Evan Luebbe

Female Face of AEW Turning Heel

Finally, the woman who this company is built around is being pushed like it. She is executing her de facto heel turn surprisingly well. Since she is the company’s first signee on the female side, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see her as AEW Women’s Champion sooner rather than later (probably by summertime).

Jon Moxley may want to consider keeping his eye patch for the foreseeable future because it provides a distinctive look for him and it’s as aesthetically pleasing. Adam “Hangman” Page’s alcoholism issue is being capitalized on by the AEW marketing team in a brilliantly fun manner as well.

Cody Rhodes may be the best talker -and have the best music – in all of professional wrestling. He has such a deep understanding of ring psychology and how to work a crowd -meaning when to do certain things to get a particular reaction. He most likely got this sixth sense from his late great father Dusty as well as his brother Dustin.

We should see some new champions crowned at AEW’s next pay-per-view – Revolution on February 29, with Jon Moxley ending Chris Jericho’s reign as the first-ever AEW World Champion, and Nyla Rose probably taking the AEW Women’s World Championship from the largely absent champion as of late Riho.

Orton’s Awful Deed

Randy Orton sunk to new depths this past Monday night, making a full-blown heel turn rather quickly, as he perpetrated an assault on Edge’s surgically repaired neck. This sets up what will most likely be a feud with The Rated R Superstar that culminates with Edge’s first official singles match since returning to Royal Rumble.

It’s so great to see Edge return to the ring after nearly 9 years. I along with the entire WWE universe  (and Edge himself) thought that was it as far as his wrestling career was concerned. It also now appears that Randy Orton’s rivalry with AJ Styles over the past several weeks has turned out to mean nothing. It seemed to be leading to a ‘Mania encounter for the second straight year which would have seemed redundant.

However, we can all give Vince McMahon a break on this one because he, the WWE doctors and even Edge had to have some uncertainty about getting back in the ring.

One very underrated element of the segment, however, was Randy Orton’s very believable promo right before the attack. He laid it all out there with his honest feelings about his longtime friend returning, who was instrumental in his ability to gain his footing with WWE.

It was very reminiscent of the way Kobe Bryant’s demeanor changed throughout the course of his life. As he got closer to retirement, he became more willing to express appreciation and gratitude toward the people who were instrumental to his development of The Mamba mentality. He epitomized this so well because he was relentlessly focused on the vision he intended to realize and bring into reality.

That was the only event of the night that appeared to have potential WrestleMania implications except Brock Lesnar F5-ing Drew McIntyre. Aside from that, January 27 was a fun episode of Raw that gave storylines time to breathe to begin WrestleMania season. There were the returns of MVP and Edge along with a stellar WrestleMania 34 rematch from Charlotte Flair and Asuka (although a disappointing DQ finish).

Humberto Carillo was unable to take the United States Championship from Andrade, but he was able to get some payback on El Idolo by giving him a hammerlock DDT on the exposed concrete. It was also nice to see Riddick Moss for the first time since his NXT days. He should fit very well into Mojo Rawley’s current football player gimmick, as his “offensive lineman”.

Side Note: Hopefully Liv Morgan will now be able to move on to bigger and better opponents in terms of star power after jumping over the small obstacle that is Lana by earning a victory over her. And unfortunately, Vince McMahon has waited long to have Erick Rowan make his big reveal. Since it wasn’t revealed at the Royal Rumble, no one cares anymore about what’s in the cage. It’s just a nuisance at this point.

The death of Kobe Bryant should serve as a wake-up call to everyone who hears about it. It doesn’t have to mean the same thing for everyone, but it should be a prompt for introspection for every person who is affected by it. People should use this event as an instrument to help them further their own evolution as human beings. He was not just a great basketball player (although the NBA did in fact lose a legend), he openly and humbly agreed to share about half of his life with us – all the ups and downs. That’s why so many people felt so deeply connected to him, because he was remarkably human – similar to Brett Favre in that way.

Categories RAW

Royal Rumble 2020

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

The 2020 Royal Rumble will go down as one of the most satisfying Royal Rumble PPV’s in WWE history because it had such a satisfying conclusion. Arguably, no man deserves to win the Royal Rumble match more than Drew McIntyre. He is a first-time winner, so it received more of a pop than say a second Roman Reigns victory. He has been working on his craft since 2001 at age 15 and was with WWE for years before being assigned to the jobber group 3MB. Finally, at 34, McIntyre has perfected his craft and is coming into his own as a performer. He is finally being allowed to showcase the flamboyance he has with his personality and that charming sense of arrogance.

McIntyre will be very easy to root for in his WrestleMania 36 match against Brock Lesnar. McIntyre has a feel-good story because he has worked so hard for so long in the sports entertainment industry, It is finally paying off. He also brings a certain level of believability to the storyline because it is very believable that a man of his size would believe he could present a challenge to Lesnar and perhaps even defeat him – which absolutely should happen. Speaking of Lesnar, he didn’t bury anyone in the rumble match either – everyone he eliminated got a larger spotlight than they would have if they hadn’t faced off with him.

The McIntyre – Lesnar WrestleMania match has a legit opportunity to be the main event and take precedence over The Fiend taking on his challenger who will probably be Roman Reigns at this point. This will provide a good amount of unpredictability surrounding WrestleMania because some people just assumed that Reigns would be in the main event this year since he has made a pretty full recovery from his leukemia diagnosis.

WWE fans – no matter how much they don’t like him – fans must acknowledge that when The Beast does decide to show up, Brock brings with him an unsettling presence. Lesnar also has a natural ability to elevate the level of star power of every superstar who enters the ring with him because of the amount of attention Vince McMahon has afforded to Lesnar in the booking process over the years.

The biggest surprise of the men’s Royal Rumble match was the return of Edge, who appears to be in unbelievable condition and plans to wrestle a part-time schedule similar to that of Brock Lesnar. This is fantastic news for Edge as well as the entire WWE universe because no one thought they would ever see him wrestle again after his triple fusion neck surgery in 2011.

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

Charlotte Flair could have easily gone her entire career without ever winning a Royal Rumble. Personally, I might have booked the narrative of her career to paint the picture that she had a knack for winning all big matches but struggled for some reason in Royal Rumble matches. This result instead paints the picture that she is attaining yet another accolade that is eerily similar to the accomplishments of her dad (since Ric Flair won the men’s Rumble match in 1992). It had sort of a predictable feel to it because Charlotte Flair is always a favorite in any match. This was somewhat of a letdown, but it was more than made up for with Drew McIntyre’s victory later in the night in the men’s Rumble.

Everyone was so excited to see Shayna Baszler, now at number 30. Everyone in the arena thought she was going to get the victory, as she was the betting favorite to win the women’s Rumble – and the WWE universe got the predictable result in the end. WWE teased the universe for as long as possible before going with the favorite to win.

A nice surprise in the match was Bianca Belair’s dominant showing during the first half of the match. Many of the women from NXT showed up, showcasing the depth of WWE’s women’s division.

The Rest

it was great to see Sheamus as he looked to be in great shape after nine months away to recover from an injury. I as well as most of the WWE universe figured that he retired because he has dealt with spinal stenosis for several years. Shorty G had a little bit of a rough night because he didn’t add much to the story – the highlight was clearly Sheamus’ return.

WWE made the right decision by having Andrade retain his United States Championship over Humberto Carillo. While Carillo makes for an excellent challenger for the title, he doesn’t have the budding superstar aura that Andrade does. Also, while Humberto has received a pretty decent push early on in his WWE tenure, Andrade has gotten a more sustained push and it’s going according to plan (he is a former NXT Champion and has been nearly 2 years now on the main roster).

In hindsight, which is always 20/20, the fact that Roman Reigns earned the victory over King Corbin in the opening match on the main card was almost a dead giveaway that he would not get a second major accolade in the same night by winning the men’s Rumble match. It feels about time for this rivalry to come to a conclusion so both men can move on to something fresh. Otherwise, WWE will be asking fans to put their energy into a rivalry they are not really feeling anymore.

The WWE creative team quite frankly seems to be unsure what exactly to do with Bayley. There was always the possibility that Sasha Banks could have won the Royal Rumble and chosen to face her friend at WrestleMania, but that obviously didn’t happen as she is injured. There is always the possibility that WWE could have Sasha Banks punch her ticket to face Bayley at ‘Mania through the Elimination Chamber or something like that, because I don’t know what other storylines WWE would be able to craft for Bayley.

It was almost a foregone conclusion that The Fiend would retain the Universal Championship over Daniel Bryan. Bryan can easily afford a loss due to how much the WWE universe has resonated and connected to his character in the past, and he will gain more sympathy.

It will be interesting to see what Vince McMahon decides to do with Bray Wyatt’s “The Fiend” persona post-‘Mania. One could envision that this is just a stage in the evolution of Wyatt’s character that he will portray for a year and then move on to something else. It is also plausible that this incarnation could continue for a few years because of how mesmerizing and distinct it is. There are also so many different layers to The Fiend’s psychological puzzle.

Doing away with the red lights during the match takes nothing away from the menacing presence of The Fiend. Some superstars – Seth Rollins in particular – have claimed that they couldn’t see what they were doing during matches with Bray Wyatt’s alter ego. The concept of a scrap match hindered the two superstars more than it added anything – which is obviously what was intended.

Becky Lynch has had many accomplishments over the last year and there will probably be entire chapters dedicated to her in books written years down the road about WWE history. She has now conquered the one opponent she couldn’t seem to beat in Asuka. The Man will now be able to be clear-headed in preparation for Charlotte Flair at ‘Mania.

Jordan Devlin Making Noise

Jordan Devlin made what was by far the biggest impact in the first official NXT Worlds Collide event. He competed in the fatal four-way match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and got the victory in what was the only title change the night. Very few men in the company deserve to become a champion more than he does, as it has been obvious over the past few months that he has been working very hard on perfecting his in-ring ability.

He also has an innate sense of timing that can only be developed through years of perfecting his craft. He could be one superstar to look out for as he might receive a more focused push in the coming months (it would be reasonable to anticipate he will make a move to the United States as well).

The Undisputed Era may be losing a little steam as they lost an encounter with Imperium (who may be gaining momentum). WWE may also want to think about having Trent Seven form a tag team with Cesaro since they have now both lost teeth in memorable ways in matches (just a thought for something that could eventually happen in a couple of years).

Final Pushes of Storylines Before Royal Rumble

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

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

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.

Categories NXT

Incredible Ladder Match

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).

Categories RAW

Keeping Options Open

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

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

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.

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Disclosure: This site is not affiliated with WWE – just a diehard fan writing commentary on events.
 
Copyright 2021 Evan Luebbe. All rights reserved.