Cody Rhodes Wins The Royal Rumble For The Second Year In A Row
After much speculation about whether or not The Rock would be cucking the Roman Reigns WrestleMania main event from Cody Rhodes this year, it seems as if The American Nightmare's path back to the championship is safe.
Rhodes just won the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row, last eliminating CM Punk, and pointed right up to the Tribal Chief in the press box to signify that his "decision" was already made. In terms of a winner for the Men's Rumble match, I thought Cody was the best case scenario. I need to see him finish the story against Roman at WrestleMania. It 1000% should've happened last year -and every day that has passed since WrestleMania 39 has proved that more and more - so it better happen this year.
I'll be honest, though, I didn't think it wasn't a great match until it was down to maybe the final four. There weren't a ton of memorable moments, we didn't really get any huge surprises (other than Andrade El Idolo returning after a three year stint in AEW and NXT's Bron Breakker making his Rumble debut), and it started reeeaaally slow. I thought the Women's Rumble that kicked off the show (won by Bayley) was more enjoyable for the most part, and definitely had the better eliminations....
Thank god Sami Zayn is as beloved as he is, because I think a lot of wrestlers woulda got booed coming out at #30 simply for not being The Rock in that moment - similar to Rey Mysterio getting booed outta Philly for not being Daniel Bryan. Maybe we'll just have to wait another year for that familial matchup, though.
Match of the night goes to Kevin Owens and Logan Paul, in my opinion, who battled it out for the United States Championship in what felt like the first encounter of many. Logan Paul tried to use brass knuckles in the match, which were stolen and used by KO - leading to a disqualification finish.
I assume they'll continue this feud to WrestleMania, where they'll attach a stipulation like "No Holds Barred" or "TLC" to a marquee match and let these boys go wild. All eyes will be on Logan Paul for Mania, and Kevin Owens is the perfect dance parter for him who'll bump his ass off and make Paul look great along the way.
The Fatal-4-Way for Roman Reigns' WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship was alright, but the finish was such a forgone conclusion it was a bit hard to fully invest and allow the match to kick into high gear. Cody needs to take that title off Reigns ASAP so we can get that Roman/Rock match for the title of 'Tribal Chief' of their family. That doesn't need a championship attached to it and never did - in fact, I'd argue the title would just make the finish more predictable. If no gold is on the line, I can buy The Rock coming in and winning there, only to drop a rematch to Roman like he did with Cena. If the Universal Championship is up for grabs, though, we all know Rock isn't winning it.
Overall, the Rumble wasn't a bad show, but it just didn't "hit like crack" like some promised….
Some WrestleMania match predictions coming out of tonight….
-Bayley vs Rhea Ripley for the Women's World Championship
-Jade Cargill vs Bianca Belair
-Gunther vs Bron Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship
-Kevin Owens vs Logan Paul for the United States Championship
-Jey Uso vs Jimmy Uso
-CM Punk vs Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship
-Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship
P.S. Shoutout to the Mostly Sports FAMILY for a great stream tonight….
P.P.S. Just as I was about to publish this blog, Nick Hausman asked Cody Rhodes a question about the Vince McMahon allegations from this week….
I thought that was worth sharing, and felt like Cody did a good job answering a question that is very hard to answer.
If anyone brings it up with Triple H, I'll update this blog and share his response as well.
UPDATE: Here ya go - Jon Alba, CeeHawk, and Brandon Thurston all brought up the allegations against Vince with Triple H, who predictably didn't really comment much….