Drew defeats Goldberg after kicking out of the Jackhammer. Holy shit. I’ve never been so glad to be wrong in my life.
So close with my 2nd prediction, but ekedolphin was right. I’m confused because Banks is ~80% face and BelAir and Asuka are 100% face. Who will turn, or will there be an interim title change?
What a rip. I wanted to see more footage of Orton stumbling around. Nobody who buys a PPV wants to see ring action.
Bayley still has an issue with Belair and honestly probably Banks. I see something happening to turn it into a triple-threat match at WrestleMania.
Honestly, they spent so much time hyping Belair during the PPV that I was starting to wonder if it was a red herring and they’d give the win to someone else. I’m glad they didn’t. I’m on the EST train. She’s a phenomenally gifted athlete.
Nakamura didn’t come anywhere close to winning, though. Then I thought they’d give it to Bryan, and that didn’t happen either. Edge is a good choice, though. Is he going to stick around after WrestleMania? And who will he face? Reigns, McIntyre, or someone who wins the belt in between?
I am still stunned that Drew McIntyre defeated Goldberg, and cleanly. It was absolutely the right move. Who’s left for Drew to prove himself against, though? I think he may be only the second person in history to defeat both Goldberg and Brock Lesnar.
Well, Sheamus did the inevitable and turned on McIntyre last night, saying he wants the WWE Championship.
It was obvious, but it delivered. I think they could and should have done it without dissolving the friendship, making it totally about the title, but that would be too nuanced for Vinnie Mac.
I’m excited for this new guy who gets the rub from winning the Rumble, what’s his name? Corner? Cliff? Oh, I just looked it up, it’s Edge. See? He’s so new I forgot his name!
I’ve honestly got nothing against Edge. Frankly I like the guy and his comeback is awesome, but what a waste to give him the Rumble win. As if he needs this to get a main event/primo showing at 'Mania? He’s friggin Edge. Just think of what a Rumble win would mean to, oh, say, Ricochet or Aleister Black. But nope, just a guy who’s won it before 30 years ago or whatever because who needs new stars.
Congrats to Bianca Belair though…that’s what a Rumble is for.
i know the wrestlers dont get to pick their character names at first but Bianca belair sounds like a porn “sock” to me …
As I understand it, wrestlers usually get to submit a list of names and WWE picks the one they think is most marketable. Daniel Bryan said in an interview once that he filled his list with jokey names like “Buddy Peacock” and “Lloyd Boñier” in the hopes of convincing them to give him something resembling his real name.
The exception, these days, is guys like AJ Styles and Johnny Gargano who’ve made names for themselves elsewhere and have been allowed to keep using those names for recognition purposes. (AJ once mentioned that he makes a little extra money on the side by licensing his ring name to WWE.)
While I’m glad to see Edge (and Christian) back, the days where they performed those death defying stunts with the Hardys and Dudleys are long behind them. Edge didn’t do anything notably spectacular during the RR that I can recall, and he looks like he’s one wrong move away from permanent retirement.
Still, Ric Flair managed to extend his career past his prime despite all the years of stylin’ and profilin’, and Edge can still do the rock star hair tosses. Maybe he can get Christian into the Hall of Fame on his coattails.
“The Natural” Butch Reed has passed. He was 66 years old. I was first introduced to Reed in Florida Championship Wrestling, airing on a Spanish UHF station, when I was a pre-teen. He wrestled Ric Flair for the NWA championship. It was a time-limit draw, but they added 5 minutes, and Reed won, but the “championship match” had ended at the time limit. That was my first time seeing that particular twist.
and he tagged with ron simmons in the tag team “doom” with nancy “woman” sullivan managing them then teddy long until bill watts broke them up and made simmons wcw champ
I think the best part of AEW Dark is Taz and Excalibur on commentary. Taz will ramble and stumble while completing a thought, and then Ex will slip in a snark and get Taz all rattled.
During Pete Navarro and Cesar Bononi’s tag match, Taz commented on how well the two got along, calling their relationship “jovial,” but he kept pronouncing it jo-VEE-al. Ex said “You’re putting the em-FAH-sis on the wrong si-LOB-ul.” Taz mumbled something like “that’s how they pronounce it in Brooklyn, but I digress.”
Had not heard about this. He was a hell of an athlete. I first saw him in a match with Bruiser Brody on CWF, both were very young and raw. Later he showed up on teams taking on the Freebirds in Georgia.
E LI DRAKE!
is now
L A KNIGHT!
YEAH!
But that’s not the only thing that happened at Takeover.
Sorry Fists not Flips adherents, sometimes high spot matches are more exciting. MSK vs perennial Dusty Classic runnerups Grizzled Young Veterans stole the show IMO. This might have been the first time they ever met each other, but their match looked like they worked together since childhood. Finn vs Dunne was more of a traditional stretch match, then turned more brutal. I didn’t anticipate UE breaking up at the end, but Adam Cole is a better heel than face.
I’m kind of ehhh about the Dakota Kai and Raquel González team. They don’t really compliment each other, apart from client and bodyguard dynamic. I don’t see them staying together for long.
We’ll see if WWE allow Drake/Knight will be allowed his Namer of Dummies gimmick, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to be jobbing to Leon Ruff like the Mulkies Incarnate.
Wow, I was a huge fan of WWE when I was a teenager. I knew every single wrestler. My favorite ones were Edge, Randy Orton, Undertaker. Are they in the squad yet?
If you’re just getting back into wrestling, welcome!
Edge came out of retirement last year as a surprise entry into the Royal Rumble and had a good feud with Randy Orton before suffering an injury at Backlash in his match with Orton that kept him out of action for several months. He returned as the #1 entry in this year’s Royal Rumble and won it, earning the title shot at WrestleMania.
Randy Orton had a feud with Drew McIntyre that gave him a brief WWE Title reign before losing the belt back to him. Orton is set to challenge McIntyre in the Elimination Chamber for the belt this Sunday.
The Undertaker defeated AJ Styles in a meme-worthy Boneyard Match at WrestleMania, and retired at Survivor Series.
I’m watching the 1988 Royal Rumble, the very first one, and now I know the answer to this trivia question: Butch Reed is the first person ever to be eliminated from a Royal Rumble match, by Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
I’ll admit I’ve lost track of AEW the last few months, but the card for Revolution is shaping up to be a real slobberknocker;
- AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Jon Moxley (Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch)
- AEW Women’s Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. the winner of the Eliminator Tournament
- AEW Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Chris Jericho & MJF
- Sting & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks (Street Fight)
- Matt Hardy vs. Hangman Page (Winner gets the loser’s 2021 Q1 earnings)
- Ladder match to determine #1 contender for the TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes, Scorpio Sky, Pentagon Jr., & three more TBA
An exploding barbed wire deathmatch, for the uninitiated, is a type of hardcore match pioneered in Japan in the mid-90’s and rarely seen since then. It follows standard hardcore rules - no countout or DQ and weapons are permitted - and additionally, the ring ropes are replaced by barbed wire, actual C4 explosives are placed along the perimeter which may be triggered if the competitors try to escape the ring, and the match may be won by pinfall, submission, or excessive blood loss or bodily injury.
I’m guessing that they’re doing this so that Mox can be written out for a while and go enjoy his paternity leave, but given his pre-WWE history as a hardcore god (as seen here taking a bandsaw to the forehead in CZW) that he’s planning on going out in a blaze of glory.
OK, I changed my mind about Dakota Kai and Raquel González. NXT had a segment where Beth Phoenix presented the Dusty Cup to tournament winners MSK and Kaizález. As the ladies made their speech, Women’s Tag Champs Nia Jax and Shayna Baizsler interrupted them. Jax bragged about what a big beautiful bitch she is, and González said she was going to stuff the Dusty Trophy up her HOLE. Meanwhile, MSK and Beth sat in the corner, eating popcorn and eyeing the verbal exchange with giddy interest.
