WWE Universal Championship Match
Romain Reigns (c) vs Seth Rollins
Pre-Match Thoughts: Roman Reigns is the longest-reigning Universal champion in WWE history. Seth Rollins has history with Reigns from the Shield days, and also Reigns has a less-than-stellar record against Rollins in the ring. The build up is there. The match better be everything they promoted it to be.
Seth Rollins won via disqualification. Reigns retains championship.
Post-Match Comments: Yep, this was everything I wanted it to be except for Reigns to lose the belt. The ending was fine and leaves room for a future match. The action was amazing. I could watch this all day, every day. Thank you WWE for an amazing match!
Overall Match Rating: MUST WATCH!
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
Pre-Match Thoughts: If you follow the rumors, you have likely heard Ronda Rousey could be returning. That’s what I want to see. Please WWE. Make it happen!
Ronda Rousey won..
Post-Match Comments: Melina returns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There honestly isn’t enough exclamation points for that. I love Melina. Thank you WWE for making this happen and for Melina to agree to making it happen! Even if she didn’t last very long, I am still grateful to see her in WWE again. Thank God for Ronda! The bulk of the match was really boring, but it really picked up in the last 10-15 mins. I loved seeing Rousey and Shayna Baszler have a chance to team up during the match. I’d really like to see WWE do more with those two together now that they are both on the big brand at the same time.
Overall Match Rating: Worth Watching (the last 10-15 mins)
Raw Women’s Championship Match
Becky Lynch (c) vs Doudrop
Pre-Match Thoughts: I honestly don’t care for this match. There’s no way Lynch loses this match, and I’ve been outspoken on social media that I felt Lynch came back way too soon. I don’t like her style in the ring anymore. I think she’s lost a step. Her heel persona doesn’t bother me, but her quality of matches does. I like Doudrop, but I don’t think they’re giving her an opportunity to really succeed. Let her go on a winning spree through the Raw womens division and really build her up as the monster that she is. Anyway, I’m definitely going into this one with some serious prejudice. Hey, I’m human!
Becky Lynch won via pinfall to retain championship. (Of course she did!)
Post-Match Comments: It was a match. Two people wrestled. One person won. I wish I had taken a bathroom break. This was so predictable.
Overall Match Rating: Skip It – not because the action wasn’t OK, but because it was easy to tell who was going to win two weeks ago.
WWE Championship Match
Bobby Lashley vs Brock Lesnar (c)
Pre-Match Thoughts: This match should be amazing. Fans (and Lashley!) have been begging for this match for years! Lesnar is clearly set up to face Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania, so I wonder how this will all pan out. Either a Champion vs Champion match or Lesnar drops the title tonight for some reason. I hope there’s no outside interference and we get to see the massive SLOBBERKNOCKER that we’ve all wanted to see with Lesnar and Lashley. These two should have one of the best matches on the card. This is certainly Wrestlemania worthy!
Lashley won via pinfall to become new WWE Champion.
Post-Match Comments: Reigns interfered at the end, with the help of a reluctant Paul Heyman, to allow Lashley to win the title. You do not have to be a genius to predict that Brock Lesnar will likely be in the men’s royal rumble match after this. WWE doesn’t need to do this because Lesnar is rightfully the next man in line for Reigns and we all know they’ve been building up to it at Wrestlemania. But they probably booked themselves into a corner with how incredible the Seth Rolling match was. I’m guessing we’ll see Rollins vs Reigns Part 2 at the Elimination Chamber event and then Reigns vs Lesnar at Wrestlemania.
Overall Match Rating: Worth Watching!
Edge & Beth Phoenix vs The Miz and Maryse
Pre-Match Thoughts: I honestly haven’t cared about this match since they booked it on Raw weeks ago. I don’t care to see Maryse back in the ring, and I don’t care to see Edge in a match that potentially takes him out of the Royal Rumble match. Edge and Miz could both be doing much better things, and this does nothing good for either of them to build up to a Wrestlemania showing that we all care about. WWE, you have screwed this one up!
Edge & Beth Phoenix win via pinfall.
Post-Match Comments: OK, so this match was much better than I thought it was going to be. Beth Phoenix and Maryse had way more time to shine. I was shocked to see how many moves Maryse was able to pull off. Maybe Maryse was the missing link I was needing all along! I wasn’t surprised by the ending and support the comments I mentioned above before the match, but this was a pleasant surprise on the card. Kudos to all involved!
Overall Match Rating: Worth Watching
Men’s Royal Rumble Match
Pre-Match Thoughts: My prediction before the night was that AJ Styles would go on to win the rumble match. If he doesn’t win, I’m predicting Randy Orton although that’s probably a sad long shot because WWE likes him in the tag team scene right now as RKBro. They also keep teasing Randy Orton getting upset and leaving the main man Bro behind in feud, which could be what we end up seeing at Wrestlemania. But how can you turn Randy Orton heel so quickly when he’s clearly so over with the fans as a babyface right now!? Anyway, with the Lesnar match ending, I’m guessing he will show up here. But keep in mind that he really doesn’t need to win this match to still face Lesnar at Wrestlemania. Anyone can win this. Please…. anyone! Don’t be predictable WWE!
Brock Lesnar won.
Post-Match Comments: WWE is predictable. But I really wasn’t all that disappointed. Sure, we’ve seen Lesnar destroy everyone in a Rumble match before, but the ending pit Drew McIntyre against Lesnar again as a call back to two years ago in the same match. This was good storytelling at the end. I did love how the crowd boo’d hard when Lesnar tossed out Randy Orton. I agree. I really wanted Orton to win after AJ Styles was tossed out earlier in the match. Aside from the last 10 minutes, you can skill the rest of the match. Nothing notable happened that is worth your time going back to watch. Surprise of the night? Bad Bunny returns and actually looked good in the match! Lastly, can I just say how angry I am that Big E did a load of nothing in this match? Any momentum he had built up is almost completely gone. WWE you ruined this one. Good luck bringing him back.
Overall Match Rating: Worth Watching the last 10-minutes only. Skip the rest.
Overall Show Rating: Worth Watching
Final Comments: I’ve already seen the fan screaming bloody murder on Twitter tonight. I may be in the minority, but I enjoyed most of this. Reigns/Rollins was incredible. Lesnar/Lashley was good up until the end, and even that was OK. Surprise with Maryse in the ring. Incredibly happy to see Melina back, even though she didn’t last long. Thank the heavens that Ronda Rousey has returned! And we get our path to Lesnar vs Reigns at Wrestlemania. I’m pleased overall.
