MONEY IN THE BANK

from Las Vegas

THE NEW DAY vs. THE VAUDEVILLAINS vs. KARL ANDERSON & LUKE GALLOWS vs. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS (11:43): Weird...but on the same day as this show there was one of the bigger New Japan shows...and on that show was a four-way tag-team match. And even though the NJPW match had The Young Bucks, Matt Sydal, Ricochet, and Kyle O'Reilly...this match was better. Shocking. Anderson and Gallows of course used to be in The Bullet Club in NJPW. The WWE can't use The Bullet Club so in the WWE, Anderson and Gallows and AJ Styles are in The Club. Yes, it's not very creative. Gallows totally fucked up at the end of this match to ruin it, although it was mostly Big Cass's fault. Big E. picked up Anderson and Gallows stood there and didn't do anything because he was supposed to be diverted to kicking Big Cass. Cass wasn't in the ring and so Gallows stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do. Cass finally came in the ring which led to Gallows kicking him and being sidelined while Big E slammed Anderson and The New Day won. It was entertaining. **1/2

AJ STYLES vs. JOHN CENA (24:10): Maybe it's because this was Cena's first match back after a seven month injury layoff...or maybe it was the horrible ending (the ref was out and Gallows and Anderson laid out Cena to cause AJ to win)...but this was not a great match. It was good, though, but perhaps these two just don't have the chemistry. That's a shame since they'll be wrestling each other all summer (and rumored to be the two top stars on Smackdown when the new brand split happens in July). AJ's match last month against Reigns was awesome...giving me hope that his epic, NJPW match days aren't behind him. This stalled that theory. **1/2

DEAN AMBROSE vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. SAMI ZAYN vs. KEVIN OWENS vs. CESARO vs. CHRIS JERICHO "MITB LADDER MATCH" (21:38): Brutal, yes, but this was another one of those ladder matches without any suicidal big/sick shocking moments. Ambrose did deliver a clothesline from the top rope...and Owens did a frog splash from the top rope onto Ambrose on a ladder...and they all fell off the ladder and got hit with a ladder...but this match was missing one of those Jeff Hardy-type insane moments. And so it was entertaining but a little less exciting than it could have been. The finale was a tad lame as well. Ambrose pushed Owens off the ladder and onto a ladder bridge and then Ambrose grabbed the briefcase to win. Fairly tame in actuality. **1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. ROMAN REIGNS (26:00)/ DEAN AMBROSE vs. SETH ROLLINS (0:09): The show ended around 11:23 PM. Why was it so late and so long? I didn't even bother to watch or review the two pre-show matches or the four other matches. And while this was a truly stellar card...it didn't turn out to be that great of a show. The surprise of this match was that Rollins pinned Reigns clean to win the title. I had really thought that Reigns, the WWE's boy, would reign for awhile. But the story made sense. And it sets up a Shield match against each other that probably should have happened a long time ago. Ambrose cashed in his MITB contract that he won an hour earlier and won the title. This, of course, would have been better a year ago. Ambrose beat Rollins last year to win the title but on RAW he was stripped of it because of a fast-counting ref. It reminds me of Daniel Bryan winning the title or almost winning the title so many times and then when they finally gave him a title reign it was kind of too little too late. Ambrose was hotter and more popular a year ago. As for this match...it was okay. Since the MITB contract is already cashed in, it kind of takes away the drama of waiting to see when it would occur. But I'll take Ambrose as champ any day. From CZW champ to the WWE champ. I guess I figured it'd happen with someone someday. **1/2

NJPW DOMINION

 from Osaka, Japan

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. RICOCHET & MATT SYDAL vs. reDRAGON vs. RAPPONGI VICE (15:23): There were four matches on this four and a half hour show that I didn't watch. I doubt I missed anything, but this show wasn't as good as last year's Dominion, which I named the best show of 2015. AJ Styles and Nakamura went to the WWE in January, and Tanahashi is injured, so this show was missing three major players. It still felt like the old New Japan, though, as these four teams battled yet again for the Jr. Tag Team titles. To mix it up they made this an odd, over-the-top-rope elimination match...which negated any cool high flying out of the ring maneuvers. Which meant that this wasn't as good as previous bouts between these eight awesome wrestlers. **1/2 (out of ****)

KUSHIDA vs. WILL OSPREAY (14:36): Losing AJ and Nakamura was tantamount to a death blow...but gaining Will Ospreay, the best free-agent in the world, certainly helped. Ospreay won the Super Juniors tournament last month...but this was his second straight loss to Kushida. It was exciting and fun (Ospreay is one of the best high-fliers in the sport), but not as good as their April match. Ospreay is still young, still learning, so perhaps one day he'll be in a masterpiece. **1/2

THE BRISCOE'S vs. GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY (14:02): Jay and Mark Brisco are wild and energetic, so that helped. They won the tag titles here, a pointless trophy since all the good teams are in the Jr. division. The Somoan bores, Guerrillas of Destiny, are like a bad team from WCW Thunder days. *1/2

SHIBATA vs. NAGATA (14:53): Good, hard-hitting, dramatic stuff. Nagata lost the NEVER title here. He had just won it last month from Shibata. Nagata is 48 years old, but he can still go, and the story here was that Shibata had to gain the respect from his elders, which he did. Shibata goes on to probably face Honma sometime in the future, but, really, Shibata deserves to be the champ and main eventing. He's just awesome. **1/2


KENNY OMEGA vs. MICHAEL ELGIN "LADDER MATCH" (33:32): This was a kitchen sink match; it had pretty much everything. Ladders, tables, trash cans, handcuffs, outside interference, etc. It was, simply, a typical WWE ppv main event. Which was odd...as this show was on the same day as WWE's Money in the Bank ppv. And New Japan never does gimmick matches, and yet this match blew away anything on MITB. It would probably have been better if I hadn't seen all this shit all the time in the WWE over the years. And, sure, it went on way too long...but it was pure spectacle; a true cluster fuck of brutality and chaos. Hiroshi Tanahashi was supposed to face Omega here. It would have been their re-match from February when Omega won the Intercontinental title. Tanahashi was hurt so they threw in the big man, Elgin. And while Elgin took some hard bumps (power-bombed onto a ladder resting on two trashcans in the ring), Omega might be in the hospital for awhile. Omega was slammed off a ladder onto two tables that didn't break at ringside. He was tossed onto a ladder bridge at ringside. Even the hits to the face with the ladder to Omega looked like they broke his jaw. He's certainly putting himself out there this year trying to make a statement as the new Bullet Club leader. When the Young Bucks ran down and handcuffed Elgin to the ring post, Ricochet and Matt Sydal ran down for the save. The Bullet Club beat them up while Omega climbed the ladder. But Elgin is so strong he broke free from the handcuffs! He tipped the ladder, spilling Omega off the ladder and out of the ring onto the other BC members. And Elgin won. This was a very exciting, wild match. ***1/2

NAITO vs. OKADA (28:58): This was pretty boring actually. The best moment came when Okada delivered his pile driver then Rainmaker clothesline finisher and Naito kicked out. Wh-wh-what? My God, man! Okada ended up having to give Naito three more Rainmaker's in a row to pin him and reclaim the title he lost in April. I was kind of surprised that Naito lost the title already. Why did they even give it to him in the first place? Naito is a heel now, part of Los Ingobernables, which is apparently super popular in Japan...but not in Osaka, where this ppv was held. Osaka hates Naito...and he hates them back (he spit at the crowd numerous times). I guess they didn't want to tarnish Okada by having him lose at straight big shows. And the heel Naito is amusing but fairly dull. He slowly walks to the ring, slowly takes off his suit...slowly wrestles except in spurts. The final few minutes were dramatic but it was mostly dull. **

WWE EXTREME RULES

Newark, NJ

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. BARON CORBIN "NO DQ": On the pre-show, The Dudley Boyz came out and mocked the crowd then got beat up by Big Cass. Then this short match. Corbin hit a low blow then pinned Ziggler. Alas, the pre-show probably shouldn't exist. *1/2

DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON vs. THE USO'S "TORNADO MATCH": For an extreme rules show, this was fairly normal. The Asylum match was really the only gimmick match. This match, with all four combatants in the ring at once, was at least fast paced. The crowd tonight was loud and awesome, a huge plus. **1/2

KALISTO vs. RUSEV: So Rusev won the U.S. title here. Do you care? *1/2

THE NEW DAY vs. THE VAUDEVILLAINS: A short match. It's almost as if The New Day doesn't even have to wrestle. They can just come out and talk and dance then leave. *1/2

THE MIZ vs. SAMI ZAYN vs. CESARO vs. KEVIN OWENS: Stellar match. The Miz retained the IC title. The final few minutes were a crazy frenzy of near-falls and big moves and the crowd was riotous. I also believe that, quite possibly, this was the best match The Miz was ever involved in. ***1/2

DEAN AMBROSE vs. CHRIS JERICHO "ASYLUM MATCH": Vince Russo is back writing this crap, right? How else to explain this match? A cage match with a locked door and weapons above it...but weapons crazy people might use...like a mop and bucket, straight jacket, and a barbed wire wrapped 2x4. The only weapon not used was the potted plant. But the finale, involving Jericho being slammed onto a bed of thumbtacks, was sick and amusing (the tacks were in a bag in the bucket...duh). At 26 minutes, this was way too long. Ambrose did leap off the top of the cage to deliver a clothesline. But it was too dull for a good majority of it. **

NATALYA vs. CHARLOTTE "SUBMISSION MATCH": Ugh. Has there ever been an entertaining submission match? Some new girl came out dressed as Ric Flair to distract Natalya and cause her to lose. Not good. 1/2*

AJ STYLES vs. ROMAN REIGNS "EXTREME RULES MATCH": Excellent match...albeit with the lame, crowd-booing ending of Reigns winning. AJ especially took a beating. He was put through two announce tables and got his head swung into the side of the ring that has the new, graphics screen. The Uso's and Gallows and Anderson came out to beat each other and everyone up. Seth Rollins ran out after the match to pedigree Reigns. It was nuts, wild, and super entertaining. ***1/2

WWE PAYBACK

Rosemont, Illinois

BARON CORBIN vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: A pre-show match. Way to promote Corbin, who just came from NXT to win the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at Wrestlemania. Corbin is awful, however, but he has the "look." This was super short. Ziggler snuck away with a win. **

KALISTO vs. RYBACK: Pretty good, mostly fast-paced, short, pre-show match. Kalisto retained a title that announcer Mauro Ranallo thought was the frigging Ark of the Covenant or something. **1/2

ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS vs. THE VAUDEVILLIANS: Enzo was thrown into the ropes and was supposed to slide under but hit his head on the second rope. This snapped his head back hard onto the mat and he fell out of the ring like a rag doll. The match ended as he was taken out on a stretcher. The announce team later said it was only a concussion.

SAMI ZAYN vs. KEVIN OWENS: Really good match. These two should be wrestling in main events for titles...not early on the show in a match for nothing but payback. They both did a ton of brutal, crazy moves. The second-half was high drama. Owens won clean then did commentary for the next match. ***

THE MIZ vs. CESARO: Decent match. Re-hiring Maryse was the greatest thing to happen to The Miz's career since MTV picked him for The Real World. Having the white-haired, French minx at ringside actually makes The Miz's matches semi-watchable now. During the match, Sami Zayn ran out to beat up Kevin Owens who was doing commentary. This led to The Miz winning because Cesaro was distracted. And then all four beat each other up. **

CHRIS JERICHO vs. DEAN AMBROSE: This was lackluster, although the last few minutes were fairly entertaining. Ambrose seems to only be in great matches when they involve Seth Rollins. And Jericho is a faded star. Ambrose won clean. *1/2

CHARLOTTE vs. NATALYA: Brett Hart came out to be in Natalya's corner. Ric Flair was in Charlotte's corner. The match was mediocre. It felt like they were just going through various, rehearsed spots for a big chunk of it and it came off as being robotic and weirdly stale. Charlotte tapped but the ref didn't see it...then the ref, Charles Robinson, aka L'il Natch (if you remember), rang the bell even though Natalya never tapped. This was an old reference from the 1997 Montreal screw-job that only die-hards remember. Post-match, Brett Hart put Ric Flair in a sharp shooter and Natalya did the same to Charlotte. *1/2

VINCE, STEPH, & SHANE: The family came out and Vince had to decide who would run Monday Night RAW. After the crowd chanted, "CM Punk," Vince decided that both his kids would run RAW. Okay...

AJ STYLES vs. ROMAN REIGNS: This was a strange match, albeit the most entertaining one on the show. The best WWE main events are usually the ones that end up having a ton of outside interference and drama, and this match had a ton. It was a typical, so-so match until AJ jumped off the top rope and delivered a forearm to Reigns and both men crashed through the announce table. Reigns didn't make the ten count so he lost the match but kept his title. Shane O'Mac came out to re-start the match. Reigns hit AJ with a low-blow and got DQ'd but still kept his title. So Stephanie McMahon came out to re-start the match. Then Gallows and Anderson, the big, dull thugs from NJPW, came out and beat up Reigns. Then the Uso's came out to beat up Gallows and Anderson. Finally, Reigns speared AJ and pinned him in a long, exhausting, but very good main event. Everyone thought Gallows and Anderson would join AJ in a new Bullet Club group, possibly with the debut of Finn Balor...or Gallows and Anderson would join a new-heel Reigns to form a new Shield. None of that happened, which was a bit of a disappointment. It was also a little lame that AJ in the main event wasn't really built up properly. That, and the fact that Reigns and AJ are both good guys feuding, is odd. But it was a good end to an average show. ***

WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXXII

From AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX

KALISTO vs. RYBACK (8:58): This match started at 5:45 PM Eastern time. The show ended at 11:47 PM. That's six hours of wrestling. Too much! It was even longer than a NJPW ppv...which is saying something. And Wrestlemania was a good, entertaining show. Either it's always been like this or it's new...but Wrestlemania isn't really about year-long feuds ending in big matches or a show featuring the best matches of the year. No, Wrestlemania is more about spectacle. Snoop Dogg! Shaq! Old wrestlers from the past showing up and only fake punching! If you wanted a masterpiece of a match you had to watch Friday's NXT Takeover show. Shinsuke Nakamura made his debut against Sami Zayn and it was a great, brutal match (the crowd chanted, "Fight forever!" at one point). And while I haven't seen them yet, the independent wrestling promotion EVOLVE apparently put on two of the best matches of the weekend with Will Ospreay vs. Zach Sabre, Jr. and Will Ospreay vs. Richochet. And ROH and CZW put on shows in the Dallas area. So while this Wrestlemania was a great show or anything, the whole weekend is a lot of fun for wrestling fans even if you're not in town. As for this match...for the coveted U.S. title...it was simple, short, harmless. Ryback sucks and always will. The WWE should probably have figured this out by now. *1/2

TEAM TOTAL DIVAS vs. TEAM B.A.D. & BLONDES (11:25): So this was the first pre-show match (shown on the USA network). I guess the Kalisto/Ryback match, on the WWE Network, was the pre-pre-show. So this was a ten woman match with all the stars of a show I don't watch, E!'s Total Divas. Eva Marie, the red-haired chick that looks like a porn star, was booed heavily. Paige was there. The Bella twins shows up, though one's retiring and one's quitting. It was at least entertaining with so much chaos. **1/2

THE USO'S vs. THE DUDLEY BOYZ (5:18): Another pre-show match. The Uso's both jumped off the top rope onto The Dudley's on tables at the same time. That was cool. The Dudley's have to leave. Their time has passed. *1/2

ZACK RYDER vs. SAMI ZAYN vs. KEVIN OWENS vs. SIN CARA vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. THE MIZ vs. STARDUST "LADDER MATCH" (15:23): The best match on the show. This was a typical spot-fest. Sin Cara was pushed off the ladder and landed onto Stardust who was laid out on a ladder bridge at ringside. Sami Zayn leaped through a ladder and the ropes to the floor to topple everyone. Zack Ryder did an elbow drop from the top of the ladder. The finish was great. The Miz, alone at the top of the ladder, decided to relish his presumed victory by sitting on the top of the ladder and basking in the crowd hatred. Zack Ryder climbed up the ladder, pushed The Miz off, and won the IC title. Zack Ryder! Who wasn't even on TV in years. Or was he? It was cool to see a nobody win, to see someone new get a push. The crowd loved it. Then he lost the IC title to The Miz on RAW. Oh, well. ***1/2

CHRIS JERICHO vs. AJ STYLES (17:10): Jericho is old and not as entertaining in the ring. AJ Styles is awesome but even he can only do so much. Jericho won for no good reason (I guess they want to reward him for coming back every year). The big problem was that this was their third singles match. After that they teamed together briefly then had a falling out. So we're sick of these two facing each other. It was okay. **

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS vs. THE NEW DAY (10:03): The best part was The New Day's entrance. They came out of a giant Booty-O's cereal box. The match was forgettable, but afterwards Shawn Michaels, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, and HBK came out to take on The League of Nations (who, post-match, had said that nobody could beat them or something ridiculous). So we had some 'Stone Cold' stunners and Mr. Socko and super-kicks and beer and The New Day showing the old-heads how to dance and the crowd fucking loved it. It was fun. **1/2

DEAN AMBROSE vs. BROCK LESNAR "STREET FIGHT" (13:06): Probably the one true disappointment on the show...only because with these two and it being a Street Fight you'd except a wild melee. They used Singapore canes and steel chairs. No tables broken. It was mostly a one-sided beat down. Ambrose pulled out a barbed wire bat and a chainsaw from under the ring but never used them. The best matches Lesnar has been in since returning have been the ones that are back and forth. When it's like this and mostly a destruction it's just kind of boring. **

CHARLOTTE vs. BECKY LYNCH vs. SASHA BANKS (16:03): Good match. Charlotte doing a moonsault off the top rope to the floor was the best part. Sasha Banks is a true star. She's the best women's wrestler in the WWE since AJ. She's gorgeous, good in the ring, and has the swagger and personality for this business. But she lost thanks to Ric Flair's interference. This was also the first match for the Women's title. Diva's no more. ***

THE UNDERTAKER vs. SHANE McMAHON "HELL IN A CELL" (30:05): This match was both mostly awful and exactly what we wanted. It's a tough one to grade because early on this was one of the worst matches ever. Seeing Shane put The Undertaker in a submission hold and then kick out of The Last Rites was just ridiculous. But Shane did what we all wanted to see: jump off something high. And he certainly did that. After The Undertaker grabbed Shane and plowed him through the side of the cage and it broke open, things got interesting. Shane put The Undertaker in a sleeper hold (groan) and they ended up both crashing through an announce table. Then Shane laid 'Taker on the main announce table and climbed up the cell. I really didn't think anyone would ever jump off that thing ever since they made it higher (Mankind was thrown off it and Rikishi was pushed off onto a truck filled with sawdust...but the cell wasn't as tall then). Shawn Michaels, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins have fallen off the side of it. But man, Shane O'Mac jumped off the top of it and crashed through the announce table ('Taker moved away and the cameraman ran for the hills). The table wasn't the usual table. You could tell they built it special for this. And it was certainly a memorable Wrestlemania moment. It may be the craziest thing I've ever actually seen in wrestling, albeit I think Shane's leap from the Titantron against The Big Show was higher. If he had missed or tripped he'd probably be dead or paralyzed. And what does that say about him? About us? The crowd was even chanting, "Don't do it!" when he was standing at the top. I guess it's too bad the rest of the match was fairly awful (The Van Terminator was cool...and after the big leap, 'Taker pulled Shane back in the ring to Tombstone him and win). Does it matter? It was a highlight that will be shown and talked about forever. And it was fucking awesome. ***

THE ANDRE THE GIANT BATTLE ROYAL (BARON CORBIN) (9:41): Well Shaq showing up as a participant was amusing. The rest...not so much. Baron Corbin is everything that's wrong with the WWE. He "looks" the part; he's big, tall, mean. But he's a fucking bore. But he's on the main roster now after an uninspiring stint in next (even The Greatest Man That Ever Lived couldn't get a good match out of him on NXT Takeover on Friday). He won this after pushing Kane out. **

THE ROCK vs. ERICK ROWAN (0:06): The Rock came out, used a blow-torch gun to light a R.O.C.K. sign on fire, told the crowd the attendance number, then was interrupted by The Wyatt family. "You say you're the eater of worlds," The Rock said to Bray Wyatt. "But I think you're just the eater of Hot Pockets." So The Rock said he was ready to wrestle a match, and tore off his outfit to reveal wrestling trunks. So he wrestled Erick Rowan and gave him a Rock Bottom and pinned him right away. John Cena came out and they both beat up The Wyatt family to generous crowd approval (although the crowd noise live and what was heard on TV are apparently two different things...during the main event it was said that they muted the boos for Roman Reigns...hence the funny sign on RAW someone held up). **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. HHH (27:11): Wrestlemania hasn't had a great main event on paper in awhile, have they? Last year was Reigns vs. Lesnar. Two years ago was Batista vs. Orton vs. (maybe) Daniel Bryan. I guess the years of Andre/Hogan, Rock/Austin, etc. are over. The WWE could have a great Wrestlemania main event if they got their head out of their ass. AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar? Hello? Either way, this match went on so late (starting after 11 PM eastern time) that they probably would have had to bring out a reunited Shield to have surprised and entertained us (they didn't). So the match turned out to be a basic PPV main event. The only highlight was Stefanie (who looked super hot in her black leather, slut outfit) getting speared. The other cool moment was Reigns spearing HHH through one of the barricades at ringside. Reigns won clean and is the new champ. Not a memorable nor a particularly good Wrestlemania main event. ** 

WWE FASTLANE

from Cleveland

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. KALISTO "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS": This was, honestly, the best match of the night. It wasn't even on the show, it was on the pre-show. It probably didn't help that I watched the much better NJPW show, The New Beginning in Niigata, earlier today (Omega vs. Tanahashi was crazy awesome). Nothing the WWE was going to put on would deliver anything that good. But this was a fine, fun, entertaining opener. Kalisto is one of the more entertaining wrestlers in the WWE. And very, very few people can make a match against Del Rio watchable. Kalisto retained the U.S. title. *** (out of ****)

SASHA BANKS & BECKY LYNCH vs. NAOMI & TAMINA: Well...Sasha Banks is a fucking star. She's super hot, talented, and has the right persona for this business. It doesn't help that she's stuck in lame matches like this. But at least the crowd was into it because it was early. *1/2

KEVIN OWENS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: It probably would have helped if these two hadn't wrestled each other every week on RAW for the last six month's. It was basic stuff, really. Owens retained the IC title. *1/2

BIG SHOW & KANE & RYBACK vs. THE WYATT FAMILY: Bray Wyatt didn't even wrestle. But Kane and Big Show, two guys who should have retired ten year's ago, did. Ryback at least tries hard. He even does CM Punk's running knee in the corner move now. But it was mostly a bunch of big, lumbering idiots milling around which is what everyone expected. *1/2

CHARLOTTE vs. BRIE BELLA: I guess building up Charlotte as a solid, evil title holder is good...it's just too bad her matches are stale. This was mediocre stuff. *

A.J. STYLES vs. CHRIS JERICHO:  Styles has been in the WWE for one month and this is already the third match between these two. And I didn't want to see it again. Did you? It was average stuff, a little sloppier and slower than their first two. Jericho is too old to be doing this. Styles should be facing real contenders like...well, okay, the WWE has very few contenders. **

EDGE & CHRISTIAN SEGMENT: This involved Edge and Christian, The New Day, and the League of Nations trading insults. It was amusing. It also reminds me how much better Edge and Christian are on the mic than anyone actually still in the company week to week. Sad. **1/2

R. TRUTH vs. CURTIS AXEL: Yes! A filler match! And what a filler match! Why R. Truth and The Social Outcasts are still in the WWE is beyond me. -No Stars-

DEAN AMBROSE vs. ROMAN REIGNS vs. BROCK LESNAR: It really tells you something about the state of this company when the main event of their biggest show of the year, Wrestlemania, has a guy routinely booed (Reigns) facing a retired guy that was popular fifteen plus years ago (HHH). It also makes zero sense that they're keeping a ton of stars separate on NXT (Sami Zayn, Somoa Joe, Finn Balor) when this show badly needed more big star matches. Oh, well. This main event was not great, as I thought it'd be. They told the same story that last year's great triple threat Cena-Lesnar-Rollins match told: the two guys put Lesnar through the announce table to take him out of the match while they fight in the ring. Tonight, Lesnar was put through two announce table's after an early, one-sided beat-down that Lesnar delivered. Lesnar got back but Ambrose hit him with a chair a few times then Roman speared Ambrose and won. It was a good match, just nothing new. And the outcome was way too obvious, meaning their wasn't any true drama. It says a lot that I'm looking forward more to NXT Dallas (Nakamura's debut! Zayn vs. Balor!) than Wrestlemania. **1/2

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

From Orlando, Florida

KEVIN OWENS vs. DEAN AMBROSE "LAST MAN STANDING MATCH": Good match. And these two have been facing each other a million times in the last month, so it's nice to know it's good enough to not get sick of (kind of how you never got sick of seeing Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins during their endless feud). They used Singapore canes. Owens power-bombed Ambrose through two sitting-up chairs. Ambrose delivered a top rope elbow through Owens on a ringside table. The genius finale had Owens on the top rope ready to flip onto Ambrose who was laying on a bunch of chairs set up. Ambrose got up and pushed Owens from the top rope and through two tables set up on top of each other at ringside. Good opener. Ambrose retained the IC title. *** (out of ****)

THE USO'S vs. THE NEW DAY: This was about as good as a Smackdown match. The crowd tonight was total insider wrestling fans. They booed The Uso's and cheered The New Day. The New Day retained the tag titles when Big E. caught a leaping Uso off the top rope and slammed him and pinned him. Entertaining but average. **

KALISTO vs.  ALBERTO DEL RIO: Kalisto did some cool, high-flying moves...but Del Rio is so fucking boring. Kalisto won the title clean after delivering a second Salida Del Sol. Kalisto winning would be a big deal (it was for the U.S. title) if he hadn't already won it on RAW (he quickly lost it on Smackdown). Bringing Del Rio back was a major mistake. *1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. CHARLOTTE: The best part? After Ric Flair interfered to cause Charlotte to retain the Women's title...Sasha Banks came out to a big crowd pop. She kicked Lynch out of the ring and then turned on Charlotte and put her in a submission hold. I guess it's a good thing that the Women's division is more relevant than usual...but the problem is all the best matches with the Diva's are happening in NXT. *1/2

THE ROYAL RUMBLE (TRIPLE H): The favorite won, even if HHH was unannounced and entered as the surprise #30. The biggest deal was AJ Styles debuting in the WWE at #3. He got big crowd chants all night. Kevin Owens eliminated him about halfway through. The big story line was that Roman Reigns was defending his title and entered at #1. During the match, Vince and The League of Nations came out and dragged Reigns under the ropes, beat him up, then Rusev ran across the announce tables and splashed onto Reigns and through the collapsing French announce table. Reigns was taken to the back by the EMT's and later came back out looking perfectly fine. Brock Lesnar was in the match. Unfortunately it was only to set up a Wrestlemania match with Bray Wyatt that no one wants to see. The Wyatt Family teamed up to eliminate Lesnar. The final three were Ambrose, HHH, and Reigns. HHH tossed Reigns out. This was set up so that Reigns and HHH weren't left alone. Reigns was booed all night. They didn't want HHH to be cheered since he's the evil heel. They knew Ambrose would be cheered and he was. Manipulating the live crowd so often lately just to protect Reigns has to tell the WWE something, right? Like...maybe he isn't the guy? Either way, Wrestlemania has Lesnar vs. Wyatt and HHH vs. Reigns and those are two extremely lame match ups. This Rumble was entertaining in spots. It had too much of the usual guys-walking-around-fake-punching filler as usual. Seeing AJ Styles on the big stage was pretty cool...but knowing that this year we won't be seeing him in any NJPW masterpieces just breaks my heart. **1/2