WWE Royal Rumble 2023 | Match Results and Thoughts

Welcome back to the blog. This year's Royal Rumble was LIVE from the Alamodome in San Antonio,Texas. There was a lot of excitement prior to this event as expected. Let's take a look at the results and talk about the best moments. 

Men's Royal Rumble Match 
Order of Entry
1.Gunther - Intercontinental Champion
2.Sheamus 
3.Miz
4.Kofi Kingston
5.Johnny Gargano 
6.Xavier Woods 
7.Karrion Kross
8.Chad Gable
9.Drew McIntyre
10.Santos Escobar
11.Angelo Dawkins
12.Brock Lesnar
13. Bobby Lashley
14.Baron Corbin
15.Seth Rollins
16.Otis 
17.Rey Mysterio (Did not enter the ring)
18.Dominik Mysterio
19.Elias
20.Finn Balor 
21.Booker T
22.Damian Priest
23.Montez Ford
24.Edge
25.Austin Theory - United States Champion
26.Omos
27.Braun Strowman
28.Ricochet
29.Logan Paul
30.Cody Rhodes

Winner: Cody Rhodes, lastly eliminating Gunther.

Pat McAfee returned to commentary before the opening contest began, much to Corey Graves' disbelief. 

The rivalry between Gunther and Sheamus continued here, hopefully they will meet again for the Intercontinental Championship so that Sheamus completes the set of winning every major championship, Gunther is more than ready to compete for the Undisputed WWE Championship, it's all about the journey and storyline progression, let's cross that bridge when we get there,

Kofi always has interesting Royal Rumble spots, in terms of you never know what he's going to do, it's been a unfortunate couple of years in this match for him due to miss timing the escapes, Bobby got his payback on Brock, after the Beast cost the All Mighty his shot at the United States Championship previously on RAW. Rey never made it to the ring, Dominik walked out next with his dad's mask, 

Shoutout to Logan Paul and Ricochet, they hit each other with springboard clotheslines, this was an awesome visual. Logan also eliminated Seth Rollins, this led to fans speculating about a potential WrestleMania match. Gunther broke the record of spending the most time in a Rumble match, over seventy minutes, he was eventually eliminated by the winner Cody Rhodes. 

Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match
Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight
We saw glow in the dark colours, Bray had Fiend like face paint, there was a Mountain Dew Logo in the middle of the ring, LA Knight put Bray through the announce table, Bray hit Knight with a Sister Abigail for the win. 

Wyatt put on a different mask and went after Knight all over the arena, Uncle Howdy dived from high above, onto Knight into a flaming fire pit as Wyatt and the puppets looked on.

RAW Women's Championship Match 
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
This was a good and quick match, they might have been short on time, Bianca hit the K.O.D on Alexa for the win to remain RAW Women's Champion, we saw a video package of Alexa while she was in the ring, Uncle Howdy asked her if she was in charge, let's see what happens next.  

Women's Royal Rumble Match
Order of Entry
1.Rhea Ripley 
2.Liv Morgan
3.Dana Brooke
4.Emma 
5.Shayna Baszler
6.Bayley
7.B-Fab 
8.Roxanne Perez - NXT Women's Champion 
9.Dakota Kai
10.Iyo Sky
11.Natalya
12.Candice LeRae
13.Zoey Stark
14.Xia Li
15.Becky Lynch
16.Tegan Nox
17.Asuka
18.Piper Niven
19.Tamina
20.Chelsea Green
21.Zelina Vega
22.Raquel Gonzalez
23.Mia Yim
24.Lacey Evans 
25.Michelle McCool
26.Indi Hartwell
27.Sonya Deville
28.Shotzi
29.Nikki Cross
30.Nia Jax

Winner: Rhea Ripley, lastly eliminating Liv Morgan. 

Congratulations to Rhea Ripley for winning the Women's Royal Rumble, she will now challenge the RAW or SmackDown Women's Champion, or both, Becky and Damage CTRL fought outside the ring, this will lead to Becky vs. Bayley once again, Asuka returning with the classic Kana look was great, Chelsea Green also returned and was quickly eliminated by Rhea, the number thirty spot was botched as Nia Jax's music hit before the countdown began, Nia is not everyones cup of tea, it was great to see her return. 

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match
Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens walked to the ring first, Roman was second, he was accompanied to the ring by Paul Heyman and Sami Zayn, there were so many near falls, Roman hit Kevin with a low blow, he ordered Sami to get a steel chair, Roman was met with a stunner from his opponent, there were more near falls after both guys hit their signature and finishing moves, this was an awesome match.

Sami told Kevin to stay down, this was a distraction for Roman to spear Kevin through the barricade, the match ended when Roman hit Kevin with the spear for the win, as his championship reign continued.

The drama continued after the match. The Bloodline beat up Kevin Owens and handcuffed him to the ring ropes, The Usos then gave multiple superkicks to the challenger as Sami Zayn looked on, he stopped Roman from hitting KO with a chair, the crowd gave a great reaction, Roman gave the chair to Sami, who ended up hitting Roman, Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso beat up Sami, Jey wanted no part of this and walked out upset, Sami was removed from the The Bloodline, Roman got some interesting chants from the crowd to say the least. 

The Bloodline walked out and left Sami and Kevin laying in the ring, the closing stages of this event were absolutely incredible.

Be sure to check out the archived content on this website.  

Thanks for reading. 

Royal Rumble 2023 | Predictions

Welcome back to the blog, the Royal Rumble is arguably the best match in all of wrestling, sometimes we, as fans usually know who is going to win the respective Rumble matches beforehand, the fun is not knowing who is going to enter at which number, this years versions look very unpredictable to call, you could make a case for many superstars, from the past or present.

Let's begin the predictions.

Disclaimer: If you have read past Rumble predictions, you will know that usually three names are picked, the game has changed this year, only the predicted winners will be revealed. 

Women's Royal Rumble Match
The winner of this match has had a great seven months or so since joining The Judgement Day, taking that group to new heights, she has played a great role in Dominik Mysterio's character development also, it is her time now to win and send a message to everyone in the Women's division once again, starting this Saturday. Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley.

Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match
Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight
Dr Pepper wasn't available for this match, just kidding, Mountain Dew is the sponsor, expecting to see shenanigans a plenty here, with puppets from the Firefly Funhouse and Uncle Howdy appearing at different times, these two competitors have built up a interesting story, LA Knight is no doubt going to be a future WWE Champion, great in the ring and talker on the microphone. Bray was a former champion in his last stint in the company, surely he's not going to lose in his first match since returning? right? Predicted Winner: Bray Wyatt.

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match
Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens 
The last time these two met at this prestigious event was in 2021 in a Last Man Standing Match, which was won by Roman, Kevin will be looking to go one better this time, the obvious obstacles he will have to overcome are: Paul Heyman, Jimmy and Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa and the x-factor in this story, Sami Zayn, this will be an excellent match, when all is said and done here, Roman's reign, no pun intended, will continue.
Predicted Winner: and STILL Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Roman Reigns.

RAW Women's Championship Match 
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Alexa Bliss 
We know that ever since Alexa Bliss joined The Fiend during the Performance Center era, she has not been the same, now that she is under the spell of Uncle Howdy, she has become more dangerous, whereas Bianca, the EST, the reigning and defending RAW Women's Champion, will be out for revenge after suffering an injury from the hands of Bliss weeks ago on Monday Night RAW. Predicted Winner: and STILL RAW Women's Champion. Bianca Belair. 

Men's Royal Rumble Match 
Many peoples favourite to win is Cody Rhodes, he has been out of action since defeating Seth Rollins last year, speaking of Seth, he is a previous winner and has been targeting Roman Reigns for quite a while so you can not rule him out, the other candidates are: Brock Lesnar and Sami Zayn, Sami is mentioned as the WWE fans are in full support of him as of late, this is similar to the Yes Movement. This was a very difficult choice to make, the final decision has been made, however, it is a VERY risky one, predictions are all part of the fun, one hundred percent, this person might NOT even be in the match, it is what it is, but, if he is? the moment will no doubt be....Electrifying! Predicted Winner: The Rock 

The predictions are now set and officially locked in, be sure to check back here for the review-ish on Sunday as well as archived content here on the website. 

WWE RAW | RAW is Thirty

Welcome back to the blog. RAW was LIVE from the Wells Fargo Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart kicked off the thirtieth anniversary, there were audio issues during this promo, salutes to the sound guy for running out and handing Hogan another microphone, he saved this from being a complete mess. 

There were various montages of some of the top moments in RAW's history throughout the show.

The Bloodline walked to the ring for a Tribal Court to decide the fate of Sami Zayn as a member of the prestigious group. Paul Heyman acknowledged the ECW chants, the crowd was in full support of Sami here.

We saw footage/exhibits of Sami possibly betraying the Bloodline. he said he had no defence, Jey Uso stopped Solo Sikoa from hitting Sami with the spike, he had footage in defence of Sami. 

When all was said and done, Roman said Sami was not guilty and will remain in the Bloodline for now until his final test at the Royal Rumble. 

Jimmy and Jey Uso took on Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio with their RAW Tag Team Championships on the line. Jimmy suffered an injury, Sami took his place, with Adam Pearce's approval. This was a great match, Sami pinned Dominik to win the match and ensure The Usos remained RAW Tag Team Champions. 

There was a backstage segment involving The Godfather, Ron Simmons, JBL and Baron Corbin as they entered a poker tournament.

LA Knight was talking about his current feud with Bray Wyatt. He was interrupted by the legendary Undertaker, we got the American Badass version of the character, theme song and all, this was great nostalgia, Knight stopped talking after he was interrupted by Bray Wyatt. 

Undertaker threw Knight to Wyatt who hit Knight with a Sister Abigail. Taker appeared to give Wyatt some advice before leaving the ring. This felt like a passing of the torch moment. 

The poker tournament continued backstage where we saw Hall of Famers Diamond Dallas Page and Alundra Blayze to name a few. 

Damage CTRL attacked Becky Lynch and locked her in the Steel Cage before the match began. A lot of people were complaining about this on social media, the consensus is this was cut short due to previous segments going over their allotted time.

DX were joined in the ring with Kurt Angle to continue the nights Anniversary Celebrations before they were interrupted by Imperium. Gunther challenged DX to a fight, they declined, Seth Rollins music hit, he answered the challenge along with the Street Profits. 

Teddy Long announced it would be Imperium vs. Street Profits and Seth Rollins in a six man tag team match playa! Kurt Angle was the special referee and Jerry "The King" Lawler joined the commentary team for this one. Seth Rollins and Street Profits defeated Imperium. 

We saw more Hall of Famers, Ted DiBiase and IRS, who took all of Corbins winnings, Ron Simmons saw what happened and said, yes you guessed it. DAMN!

Bobby Lashley and MVP talked backstage ahead of Lashley's United States Championship opportunity against Austin Theory. 

Ric Flair introduced his daughter, the SmackDown Women's Champion, Charlotte, who made her way to the ring. She was interrupted by the RAW Women's Champion, the EST, Bianca Belair. Sonya Deville interrupted the champions and was challenged by Bianca, the match was made official during the commercial break. Bianca Belair defeated Sonya Deville. 

Bianca and Alexa hyped up their match at the Rumble.

The build to Cody's return continued. 

Kevin Owens stunned The Miz and put Roman Reigns on notice ahead of the Rumble and then hit Miz with another Stunner. 

Brock Lesnar returned during the No Disqualification Match for the United States Championship and hit Bobby Lashley and Austin Theory with F5's. Theory landed on Lashley to get the pinfall win, the closing moments of the show felt rushed. let's see where this goes next in terms of storyline progression. 

That does it for the review, if a rating has to be given it would be a five out ten, the first hour of the show was great, however, things seemed to hit a bump and slowed down as time went on.

Be sure to check out the archives on this website as well as the upcoming schedule. 

Thanks for reading.