February 2, 2019 - Evan Luebbe

On Raw, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey cut pretty good promos about how they were going to tear each other apart at WrestleMania (obviously the crowd responded way better to Becky). Dean Ambrose took a totally clean loss to Seth Rollins, signifying that Seth has officially risen to a level of superstardom that is completely above Dean Ambrose. That’s not a knock on Dean Ambrose, I’m just saying. I am actually a huge fan of Dean Ambrose, considering that I’m from Cincinnati.

I read something recently suggesting that Dean’s character become like this generation’s version of Brian Pillman, where the WWE gives him more creative freedom and flexibility on the mic since that is clearly where he does his best work. I have also heard that Dean may have a WrestleMania feud with EC3, but EC3 may have a match before that with Bobby Lashley since they both love to pose so much. I wasn’t sure how well EC3 would get along during his second stint with WWE, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Seth Rollins also took six F5’s from Brock Lesnar or an F30.

Side Note: Congrats to Roman Reigns on his role in the movie Hobbs & Shaw with The Rock. I know that Roman isn’t wrestling right now, but I haven’t forgotten about him. I think about him at least once a day and I get a little bit inspired every time I do. I also love how Corey Graves called himself the Tony Romo of WWE. I for one can’t get enough of Corey Graves as a commentator for WWE. That comment is so appropriate because Tony Romo is really starting to find his footing as a broadcaster for the NFL.

As for SmackDown Live this week, the first thing I would like to mention is how excited I am that R-Truth is getting a sizable push compared to what he normally gets, as he got a notable victory against Shinsuke Nakamura. I am also happy that Nakamura and Rusev appeared to be forming a tag team, as I was not sure which direction either of their careers were headed. WWE just wasn’t sure what to do with Rusev after the whole Rusev day thing. And let’s be honest, Nakamura has been losing traction for a year and a half since he earned a WWE title opportunity against John Cena and dropped him awkwardly on his neck after attempting a reverse exploder suplex. I think that left a bad taste in the mouth of Vince McMahon since John is Vince’s Golden boy. I am not being judgmental, that’s just my opinion. Unfortunately, that’s just the way the cookie crumbled for Shinsuke (Thank you very much Bruce Almighty). Shinsuke will still need to drop the United States championship at some point here soon. It’s also extremely encouraging to see that the rivalry between Rey Mysterio and Andrade looks like it will continue well into 2019. There will no doubt be some jaw-dropping matches.

I would be a little remiss not to discuss the new title belt that Daniel Bryan unveiled. To me, it looks a little more consistent with the universal championship since it is red too. Some people complain about the look of the universal title, but there are always going to be critics that are just trying to nitpick and find something wrong with what the company is doing.

Shocking News: Dean Ambrose is unhappy with the creative direction of his character and is planning to leave the company when his contract expires after WrestleMania. This is very reminiscent of CM Punk’s circumstances surrounding his departure. I wonder if the next time WWE comes to Cincinnati if the crowd will chant Dean Ambrose’s name. it makes me kind of sad to see him go since he’s my hometown boy, but who knows—maybe he’ll get signed by AEW or something and become the champion.

Strong Promos & New Levels of Superstardom

R-Truth Push & That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbed for Shinsuke