
The 31st annual Royal Rumble is upon us! In just a number of hours, one of my favorite wrestling events will go down. But first, NXT takes center stage tonight.
Once again, the card is only 4 matches deep. I think this will provide for better storytelling and an altogether better series of matches. Riddle and Ohno will most likely kick off the event. Is it just me or are they spinning their wheels with Ohno? It just seems like he's used to make stars, or in Matt's case, make stars bigger. Riddle wins.
Ricochet and Johnny Gargano for the North American title is a toss up. I can see either winning but I concur with Gargano needing a win. I say his old DIY buddy Ciampa helps him win the title. In turn....well, I'll get to that.
Undisputed Era defending the tag titles against War Raiders is, well, UE is obviously retaining. The only real suspense here is how long the match actually lasts.
Shayna Baszler defending the women's championship against Bianca Belair is another, I won't call it a squash match because it won't be. I'd be more than shocked if Belair actually won. She won't.
Ciampa and Black is another easy call. Ciampa retains for the same reason(likely) that Johnny retains. I say the end of the night sees Ciampa and Gargano standing over a beaten Black.
On the flip side, the Royal Rumble has 7 matches and 2 Rumble matches. Imagine, and I'm thinking this will happen, WWE pulls a TNA. Remember at Homecoming when Johnny Impact retained his world title and his wife won the knockouts title? I'm saying Buddy Murphy retains his cruiserweight title on the kickoff and a returning Goddess wins the women's Rumble.
Remember when the Uso's were a staple of the kickoff show and people were complaining they should be on the main? Well, they aren't even on the card. I mean, they could be in the Rumble I guess. Neither will win. Could you imagine choosing the Royal Rumble to be a place for a tag guy to go solo and win? Won't happen, though.
Rusev will successfully defend the U.S title against Nakamura. Rusev doesn't even have a gimmick anymore. does he? I read an interview where he said "I'm just me". My first thought was "uh-oh".
Will Miz and Shane actually win the Smackdown tag titles? I'd say surely not but.....You know they love getting Shane a high profile WrestleMania match. What's more high profile than a title match? And this would get Miz in without giving him the Rumble match victory, which you know they'd never do. I wouldn't be shocked to see an upset.
Asuka defending the SD women's title against Becky could be a good one. I'd pick Becky but if they are, in fact, going with Beck and Ronda at WrestleMania, I'm going with Asuka in a close one. Maybe Ronda interference? If Ronda does interfere and cost Becky, I could see Ronda return the favor.
As far as predicting the 30- man and 30-woman Rumble winners, well I'll just go with who I'd like to win. Seth finally deserves his one on one shot. Having no confidence in WWE actually giving Fin the title tomorrow, I think a Seth/Brock title match is what we'll get. I know a lot are picking Drew but, honestly, a heel vs heel WrestleMania main event? No. They wouldn't. Seth Rollins wins the men's Royal Rumble.
Daniel Bryan will, once again, successfully defend against AJ Styles. I don't know if AJ is finally going to snap like Bryan did and turn heel but I just see Bryan retaining and then losing the title at WrestleMania.
Fin Balor vs Brock Lesnar....Remember the Brock vs Bryan match at Survivor Series? Brock destroyed him at the beginning but somehow Bryan put up a little rally until the inevitable Lesnar win. Lather, rinse, repeat. Lesnar retains and all us fans groan about having to see Lesnar at WrestleMania.
I imagine Royal Rumble ends either with a conquering Brock standing over Fin or a face to face with Brock and Seth. At any rate, the road to WrestleMania should be a rocky one, especially when you add Elimination Chamber into the mix. We'll get to that, though.
I'll end with some Roman Reigns news. I was glad to see a picture of him on set with the Rock of the movie Hobbs & Shaw. In the Fast and Furious spinoff, as he plays Johnson's brother. I'll see it, most likely.
