For the first time in decades, since the days that I used to leave a VHS tape recording all night to record an event on Sky, I've decided to watch a WWE PPV, the morning after it aired and ahead of any spoilers. It was quite emotional to do, even if perhaps there were some elements of the event that annoyed me. For the record, I've not really been an avid viewer of WWE programming since it moved to BT Sports, but the move to Netflix has allowed me to get back to it.
From the Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis, this event had Michael Cole, Wade Barrett and Pat McAfee on commentary.
It began with the Women's Royal Rumble match. I thought that overall, this match was pretty solid - save for the ending that was pretty underwhelming, not because I dislike Charlotte particularly, just that it was a low-key finish. There were returns for Alexa Bliss and for the aforementioned Flair - though she was expected to return. I was struck by how generic so much of the entrance music was, and it's clear that occasionally there were "wait, who is this?" moments from the crowd.
Following some awful Slim Jims adverts, the next match was a two out of three falls match between DIY (Ciampa and Gargano) and the Motor City Machine Guns. Whether they're a little burned out by the rumble or not, the crowd don't seem very into this match - which is solid stuff on the most part until it's ruined by an ending run in from the Street Profits.
Then we see a WWE Championship ladder match between Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes. This was great, exactly my sort of match, full of big dangerous bumps and ending with one that could easily have gone wrong and looked dangerous. I wonder if we're seeing the start of a heel turn for Rhodes though, as he seemed to revel in the damage he'd caused to Owens at the conclusion of the match.
Finally, the men's Royal Rumble. Again, not many surprises, no Malachi/Alestair/Tommy Black/End. The only returning legend was John Cena's which was announced ahead of time. Joe Hendry's appearance was widely predicted. There was star power though, with Roman Reigns in for the first time in years, CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Jacob Fatu. Again, the match was good and advanced the stories nicely.
Generally, I thought that the actual wrestling on the show was pretty solid, however, in retrospect I should have used the fast forward option to cut out so much of the disinteresting adverts and background stuff and get the runtime down. I understand that there's a desire for a sports like presentation, but I don't watch any of that sort of stuff when I watch the NFL either. I'd have felt much more positive about the show if it had cut some of that cut out and we'd had another match on the card- probably a title defence by Walter or Rhea Ripley.
