The Royal Rumble Is Over! - And Now, RAW Has Fallout....

A Merry Monday to You, Enthusiasts.

How did you enjoy the Royal Rumble? I would say the general consensus is that it wasn’t bad but there were definitely some things left to be desired but overall, not disappointing. Most didn’t care for the match order either though in retrospect, I can see why WWE did what they did but hopefully it was with a mind for tonight otherwise, a more traditional order would have sufficed. Let’s break it down a bit, shall we?

So, we were all a little surprised that the Rumble opened with the Men’s Rumble. I would have left this for the end, especially with Cody Rhodes winning. Leaving the Universal Title match for last left the event on a “down” note so that’s why I’m hoping it was to segue into tonight’s RAW. Word is that Rhodes is going to open to follow-up his win so that may have been the point. 

Personally, it felt like a strange move because what’s to keep people in the seats for the rest of the show? Though the Women’s Rumble kept pace with the Men’s we all know that crowds tend to remain more interested in the men’s bouts. Yet, it looked like the bulk of the crowd wanted to get their money’s worth so they stayed.

Both Rumbles were well-executed. Don’t really have too many complaints outside of placement. I found it funny how no one was hoping for Logan Paul but dag-nabbit the kid had himself another spot with Ricochet. He’s making us begrudgingly accept him which, to be honest, is par for the WWE course. Well, I hope he has fun with it. He’s kind of a dork but if he plays into it right, we’ll get over it. 

On the Ladies’ side we got to see the reprisal of Asuka’s “Murder Clown” persona which does seem to give her a kick in the pants. Also, we have the return of Nia Jax. Now, I’m not surprised at these developments at all, least of all Jax’s. We heard rumors prior but what doesn’t phase me about Jax is again, it’s another case of being where she more or less belongs. 

I know a lot of people have a problem with her. I think she gets a bad rap because she’s brought in to rag-doll chicks and then people get mad she rag-dolls chicks. Of course, I don’t want anyone getting unnecessarily hurt but if a lady can’t take getting knocked about, she shouldn’t be out there. I like Jax. She keeps the game “real”. What are you going to do when she grabs you by the scruff or sits on you? That’s something to think about, especially when you got ladies out there about 110 lbs trying to be taken seriously. How do I take you seriously as a champion if you get blown away by the wind? They’re going to have to convince us. 

But I digress, now that Jax is back all I ask is that she up her ring game. The only real grievance outside the standard ones is that she never really had a great match. If she can have some decent matches without being unnecessarily rough I think she could earn some proper street-cred and leave anyone bitching doing just that, bitching. That’s what you gotta do in these situations, handle it and if people don’t like it, leave ‘em there with their panties in a bunch. If the mission is accomplished, it’s not Jax’s problem. 

We all generally agree, as well, that Bianca BelAir vs. Alexa Bliss was bit of a snooze along with the Bray Wyatt and LA Knight Pitch Black Match. They have to be real careful here. They’re slipping back into the previous problems with this paranormal angle. They have to remember that we don’t really want to think too much this and we’re not going to work too hard to suspend our disbelief. As far as we can tell, these people (Bliss and Wyatt) just have problems. They are not purveyors of the Dark Arts as they would like us to believe. Can they descend into madness? Sure, we’ll buy that. Become a witch and warlock of the opera? Not so much. 

Though the backlighting and neon accents were retro-captivating, it didn’t really lead to a good match, just predictable intrigue. Wyatt has to be very mindful of his medium here. Live action won’t account for much flight of fancy. We’ll allow some creativity but the action has to be primarily in the fisticuffs. He’s gotta thrash fools over basking them in neon dreams. That’s all we care to understand. He has to remember we have no intention of putting a ring on it. He’s gotta get us to sneak out and have fun not try to make us make a commitment. That’s the only way to make us want to come back. Stick to basics is all I can really suggest. We just don’t want to think that much about it.

That all said, this is why the Universal/Undisputed Title Match between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns hit the mark. I think it would have fared just as well if was the penultimate match but as we can see, that wasn’t the call. However, Reigns and Owens had a competitive outing. Though it wasn’t close, per se, it was intense and we definitely see that Reigns is operating under some sort of mild delusion because I don’t quite know what his problem was at the end. He had the chair shot coming and I’m glad Sami Zayn maintained his integrity. 

Running with the Bloodline is currently akin to running with the “bad kids” in town and so you tend to have the occasional crisis of conscience when they give you the rock to throw into the storefront window. We are not in the slightest bit surprised to see that Zayn is a “good kid” but what does that mean for the future. Are Zayn and Owens going to be a Canadian team now? We’ll they both seek vengeance upon the Bloodline or merely become a Tag Team? I suppose that is something that we can expect to be addressed on tonight’s RAW of maybe SmackDown. Have to give them time to "recover".

As is customary every following Monday to a PLE/PPV, we have the Fallout. What does everything mean? Well, we know Cody Rhodes will start to tell us but as for what will transpire, we will have to see. We can anticipate Rhea Ripley will start sniffing around Bianca Belair for the Title and who knows, she may even crash SmackDown  to size up Charlotte.

We saw last night that even Jey Uso was torn by the actions of the evening. Does he join forces with Zayn and Owens while Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa and Roman Reigns regroup? Will Seth Rollins somehow slip into the scenario. It would be true to “The Architect’s” form to show up when there’s an “opening”. And what about Dominik Mysterio? Will they reveal what happened to Rey Mysterio? We’ll have to tune in and see. Play along with me on Twitter if you’re game. Never let Elon Musk stop me before.

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)