US and Universal Title matches are pretty easy to call, but both Rumble’s are intriguing. Becky/Bayley and Cody/Punk are the prohibitive favourites, but I smell the potential for a swerve. Very much looking forward to both matches.
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I'm looking forward to the Rumble's. I don't watch WWE regularly so I have no clue who the favourites are for the women's match...but, unless the Rock makes an appearance, I'd say Cody/Punk make a lot of sense for the men.
I'm guessing Logan Paul is the favourite in the US match?
Yep. Can’t see any reason for him to drop the belt here when Mania is just a couple of months away, but the match should be good.
I kind of zone in and out on WWE these days, but the Rumble to Wrestlemania season is usually when my attention is at its highest. It helps that my son is a huge Cody fan and basically treats him as a superhero, so you know who we’re cheering for tonight!
This and Summerslam season feel like the actual story
The rest can be OK but definitely feel like filler
Feel like Punk is gonna win and guarantee his shot at Seth
Cody can lose and overcome adversity at Elimination Chamber to face Roman again
Can't believe this is Punk's first televised match in WWE. Feels like he's been there for months by now lol.
Bayley wins! Was that the right move?
I think so. One of her stablemates is the current champ on SD, so that story writes itself. I doubt she’ll challenge Rhea, but a swerve in that direction could be cool.
I woke up late this morning (Manila local time) so I only got to started watching live during the Logan Paul vs. Kevin Owens match. I was so relieved the wrong finalist didn’t win the men’s Rumble match.
Watching the PLE replay now, boy did my goosebumps raise with the surprise entrants to the women’s Rumble!
I loved how they hit the surprises right from the get go. It kind of tempered my expectations for a big surprise later in the match, and in the meantime, the women worked so hard to keep the focus in ring. I’d have to rewatch, but in the now, I think the women’s match was slightly better than the men’s.
I just saw on the women’s match the on-screen graphics for some of their time in the ring. Did they have that too for the men’s match? It didn’t show up on our Disney+ livestream
EDIT (for visual)
Cody wins. That was the right call imo.
A special thanks to you for making the night memorable. Hopefully I’ll catch you around here from time to time. Cheers!
Likewise! I don't usually watch WWE but I'm usually here live for the AEW threads /TNA PPV's. But if people aren't here live they'll often show up after the fact. I know Geek likes to watch these shows early in the morning, and he'll usually respond to any comments you make. Same goes for others too. We're all still trying to grow this place, slowly, brick by brick. Good to have you here man!
It may be a small sample size, but so far the best thing here is that everyone is cool with each other. If we keep that vibe, this place will grow.
I’ll make sure to pop in for Dynamite next week!
Nice! And the vibes have happened really organically. A lot of us came over during the Reddit migration and I think many of us were just sick of how tribal the other /SC had become. So far, it's really cool here. I like to think it's like a friend's basement where we're all just hanging out, enjoying the show. Some of us stay sober, some of us have a few beers, some of us smoke, bit we're all just bonding over our love of wrestling. No matter which show you watch.
Just want to add that I love, love, love Michael Cole standing to call the match. Makes it seem so much more important.
I noticed that too. It was a nice touch.
This is my first time seeing Nia Jax and boy is she rough...
I think they try to sell it as “part work part shoot” with her but it’s pretty obvious that she’s just not that good in the ring. On the other hand, having Jade debut by taking her out was a good call.
Yeah, if there's one thing Nia does well it's get heat. The crowd hated her.
And agree about Jade. Smart move to start her off strong.
She’s also willing to get as good as she gives. I couldn’t find a clip of the whole match without the Cornette commentary, so if you’re not a fan of the guy, I apologize in advance. That being said, if tonight was your first look at Jax, I present to you this total debacle of work/shoot/work/work/shoot/shoot and hope you enjoy…
The little “time elapsed by competitor” graphic is a nice touch.
The women's rumble was the highlight of the entire show for me. The men's started slow but got better, IMO.
Edit: I forgot to mention Chelsea Green was a fucking trooper, she was very entertaining, and the best thing that ever happened for her was Piper bullying her way to the tag championships with Green, they are gold together.
Logan Paul continues to be impressive, Kevin Owens may just bring out the best in him, wasn't a big fan of the finish but if they want to push it to a final match at Mania it was for the best.
Roman again proves he needs interference to win a match, I'm so tired of this, I hope Cody gets to "finish the story" and that Rock isn't involved.
Now to the press conference...
Cody handled the Vince question like a PR guy... On the other hand, Triple H should have kept his stupid mouth shut because it made him look stupid and like he doesn't take it seriously.
Mishandling the post-show doesn't make him guilty of anything... but, damn the guy had three days to come up with something other than no comment, and he still couldn't just say no comment. I'm still in the camp without an investigation or the court going to discovery and the names coming out I can't demand he be fired without evidence, but I can say that if it were me making the decisions going forward TKO should have a PR guy handle the post shows, hell make Cody EVP again to do it. His response soured my defending of him until more is known, but I'm not ready to toss in the towel yet, but yeah, it wasn't great.
Not to speculate too much, but the lack of Mercedes here could very well indicate that she’ll be appearing in AEW soon.
Sounds like it's all but set in stone. If it is, TK should debut her ASAP.
I can’t believe he hasn’t tweeted about it yet, haha.
Didn't wait long to bring im Naomi. As a TNA fan I'm gonna miss her though.
So I went and watched the clip of Jordynne Grace in the Rumble. Honestly, I was shocked at how they put her over. Seems like they put a lot more respect on TNA with her appearance than they did with Mickie James in 2022; mentioning the TNA Knockouts championship by name, making a point of the fact that she beat Naomi for the belt, and not only letting her dominate the match for a bit, but commentary also selling her dominance. Loved the quote "TNA has an absolute weapon as champion!"
And out comes Grace. One of the main reasons I'm watching right now lol
More of a TNA guy myself as well. Cheers!
TNA's great! Might actually be my favourite wrestling show these days lol.
And I know she won't win this but I really hope Grace does well here. So far so good I think.
I live relatively close to Windsor so it’s kind of my home promotion, at least whenever they’re in town. Already have tickets to Sacrifice in March.
Grace had a good showing and a memorable elimination, so that’s about as good as we could have hoped for I think.
Nice! I'm just north of the GTA. There's a bunch of us Canucks here on Kbin. You, me, Geek, Cupcake.
Agreed. She looked great. And commentary did a good job of making her seem like a big deal.
Happy to be part of the Canuck contingent!
Commentary did a great job of selling Grace’s importance and that’s almost better than her actual showing in the ring. Very pleased with her performance and happy to see TNA/WWE being chummy. I feel like Scott D’Amore is very well respected in the industry and is arguably the best booker right now solely given what he’s working with compared to others. HBK is probably second, just due to getting so much out of raw talent.
I saw it was spoiled, and I still was happy about it, she works hard and took a lot of flack for the voice change from the steroids, but she's an excellent performer, I hope WWE gives her a look after this when her contract is up, assuming she wants to move.
I must have missed the voice change stuff (thankfully) but my impression was that she’s always gotten flack for being a mark for herself. However, the fact that she’s married to Gresham makes me wonder whether she’s just catching that by proxy. Great performer and definitely due a serious look from WWE when//if she wants to test the waters.
No other result than Roman here, but I’m sure we’ll get a good match nonetheless. Just hope everyone else gets a good showing in defeat.
WWE just totally leaning into the Slim Jim stuff here.🤣
This is a great final four. Anyone can logically win. Let’s go Gunther!!
Omos is massive lol.