Triple H's Announcement

Tonight was the supposed earth-shaking announcement from Triple H, about the "controversy" over the Royal Rumble, specifically Roman Reigns winning.

Monday Night Raw started off the night as Triple H and Stephanie McMahon came out, but really no announcement was made. They eluded to Roman not being the one the fans wanted in the main event at WrestleMania, to which Reigns answered by coming down to the ring and a stare down with Triple H.

After some words, then Daniel Bryan came out to cheers and the yes chant. Bryan said he never lost the heavyweight championship and should get a match.

Seth Rollins then came out and said he deserved one.

After this segment Reigns fought Big Show, and then Curtis Axel came out and said he wanted a shot at Brock Lesnar, which led me to think everyone on the show tonight was going to be saying that.

Anyways, back to the announcement, it was announced that Seth Rollins would face Daniel Bryan on Raw and the winner would face Reigns at Fastlane. The winner of THAT match would then go on to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. And who won that match? Daniel Bryan.

This just spells all kinds of trouble for Roman.

First off all, there's no choice he can make but to accept the match. Because if he declines and says he earned the right to main event WrestleMania at Royal Rumble, he comes off as weak and scared to face either Bryan or Rollins. So he has to accept.

Now, by accepting, it's really a lose-lose situation, regardless of whether he faces Daniel Bryan or Seth Rollins.

By losing, it's obvious: He won the Royal Rumble, but that means nothing now. He's out of the main event at Mania. But even if he wins, do they really think he's going to get over at Fastlane?

No matter how well Daniel Bryan wrestles and puts Reigns over, no matter how good Bryan makes him look, the fans will want nothing less then Daniel Bryan in the main event at WrestleMania.

We'll just have to wait and see how Fastlane plays out, but I have a sneaking suspicion that no matter what the WWE tries to to pull the strings, operating behind the curtains, the fans still wont get behind Reigns, at least this year, leading to WrestleMania.

There is a silver-lining here, that I think played out at the end of Raw. Reigns was booked strong at the end of Raw when he came out and speared Big Show. Good crowd reaction to that. Then a Superman punch to Rollins, which in turn, allowed Daniel Bryan to hit the running knee and get the win. He subtlely aligned himself as a good guy, helping Bryan out to get the match that everyone wants to see. If nothing else, at least subconsciously, it could stick in the fans mind, and actually help Roman Reigns going into Fastlane. We'll see.

Recap: Royal Rumble 2015

Man oh man!

The Royal Rumble. What can you say? It's taken over the internet the last couple days, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. The hashtag #CancelWWENetwork went viral and was trending all over the world. Everyone was up in arms and by the reactions, some people might have thought a high government official had been assassinated. But alas, it wasn't as traumatic or serious as that. It was, professional wrestling.

Wrestling fans are loyal and emotional, sometimes as we've seen, on a unreal level. But I guess that is what a fan is right? Fanatical. The Royal Rumble proved just how fanatical wrestling fans can get, but before we get to the main event of the night that set twitter ablaze, had people booing their heads off, and even had the Rock wondering what the hell was going on, let's talk about the precursor matches.

In the kick-off show we saw two member of New Day take on Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, who had Adam Rose in their corner. The match was okay, but what many people were talking about were the shirts Cesaro and Rose were wearing. Apparently the "Brass Ring Club" may or may not be a personal motto between the three unlikely allies, and both Rose and Cesaro came out with a parody shirt of the Bullet Club, made famous now through NJPW. Replacing the skull, machine guns, and bullets for the Brass Ring Club was a cat skull with ears, two Swiss crosses on the sides and two long stemmed roses. It was actually pretty cool. I really hope Cesaro "proves" he's over, because in my book he already is.

The Usos went on to defeat The Miz and Mizdow. Not much to say about this match, but Mizdow continues to impress. The fans really like him, but I have a sneaking suspicion that even when he splits from Miz, they'll have a match or two, but then "creative" will have nothing for him, which is horrible.

The Bella Twins beat Paige and Natalya, which only had a couple good spots. I wish Paige would get back into a good story line, whether it's for the title or not. Preferably for the title. Every time Nikki Bella holds that title up, it just seems like one of those things where someone had a championship or what not, but you know they shouldn't. But they are holding it up to prove to everyone that they do. I can almost hear the words "Nah-uh, I'm the champion. See!! I have the title, see! I'm the champion." That's the feeling I get. She's good, so maybe she just needs to change her demeanor/attitude.

The Ascension defeated the New Age Outlaws, in a match I think was there to show that the Ascension are good, but I'm still not buying them. I've been watching them since NXT, and I wasn't buying them there either. I don't think they are gonna work. Hopefully they can get something else with either different tag team partners and single story lines.

The World Championship match came right before the rumble, and wow! Man, this match was great. It got great buzz on social media from everyone, whether they were in WWE or not. I tweeted that no matter the outcome of the rumble, that match was worth the 9.99 for the network.

Brock Lesnar is a beast. plain and simple. His nickname as the Beast Incarnate has never been so apropos as these last few matches he's had and he did it again at the Royal Rumble. He's a monster. He's a suplex machine. And ever since that Undertaker match at WrestleMania 30, every match he's had he's just looked dominant.

For all the boos and all the haters and every person out there that says "I respect him, I just don't like him", John Cena is the man. And not the man in the sense as the face of the company and all that, even though he is. I mean he's the man in the sense that he puts it all on the line, every match and you gotta give him props for that. He went through barricades at the rumble and threw stairs around and took a boatload suplex's yet again and he still put on a great show.

And Seth Rollins. I'm buying in on Seth Rollins. If this wasn't his coming out party to the top players in the WWE, it was damn close. Jumping off the top rope with knees to Lesnar and Cena, that amazing Phoenix Splash on Cena and Oh. My. God. That top turnbuckle elbow drop on Lesnar over the spanish announce table (why is it always the spanish announce table?). Rollins proved that he definitely is in the main event scene, and as he puts it, the future of the WWE.

Finally we had the Royal Rumble.

Okay, while I felt the end was definitely lack-luster, I did not jump on the #CancelWWENetwork bandwagon. I like the network. I like the countdowns, and I'm always browsing through the documentaries. But yes, they could have had a little more drama to end the match.

Daniel Bryan. We all knew he wasn't going to win, but it felt like he got eliminated as just another guy. Some more story and drama could have been utilized. Anything other than just being bounced off the apron.

The guest spots were pretty cool. Bubba Ray Dudley making a come back was cool for sure and it was awesome watching DDP nail some diamond cutters on people. One thing I wasn't thrilled with was the Boogey Man taking a spot. I get it, he was a crazy scary guys going up against Bray Wyatt, supposedly another crazy scary guy. But I thought they could have given that spot to someone else. Maybe even Sami Zayne or Adrian Neville from NXT. Last year the NXT guy was Rusev, so I was hoping at least one person from NXT would show up. But nope.

While not disappointing, a little bit of a head scratcher was Kofi Kingston's "rumble spot" this year. Kofi's become an attraction at every rumble the last few years, with interesting predicaments on how to get back in the match without being eliminated. Granted, it's hard to come up with these spots, but this year we saw him sort of crowd surf the rosebuds around one part of the ring and get put back in. Kind of "meh".

It was cool that The Rock came out to help Roman Reigns for a moment, the last thing that really disappointed me was the way Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose were eliminated. No drama. No tension. Just Big Show and Kane laying waste and quite literally simply dumping them over the top rope. Come on WWE!!  Give us a little more story and drama then that! I get it, you want to show them unstoppable for Reigns to try and look heroic, but while you're making one guy look like a hero, you're making the other main event players look like chumps.

So, yes, while the Royal Rumble match itself was a bit under-whelming, I still keep thinking about the championship match and it reminds me that there are still great matches to be had and stories to be told. And even if Roman Reigns is rumored/scheduled to be the man in the future, I'm not hitching my horse to that wagon. Make mine Seth Rollins.

#IBelieveInSethRollins

I am the light at the end of the tunnel.
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) January 27, 2015

REVIEW: TLC Pay Per View

A lot of the dirt sheets were reporting that tensions were high backstage, as many of the WWE Superstars wanted to prove just how much better they are than the NXT talent, after a highly rated NXT Takeover event. It seems like most of the talent went for it and the TLC(and stairs) pay per view event was pretty entertaining.

Dolph Ziggler VS Luke Harper (c) - Ladder Match Inter-Continental Championship
The match to kick off the show was Ziggler and Harper and I think this match was excellent. Ziggler had stated he wanted to make this the best ladder match of all time, and while I don't think it attained that magnitude, it was good. What impressed me most about this match, wasn't so much the spots the two wrestlers did using the ladders, we've definitely seen some more innovative ways to use ladders as weapons in past matches, but the bumps these guys were taking with the ladders was crazy. At one point Harper had Ziggler setup for a sling-shot maneuver, but a ladder on top of Ziggler, and then Harper hit the move underneath the second rope. Ziggler got busted open on that one. In the end highly entertaining, and Ziggler came away as the new inter-continental champion.

The Usos VS Miz and Mizdow (c) -Tag Team Championship
This match was good, and though I'm not trying to take anything away from these guys, it seems like just a normal tag team titles match. They've been playing up the angle with Jimmy Uso and his wife Naomi, so I thought that somehow she might find her way down to ringside and somehow inadvertently caused the Usos the titles, but there was no appearance from her. Instead The Miz used his (Mizdow's) Slammy award to knock out either Jimmy or Jay and caused a DQ. Miz and Mizdow retained their titles. Like I said, seemed like just another match kind of.

Big Show VS Eric Rowan - Stairs Match
Before this match started I thought it was either going to be really entertaining or really bad. I'm glad it was entertaining and I'm really starting to like the Eric Rowan character. I noted on Twitter that he kind of gives me the vibe of Lennie from "Of Mice and Men". Not so much that he's handicapped, but that he can be this monster, but seems like he'd be this big lovable oaf. Anyways, this was like human bumper cars, with the Big Show and Rowan getting slammed into, on top of and, through steel stairs all around the ring. Big Show ended it with a knock out punch, plus he added some stairs on top of Rowan to make sure he didn't kick out. There might be enough for one more match between these two. But, it looks like Big Show has another feud brewing now, more on that in a minute.

John Cena VS Seth Rollins - Tables Match
In the middle of the card we get a main event type match and I have to say, this was really good. Lots of different components going on in this match and I thought it had a terrific finish. Before the match Paul Heyman came out and stood by to see if Cena would lose the match, thereby lose his number one contenders match. Out with Seth Rollins, came J&J Security (Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury).  Lots of tables got set up in and around the ring, so we now know multiple people are going through tables. Rollins is really proving that he certainly is the future of the WWE, his work ethic and style are great.

Almost from the beginning J&J get involved keeping Cena from getting tables in the ring and then helping Rollins put tables in the ring. At one point Cena actually wins the match, putting Rollins through a table, but the ref's out cold, and with no ref, J&J can help Rollins and get rid of the table making it look like nothing happened. Cena finally takes them out, at one point getting an old school metal guard rail and suplexing Jamie Noble on it. For a second I though he was going to pin in J&J somehow with the rail and really do a Superman type save. Things were starting to look good for Cena when Big Show comes out. He nails Cena with a punch to the ribs, but before he can do anymore damage, Roman Reigns came to his return to the WWE through the crowd, and nails Big Show with a Superman Punch (I still think they should call that punch the Reign of Thunder!!) and then delivers a spear through a table to the Big Show. Rollins gets in the ring, Reigns hits him with a Superman punch and then Cena grabs Rollins, nailing him with an AA through a table for the win. This was a great match!

AJ Lee VS Niki Bella (c) Diva's Championship
This was a good Diva's Title match, but with NXT still freshly in mind, I don't think it had the impact it should have, as I think the NXT Women's title match was better. Niki just isn't as innovative, though there was on spot were she wrapped AJ lee around the ring post, which looked cool and painful at the same time. And again, I was expecting and actually I wanted a turn from Brie Bella, turning on her sister after all the stuff Niki put here through. Before the match they interviewed them and Brie said she's tired of people talking about that and that blood is thicker than water. Really?! Niki told Brie that she wished she had died in the womb and she has no sister. I don't get it. Unless they are going for a better turn at Royal Rumble, this story line got old fast. Brie Belle interfered on behalf of her sister, the ref sent her away from ringside, which enabled Niki to spray AJ in the face with something, and then hit her finisher and retain the title. Good match, could have been better, especially with a Brie turn. But I guess they are back to the same old, boring, evil Bella twins.

Kane VS Ryback - Chairs Match
I'm going to be completely honest. Kane's getting old and Ryback is stale. With a chairs match there could have been some many things they could have done, but it was just the same old routine, hitting each other in the back with chairs. Ryback missed a spot putting Kane through two chairs, and it looked like they just got pushed out of the way. Ryback keeps calling for the same old "Feed Me More" chants it seems every five minutes and hits the same moves. Ryback won.

Jack Swagger VS Rusev (c) - United States Championship
I feel like these two could have delivered so much more. There was no special stipulation, so just go out there and put on a great WRESTLING match, I mean Swagger is an NCAA All-American amateur wrestler. But nothing happened that we hadn't already seen before. The only intriguing part seems to come from some commotion in the crowd, where everyone stopped watching the match and turned to see what was happening. Rusev retained AGAIN with the accolade.

Dean Ambrose VS Bray Wyatt - TLC Match
I had high hopes for this match and I think it delivered. Ambrose is just so crazy in and out of the ring, it keeps the fans guessing and you kind of never knew what he was going to do. And Wyatt, to me, has finally come around to that intenseness and hate he needed to be more of a heel than and baby face. At one point these two went out into the crowd, near the Kick-Off Show table and Ambrose actually got up on the table, ran across it, and dove off attacking Bray. Within the first five minutes I think Ambrose went through a table.

One really impressive and innovative spot came when Wyatt hooked up a kendo stick somehow on the turnbuckle, so it was pointing straight into the ring. He whipped Ambrose into the turnbuckle and Ambrose did great job of what looked like he ran right into the thing, eyes first. Through the aisle Ambrose hit two elbow drops off of ladders through Wyatt laying on tables. Then they get back to around ringside, and Ambrose finds this TV under the ring. It's showing what we see on our TV sets and he looks back at the big titan tron and goes and grabs a huge ladder, which looked to be a 20 footer. Biggest moment of the night was when Ambrose used the ladder to hit a third elbow drop on Wyatt from the top of the ladder through the announce table. And just to show how crazy Ambrose is, they are both laying on the flattened table, Ambrose starts to sit up, taps Wyatt on the chest as if to say good job buddy, kisses him on the forehead, and then proceeds to just nail Wyatt in the head with punch after punch. I laughed out loud on that one.

Ambrose and Wyatt get back into the ring and Ambrose is going to the the TV screen from before and smash it over Wyatt. Only it's hooked up to wires and pulls him back. He tries it again and as the wires disconnect it explodes in Ambrose's face and Wyatt capitalizes, getting the win. When the explosion happened, I couldn't help but think, this is the second time we've seen Ambrose in a unique and innovative situation, the first being curb stomped through the cinder blocks. Awesome outside the box thinking.

Final Thought
Overall I thought this was a pretty good pay per view. It could have been better with the Rusev/Swagger and the Kane/Ryback matches, but everyone else I thought really stepped up. Ziggler I think delivered a hell of an opening match to tell everyone "top that" and I think Cena and Rollins did. Then Ambrose and Wyatt topped it all. I'm looking forward to see if the Ambrose/Wyatt feud continue, which I think it can and what happens with Big Show, Rollins and now the returning Roman Reigns.