RUMBLE

Akira Tozawa vs. Buddy Murphy vs. Hideo Itami vs. Kalisto

This was a good spotfest. Hideo kinda didn’t fit in there with the other 3, and during one of his control runs in the match, things slowed down & weren’t that interesting, but they thankfully kept that pretty quick, so it didn’t take much away from the match, and all of Hideo’s other times on the offense were solid. The boys were just spiking each other’s with ‘rana’s, and put nice, little touches to some usual multi-man spots. Tozawa in particular ruled all the way through - dude took some nutty bumps & showcased those awesome dives of his. I remember back in 2013 when I first discovered him thinking that he had one of the best suicide dives in the business & this match sure was a good reminder of that. ***

Asuka vs. Becky Lynch

Pretty disappointing. They went with the competitive, back & forth structure with Asuka & Becky trying to one-up each other all the way through. Certainly wasn't the most compelling story they could've told, and went a tad bit too long too. Didn't really click with me or grab me at any point. **

The Bar vs. Shane McMahon & The Miz

A match. *

Ronda Rousey vs. Sasha Banks

The armwork by Sasha was the meat of the match, and it was very good throughout, and even great at points. Ronda’s selling was pretty great, and there was some great submission drama revolving around it - loved that whole Bank Statement bit w/ the STRAP & all; some great arm selling of her own by Sasha there, as Ronda had of course been busting out some big armbars to it. Good match with some real flashes of greatness to it, but it did feel a bit rushed & awkward at points. ***1/4

30-Woman Royal Rumble

There weren't many standout moments, but it flowed well from start to finish & didn't feel long even with it clocking at 72 minutes. Kairi, Candice, Io & Ripley were all very cool surprise entrants, and Cataranzo's Kofi spot was pretty fun. The Becky stuff was OK; the leg psychology I can appreciate. I did think that her trashtalk to Charlotte was very cringe though, but that's a minor complaint. If you're invested in her character, then the whole thing sure was pretty damn well booked. Nowhere near as awesome as last year's women's Rumble, but still pretty solid. **1/2

AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan

I think Daniel Bryan is the greatest wrestler of all-time & AJ Styles is not far off from that, so imagine my reaction to waking up & checking a few Rumble reviews & seeing 1-STAR & DUD ratings to this one. Very fascinating! I thought the match was fantastic myself, but the lack of heat from the crowd definitely hurt it quite a bit. The place made no noise for Bryan busting out Dragon Suplexes or vicious stomps, and most of all, it killed almost all of AJ's comebacks. The two Calf Killer spots & the headbutt-bit were something that should've got huge reactions, but instead got absolutely nothing. Those were still awesome comebacks, but they would've been so much more great if the place had actually reacted to them. Very unfortunate. The finish was also AWFUL w/ Rowan. Other than that though, yeah, the match was terrific. Great start with them being very cautious with each other, not making any mistakes, but still bringing the intensity & dislike of one another w/ some fantastic looking punches. Eventually AJ crashes into the ring post hard & starts clutching his arm - Bryan of course sees that & goes to town on AJ's arm immediately. It's a Bryan torture show & there's not many things better than that; he brutalizes AJ's arm, busts out vicious looking kicks, and then notices that AJ's nose is bleeding & goes to that immediately with some brutal punches. Some little touches I also liked such as Bryan trying to keep the Danielson Special Armbar locked in by delivering some calf kicks to AJ, crossfaces to the face & then working the nose to get LeBell Lock locked in, Bryan doing his vintage stomps to the face & his leg giving out due to the damage he received in the Calf Killer, and of course "I HAVE TILL 5!". A clinic on the offense by the man, and AJ was really good throughout too with his selling & comebacks, even if they did come off as somewhat underwhelming because of the crowd reactions. Definitely not their best match, but still a yet another banger between two of the greatest wrestlers in the world. ****

Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Bálor

Brock Lesnar is a goddamn legend. Finn's offense looks weak & soft as hell, but Brock does such a perfect job selling for him all the way through that the match couldn't be anything less than a banger. Loved the post-match attack on Finn by Lesnar too - that's some great character work there w/ Lesnar being mad about this little man pushing him to the limit by going after his mid-section. If Finn was more interesting on the offense, this would've been great, but it says something about the match when even though he wasn't interesting on the offense, the thing was still borderline great. ***3/4

30-Man Royal Rumble

Thought that this was an absolute bore. Nothing interesting about it - Ali eliminating Joe was treated as a big deal, and rightfully so, but damn, Nia just dumping Ali out like nothing undermined that moment. The Women's Rumble was definitely the better of two (once again) this year. *