Welcome back for another edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary Blog for the ODPH podcast & 607TWS talking pro wrestling. Last week was a very quiet week, but heading into Sunday, there’s a lot to talk about. In case you didn’t realize, it’s Royal Rumble Weekend for the WWE. There’s a lot of storylines to look at heading into the WWE’s 2nd biggest PPV of the year.
One of the best right now is Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens. Since his return with Paul Heyman, the “Head of The Table” has been putting out the best mic work of his career while giving us great matches. Owens is always solid & has ran with the underdog role in this one. They’ve battled over the past few months & this one feels like it will be the end match between them. Their last promo together on Smackdown was absolutely brilliant. Expecting a show stealer with their last man standing match
(prediction #andStill champ Roman Reigns).
Another one is Drew McIntyre Vs. Goldberg. McIntyre has been running things on RAW for months now & pending on who you ask, it’s been hit or miss. Ratings say one thing but the time we are in with no crowds says another. Either way, he was a puzzling challenger for Sunday. Whenever Goldberg appears, it feels (imo) that Vince is hitting an emergency alarm button. Grabbing a star from the past that generates a unique buzz but hasn’t put on great matches lately is a bit of a scare. Last few times, Goldberg has gotten the belt off of a new star. I fear we’re getting that here in a move to boost ratings.
(prediction: #andNEW on Sunday for the ‘chip).
The last one I’ll cover here is the Royal Rumble itself. 30 Superstars from Raw, Smackdown & NXT involved - 2 start, another entrant every 90 secs* until everyone’s in. expect surprise entrants thorughout. Only way eliminated is both feet touch the floor when they go over the top rope. This card is always the pace car for Wrestlemania season. The winner punches a ticket to Wrestlemania for a chance to face a champion for their belt. With WM being on 2 nights again ( THANK GOD), the winner here is gonna have some additional pressure on them to deliver a classic at the “Granddaddy of them all”. Let’s break down the field:
Women’s Royal Rumble (Current Champions: Asuka - Raw, Sasha Banks - Smackdown)
The field: WWE is tipping their hand a bit with entrants because WWE Backstage has a match with Tamina vs. Natalya for #30 entry. This match won’t factor too much. All signs point to Bianca Belair (SD) winning this year. She’s been on a roll since coming to the main roster & just defeated Bayley this past Friday. Plus she deadlifted Otis & ran with him with ease. She’s fantastic & deserves the win.
Other possible winners: Alexa Bliss (RAW), Rhea Ripley (NXT), Becky Lynch (RAW)*, Rhonda Rousey (RAW)* * = Surprise Entrant
Men’s Royal Rumble (Current Champions: Drew McIntyre - RAW, Roman Reigns - Smackdown)
The Field: This one is a little harder to predict. If Drew loses to Goldberg, then bank on Brock Lesnar to return & win. If Drew retains, expect the winner to come from Smackdown’s roster. WWE has done an incredible job of building up some contenders to seriously consider winning the match: Shinske Nakamura, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Big E & Daniel Bryan. Bryan has been hinting that this is his last run in the rumble & what better storybook moment would that be to win it? If Big E still has the IC title by match time, I rule him out. We know Edge is back & that would be a hell of a story too, but I feel he’s only back to finish things with Randy Orton. That being all said, I’m picking the Beast to win: Brock Lesnar.
Other possible winners: Edge (RAW), CM Punk (SD)*, Big E (SD), Keith Lee (RAW), Adam Cole (NXT)
* = Surprise Entrant
The Royal Rumble takes place 7pm EST on the WWE Network
Switching gears to AEW, They had 2 events you definitely should check out: their AEW Awards show on Bleacher Report before Dynamite & Amanda Huber, the wife of the late Brodie Lee was on the latest AEW Unrestricted podcast. As for AEW Dynamite, it was much better show than last week, but I want to talk about this match for a quick second:
Photo Credit to All Elite Wrestling
The best match (& imo feud on AEW right now) of this past week was Jungle Boy from Jurassic Express vs Dax from FTR. They stole the show with this match. Their story has been getting buried on the show for more Cody vs. Shaq time (yawn) & whatever the deal is with Young Bucks/ Kenny Omega/ Good Brothers/ Can you really call it the B****t C**b? saga. These two put on a epic match & I can’t wait to see the big payoff match between both teams.
In some NJPW news, we finally had KENTA meet up with Jon Moxley on NJPW Strong. No timetable about when we’re getting this match but sooner the better! PS: If you haven’t been following Tama Tonga on Twitter & Twitch, start. He’s always dropping epic content.
That being said, for more wrestling discussion, hit me up on Twitter & join in the chat (& follow) on Twitch this Sunday as we live react to the Royal Rumble card. See ya next time.