January 25, 2020 - Evan Luebbe

Final Pushes of Storylines Before Royal Rumble

January 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

All storylines received nice pushes in preparation for Royal Rumble and achieved their goal of creating more anticipation for the PPV on January 26. The best segment of the night was the contract signing between Daniel Bryan and The Fiend, with the latter signing the contract in his own blood.

WWE’s main goal when it comes to aligning Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura was clearly to spotlight Zayn’s mic work. The other two men fell into the background and appeared to be doing nothing for the most part except serving as henchmen for The Great Liberator.

The only thing that has been somewhat disappointing about this alliance is that Zayn’s incredible in-ring ability has been largely ignored for the last few months. That’s okay, however, because this is being done to get The Underdog of The Underground’s character moreover and to give the WWE universe more of a reason to get invested in his character. This will change by the middle of the year for sure because Sami is far too great of a talent to waste.

Lacey Evans will be a perennial babyface in WWE for years to come. The fact that she was a former Marine pretty much gives it away which side of the heel-face spectrum she will be on.

Elias just needs to keep doing what he’s doing (as The Miz has said during WWE Backstage). It’s working, especially now that he’s been a heel in the past. It’s almost easier to get over as a face if a superstar has been a heel in a past incarnation of his/her character. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily that way five or ten years ago, but it certainly is now.

And for the love of all things holy, something major needs to happen in what is most likely WWE’s most compelling storyline between Otis and Mandy Rose. Vince McMahon should be looking to push this particular story hard because the WWE universe right now seems to have a pretty high level of interest.

AEW Dynamite

January 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Live from Chris Jericho’s Rockin’ Wrestling Rager at Sea

Hosting special events like this combined with the partnership with a major name like Chris Jericho – or Le Champion, is a brilliant way for the company to turn casual fans into diehards. Fans will feel a deep, unspoken connection not only with the company but with the wrestlers themselves because of experiences like these. They will feel invested in the product for years to come.

As if it were ever that much in doubt that John Moxley would earn the No. 1 contendership for the AEW World Title – he deserves this opportunity and everything that comes with it. AEW has done an excellent job of getting its stars over rather quickly. There are also brand-new Tag Team Champions in Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page marking the first official title change in company history.

Page’s heel turn against The Elite feels as imminent as ever and due to the build-up surrounding it, it will be even bigger when it does eventually transpire. They are maintaining their roles for now as cautious allies and it feels a little awkward.

Solid Night for Mauro

January 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Jan 22 was a good night for Mauro Ranalllo calling the action, giving The Grizzled Young Veterans the name GYV (which sounds similar to JYD, the name for The Junkyard Dog back in the 80s). Ranallo also compared Keith Lee falling off the top rope to an elephant falling off the Empire State building, two hilarious touches.

Bask in His Glory. Keith Lee more than deserves at this point to be NXT North American Champion. He has gotten over with fans rather quickly and it’s impressive to see, not to mention his ridiculous athleticism in the ring. The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic also couldn’t be going much better than it is right now. It’s always great to see new people being established: I’m referring to The Grizzled Young Veterans in advancing to the finals along with Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne –The Broserweights, whose performance styles mesh surprisingly well.

Vince McMahon could always decide to do something completely unprecedented by booking an NXT superstar to win either the men’s or women’s Royal Rumble match. It has become a trend over the last several years for WWE to place people from NXT in top positions in these matches. The top candidates from NXT to win the men’s Royal Rumble would be people like Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Finn Balor, or Johnny Gargano.

If Gargano wins, he could choose to go after the NXT Championship, since he has adamantly stated that he is an NXT guy through and through. The least surprising of these options would be Finn Balor given that he was on the main roster for a few years.

Honestly, it may almost be a better option for WWE to have a woman from NXT win the women’s Royal Rumble match and go on to challenge either Becky Lynch or Bayley at WrestleMania. The women’s division is currently the most gripping and interchanging aspect of NXT each week. Barring a return from Ronda Rousey, the top candidates would be Bianca Belair, Shayna Baszler, or even Candice Lerae.

Some NXT superstar will probably win one of the Royal Rumble matches. It was Vince McMahon’s idea to include NXT at Survivor Series in such a big way. Someone from NXT will most likely not get the nod in both Royal Rumble matches simply to foster more unpredictability in these matches, but Vince McMahon can clearly see the value NXT can provide the company.

Mr. McMahon also has to be aware that WWE as a whole will be run much like NXT when Triple H takes over, which may be sooner rather than later, especially with the reemergence of the XFL coming in just a few weeks. Mr. McMahon will obviously have less time to devote solely to WWE matters.

Incredible Ladder Match

January 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

We had a Seth Rollins’ heel turn! And, as the WWE team prepares for Monday Night Raw, they have done an excellent job in the last several weeks of pre-advertising the primary segments that will be featured on each episode. This is a clear sign that Paul Heyman has a definite vision of the direction he intends to take Raw as Executive Director.

Wow… the first ladder match on Monday Night Raw in well over a decade was executed very well by both Rey Mysterio and Andrade. It’s very unselfish of Mysterio to be dedicating the end of his career to putting over other Luchadors.

This also served as a perfect way for Humberto Carillo to insert himself back into the storyline. It was a smart booking decision for WWE to have Andrade retain the United States Championship because it’s a sign that the company is looking more towards the future. This was by far the best segment of the night. It gave fans a good reason to tune in to Raw for the rest of the night and also set up another interesting story between two of Raw’s best in Andrade and Carillo.

Buddy Murphy and Seth Rollins defeated The Viking Raiders for the Raw Tag Team Championships this week. This marks the first title victory for Murphy on the main roster. And, Rollins is a tag team champion for what seems like the millionth time. It’s somewhat surprising because many fans were anticipating there would be a WrestleMania meeting between The Viking Raiders and The AOP, but it turns out that will have to happen somewhere down the road.

WWE seems to tease that there will be some dissension among Rollins’ faction as to who deserves the tag team titles – Rollins and Murphy or The AOP. This might lead to the ultimate implosion of the faction and a ‘Mania clash in April.

It also deserves to be mentioned how clever WWE is being by directly using Seth Rollins’ deep interest in determinism and other philosophical concepts of that nature in storyline. It’s very clever of the company to use superstars’ own private interests to make storylines feel more personal.

WWE employed a smart strategy by protecting two favorites to win to the men’s Royal Rumble match by orchestrating a finish to the Drew McIntyre – Randy Orton match. Both superstars came away looking strong by not taking a loss (Roman Reigns is still the favorite).

It’s great to see Ricochet getting the spotlight he deserves again after many weeks of being almost forgotten about. He got an opportunity to star in a major segment of the show with The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar (who will enter the Royal Rumble match at number one).

Keeping Options Open

January 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

WWE is not committing to any set plan when it comes to Seth Rollins’ WrestleMania 36 plans. It looks like it’s their intent to keep the door open for a possible CM Punk return (maybe at Royal Rumble). It would be a massive money match between Rollins and Punk.

However, the company is being mindful of the fact that it might not happen. There’s a backup plan which is a delayed Rollins – Buddy Murphy match. It could the reason Murphy aligned with Seth’s cult/stable with The AOP. They seem to be positioned for an ultimate clash and Raw Tag Team Title victory against the Viking Raiders at ‘Mania.

AEW TV Deal Extended

January 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

TNT has extended its TV deal with AEW through 2023. This signifies the company could potentially be around for many years to come. It makes sense because AEW has experienced a surprising amount of success in the first 3 ½ months or so of its TV deal. They have beaten out NXT on numerous occasions. The company has probably experienced so much success largely because of Chris Jericho being the company’s top guy, a role has never held before.

Many other former WWE stars have come over to AEW as well. The company has a fantastic mixed focus of leveraging current talent while also placing a priority on building homegrown stars. The company’s brilliant combination of creative wrestling freedom and owner Tony Kahn’s financial position facilitates the signing of many top stars in the wrestling industry.

Another smart tactic AEW has employed is rather than focusing on live events, they instead focus on Dynamite and making the program as interesting as possible. It’s a smart move considering it’s the source where almost all their revenue comes from.

Royal Rumble Countdown

January 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Royal Rumble is one of the most anticipated WWE Pay-Per-Views every year. It’s my personal favorite because of the build-up surrounding it. There’s a high degree of anticipation for WrestleMania before the event, and it only grows after because the WWE universe knows a little more about how ‘Mania will unfold but nothing is ever a given. With every big event, it’s a great opportunity for the company to flex its marketing muscle and create even more hype for around WWE and the sports entertainment industry.

WWE tends to employ the mentality of freshening the landscape before WrestleMania each year, so superstars’ opponents at Royal Rumble are almost never the same as they are at ‘Mania.

If I were Michael Cole, I would forgo mentioning anything pertaining to the Houston Astros. I know he might be tempted because Royal Rumble is emanating from Minute Maid Park, which is obviously the home of the Astros. It would probably be best for WWE to distance itself as much as possible from the whole sign stealing scandal for which the Astros were recently busted. Their manager and general manager were suspended for a year and subsequently fired, and MLB is attempting to distance itself from the situation. It would be very wise for WWE to do the same.