AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn ***1/2
A very intriguing match to start off the show. Slow from the beginning as expected, but it eventually picked up steam, and the crowd was red hot for it. The ending of the match was good, and it progresses the storyline further.
Usos vs Benjamin and Gable ***1/4
Man this match was going great up until the ending, which left a bad taste in the mouth. It certinaly didn't help Benjamin and Gable. The match itself was well wrestled as expected, with a lot of fun and cool spots. Keeping the title on the Usos is a no brainer for me, but I would have liked it if Benjamin and Gable at least won a fall.
Men's Royal Rumble ****
One of the best Rumble matches in recent memory, filled with great moments and impressive performances. Balor and Rusev was a great duo to start of the match, with Rusev probably being the most over wrestler on the entire show, well next to Nakamura. Balor had an amazing performance, lasting from number 2 all the way to the final 4. This match had a ton of highlights and memorable moments so I will just name a few : Elias entrance, Baron Corbin freaking out, everyone kicking Slater on their way to the ring, the NXT champion Andrade Cien Almas coming it at number 7 and having a GREAT performance, Kofi Kingston's leap, Hurricane Helms, and Rey Mysterio (who looks amazing) returning, Adam Cole entering, and of course Rusev Day. The ending of the match was fantastic.The final sequence between Reigns and Nakamura was great, and Nakamura eliminating both Cena and Reigns to win the match was the perfect way to book him. The only thing that I disliked about this match was the absolute waste of Dolph Ziggler, besides that everything about it was great.
Cesaro and Sheamus vs Rollins and Jordan **1/2
Not a bad idea storyline wise, but the structure of the card fcked this match over.
Brock vs Kane vs Braun **
This was a mess! From Brock going MMA on Strowman, Kane taking the F5, and Strowman putting himself through a table I'd rather not waste much time talking about this one.
Women's Royal Rumble **3/4
Let me start this off with saying that, NO I don't think it was a good idea at all to have this match be the main event. Especially since : A) It raped the flow of the show, and B) the men's match was one of the best in a long time. Don't get me wrong it had its moments, and if it switched places with the men's rumble match I would have been completely ok with it. Lets first look at the positives before diving into the problems I had :
1. Sasha Banks had a beast performance,
2 .Seeing some of the old WRESTLERS was nice.
3. Lita Trish and Michelle McCooll looked better then almost the entire current women's roster,
4. Beth vs Nia was cool.
5. Asuka vs Ember Moon was great.
6. Asuka winning
Now on to the bad :
1. S2-D2 on commentary was dreadful, the only two things she kept spamming were "OOOOOO", and "this is a revolution".
2. It had no buissness being the closing match.
3. The wrestling was clunky for the most part.
4. While some of the nostalgic moments and returns were cool, nostalgia alone can't carry the match, which leads me to my next point.
5. None of the current roster girls (except for Asuka) got a reaction from the crowd. I wonder why, they have been booked so well in the past.
6. Pretty much all of the "surprise entrants" were on the 25th anniversary of Raw, so it really wasn't that much of a surprise.
7. Rousey coming out after the match was great and all, but here is a bright idea, WHY NOT HAVE HER ENTER THE ACTUAL MATCH AND WIN IT. Instead she comes out after the match and points at the WM sign TWICE. Why? Does she get a free title shot at Wrestlemania? If so, then I do hope they realize that all the effort and hard work put into this match by the wrestlers, and the history making meaning of it, which was shoved down everybody's throat so much, is instantly erased if a chick can come out, POINT AT A SIGN, TWICE, and get a title shot despite not even being in the match. But hey, Its a revolution.
Overall : 7/10 - Despite it's problems, I still had a blast watching this show. If the structure of the card was better, it would have probably gotten a higher rating.
