SmackDown Reminds Us that the Royal Rumble Is Coming...

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

 

Well, my part of Southern California is unscathed by fire but the skies have been tinted with haze for the bulk of the week. There are sections of North LA that are completed torched. It’s as if the Gods did decree it to be stricken from the Earth. Not sure what it means. The hills are always full of brush. The area just doesn’t get enough consistent rain for it to not happen and the winds come through seasonally. People either have to build accordingly or not at all. How things proceed will be very interesting.

 

In any case, in the Wrestling World we have some interesting movement. There’s enough for a wordy post so, let’s not delay. Let’s get into it.

 

First, we’ll take a brief stop in the Realm of AEW as the big news is that Malakai/Aleister Black may be open to a WWE return. The rumors of him leaving have been prevalent but not confirmed. I think it’s to make sure it’s a surprise wherever he turns up next. You know I want him back in WWE. Never understood why they let him go in the first place but we’ll just chalk that up to the short-sightedness of the Old Guard. I haven’t seen much of his work on AEW but we all know he’s a solid and compelling performer so if he shows up at the Royal Rumble, I’ll be sure to properly lose my mind. Besides he could probably build a new faction that could challenge the Wyatt Sicks and have a great ole time 😉

 

Along those lines, Buddy Matthews/Murphy had himself a respectable match against Will Osprey this past Wednesday on Dynamite. Matthews is still looking good and given his Black and Rhea Ripley connection, perhaps we could see him return to the WWE fold as well. We shall see.

 

As for the Death Riders Saga, this week’s installment had them up to their old “murderous” tricks as Uncle Edge had a few things to learn them. Tit for Tat is the rule in this business and since Edge dished it out last week, Jon Moxley felt the need to return the favor this week. Powerhouse Hobbs broke up the party before any true “fatality” could be had but it keeps the story going, I suppose. I noticed that Darby Allin is “missing” as well. That just means he’s about to pop up at any time. I won’t complain as long as they’re having fun which…they appear to be. I wasn’t off put by what I saw so I’ll leave them to it. They have a ways to go so, I’ll let them fill in the blanks and only speak up when they find themselves in a corner. Have fun with it, guys!

 

In the WWE Universe, there was some reconsideration regarding Hulk Hogan after his embarrassing appearance at the RAW Netflix debut. He pushed through it regardless but it was a bit of a tough watch. This seems to be one of those instances when it looked good on paper. Given Hogan’s reputation, it was probably a safer bet to wait until they had a show in a Red State at least. They should have known LA would have been less welcome. Live and learn, I suppose.

 

Elsewhere, Braun Strowman is recovering from a “really bad flu”. He claims to have lost 36lbs during the illness. I believe he’s on the mend but if he lost that much weight, I would think it may be a while before he’s up and running again. There’s some speculation as to what his ailment is. I would think people are thinking it’s some variant of COVID but who knows. It’s not the only thing that can get you out here and when you travel a lot, you can find that out the hard way. Regardless, may he have a swift recovery.

 

And with that, we can head over to tonight’s SmackDown. We’ll be changing focus to the Royal Rumble and to help redirect us we can expect, Chelsea Green to defend her the Women’s US Title once again against Mia Yim. Tiffany Stratton will bask in her Cashed-In Glory. And LA Knight will see if he can take back the US Championship. They got 3 hours to fill so we’ll have to watch to see what they do with it. The unofficial watch party will be at 8pm PST. Stop by if you’re staying in for the evening.

 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)