BOBBY ROODE & CHAD GABLE vs. SCOTT DAWSON & REZAR (6:55): This show was held at the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball stadium (which does have a roof), which made it look fairly impressive (it wasn't sold out but it was about 80% filled...tickets were apparently being sold two-for-one as of last week since it wasn't selling as well as they had hoped). The pre-show started at 5 PM Eastern and didn't end until around 11:50 PM. Yep, too fucking long. Although it was a pretty entertaining show for the most part, albeit without any great matches nor shocking surprises. I didn't see this unadvertised match nor want to. I'm not even sure why Rezar and Dawson were teaming up except for the fact that Rezar's tag team partner is hurt and Dawson and his partner asked for their WWE release last week but I guess were denied.
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. RUSEV (10:15): Nakamura won the Royal Rumble last year. Ah, how the mighty have fallen. He never did get the title...although he won back the U.S. title here in a so-so match. **
BUDDY MURPHY vs. AKIRA TOZAWA vs. KALISTO vs. HIDEO ITAMI (12:05): There was some good action in this bout, even though Murphy doesn't look at all like a cruiserweight. Hideo Itami may have been a huge Japanese star ten years ago (Kenta, from NOAH), but he fucking sucks in the WWE and always has. Tozawa used to wrestle in Dragon Gate and he's pretty much wasted in the WWE. 205Live has and always will be a joke, no matter how great the wrestling is, so what's the fucking point of it? **1/2
ASUKA vs. BECKY LYNCH (17:10): This turned into a pretty entertaining match by the end. It was light year's better than what used to be and what usually is (on RAW, anyway) women's wrestling in the WWE. It was hard hitting. Asuka delivered some brutal kicks. Lynch is the crowd favorite and tapped out but showed up later to win the Rumble. **1/2
THE MIZ & SHANE McMHAON vs. THE BAR (13:20): I'm still not sure why The Miz and Shane O'Mac are tag team partners now. They won the titles. Is this story going anywhere? Because Shane is kind of sad and pathetic in the ring these days, although the crowd stood on their feet when he climbed to the top rope for his Van Terminator maneuver. I guess this was mildly amusing. **
RONDA ROUSEY vs. SASHA BANKS (13:55): This was just okay. They didn't particularly mesh well, which hurt. Banks has always been my favorite WWE women's wrestler, mostly because of her awesome NXT matches years ago. This wasn't awful or anything, but Rousey usually delivers and this was just mediocre. **
WOMEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (BECKY LYNCH) (1:12:00): God, was this fucking boring. Hornswoggle crawled out from under the ring for no apparent reason. Selina Vega was hiding under the ring and he came out and chased her. Lynch took Lana's #30 position because Lana was injured and fell down while walking to the ring (she was "injured" during the Nakamura/Rusev match). Nia Jax was eliminated but then pushed Lynch off the steel stairs, injuring Lynch's ankle. So Lynch, hurt, had to face Charlotte at the end and ended up winning. The Charlotte/Lynch feud is so heated it's kind of a shame that at WrestleMania the main event will be Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch. I'd rather just see Lynch vs. Flair. Oh, well. *
DANIEL BRYAN vs. AJ STYLES (24:35): Fuck me. This match was a total bore. It certainly didn't help that the crowd was a silent tomb. Instead of going fast and furious and doing non-stop, big moves and kick-outs they did all of these dull, wrestling holds for twenty minutes. The ending was also atrocious. Luke Harper came out and slammed AJ when the ref was out, leading to Bryan winning. Harper is now, apparently, Bryan's bodyguard/enforcer. Total bore of a match and a sour ending. This sucked hard. 1/2*
BROCK LESNAR vs. FINN BALOR (8:40): Good match. They went back and forth instead of the usual, Lesnar beat down...which made this entertaining. Balor threw Lesnar into the announce desk and Lesnar hurt his ribs so that later on he had a hard time doing his moves...and Finn's finisher of course is jumping feet first onto his opponent's chest. Lesnar kicked out though and then submitted Finn and the obvious ending occurred. So Finn came across as a worthy opponent but of course they did a post-match beat down that negated that. Oh, well. **1/2
MEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (SETH ROLLINS) (57:35): This match didn't start until around 11 PM and what the hell, WWE? A seven hour show? Are you fucking nuts? #1 was Elias and #2 was Jeff Jarrett...who last we saw got his head shaved in AAA in Mexico. JJ wasn't the big surprise. The big surprise and the most entertaining moment of the entire night was when Nia Jax beat up R. Truth, who was #30, and took his spot. Usually the WWE doesn't let men hit women for whatever reason (old school values?), but Nia got an RKO from Orton and a 619 from Mysterio which brought the house down. There were a few NXT stars like Gargano and Aleister Black that showed up. Black threw Dean Ambrose out. The final two had Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins. Earlier, Bobby Lashley put Seth through the announce table. Seth ended up winning. He was the favorite. And nobody wants to see Lesnar vs. Seth at WrestleMania. Nope. **1/2
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