I love a surprise as much as the next guy, but especially this year it felt like they really got a lot out of their current roster. Especially in the women's rumble it felt like Triple H is showing off the women's roster the built up again or bolstered at least. Also, I really like Emma. And it was great seeing Damage Control dominate as much as they did, because they're a bloody team. Same with tag teams in the men's royal rumble.

Anyway, on the men's royal rumble we had probably the most obvious winner, but also the most logical and most interesting one. No matter the end result, the true winner is Gunther, for whom the whole thing was a star-making moment. Or one and a half hour or so. Anyway, the thing is that going with the obvious isn't necessarily a bad thing. In recent years, WWE booking was all about Vince's MOMENTS. It all seemed painfully tailored for youtube clips and surprising the audience with what they didn't expect at any cost. Tony Khan's booking was much smarter during that time, knowing that the logical/obvious outcome is in no way a bad thing, as long as there's this little doubt here and there during the match that the other guy might come out on top, even though it's extremely unlikely. It's like a roller coaster - you know how it'll end, but you're having a fun ride along the way, and there's this tiny hint here and there where you might get a bit excited. And that's even more satisfying I think than have some big swerve shoe-horned in. And Triple H knows that and utilizes that logic.

Those royal rumbles showed that pretty efficiently. There were the fun parts and the ha-ha and all, but most things just made sense. Having a team mate (and not bloody betray them after 5 seconds) in a royal rumble will be a great boon and so on. I'm not sure if it was necessary to have the (almost) winners all starting at #1 on both matches, but that doesn't really matter.


Also - piper niven's got her name back! I could have slapped the commentators properly for their silly wordplays about drop and "do" the minutes thereafter. I'm not a fan of Pat McAffee (neither am I a great fan of Corey Graves). But Pat is just too on the nose, too loud, too broad. Maybe he just reminds me of one or two people I knew and did NOT care for.

Speaking of people I don't care for - Logan effin' Paul. We all hate youtubers of course, and rightly so. He stole the Buckshot Lariat (I'm sure somebody did it before, that point is more half-jokingly). And then he pulls stuff like that stunt with Ricochet, and it's impossible to fully hate him. Which aggrevates me even more. Stupid Logan Paul being so good at the wrestling! At least they didn't bring out Bad Bunny.

Speaking of musicians who don't belong in a wrestling ring - well, good bloody thing we had country rock LEGEND Hardy there. Oh well. I don't know the guy, nobody I watched with knew the guy, it must be an American thing. It's just funny, because all these musicians are entirely unknown this side of the pond. Maybe I'm just ignorant. Poppy I can deal with. Black Sabbath I can deal with. But Migos? (sorry about the one of them who got killed recently. Condolences.) Hardy? Bloody Machinegun Kelly?

But that's really just nit-picking. This Royal Rumble is the best Premium Live Event since ... I don't know. Wrestle Princess III. It was brilliant. Okay, I wasn a wee bit drunk, but that never hurt a PPV, right?

Just like with Royal Rumble, it was a really fun event. Not very many matches, but each was different, served its purpose and it was fun. Women's elimination chamber match: great. Edge&Beth Phoenix vs. Judgement Day: much more fun than I'd thought. Finn Balor is becoming Daffy Duck. The crowd's reaction to Dominic Mysterio was great. How they turned him into this heat magnet was a masterstroke.Brock/Bobby - spectacular, as to be expected, with a result both can live with. Men's Elimination Chamber match - very good. Logan Paul is the biggest tit in the universe, isn't he. Next to him, Austin Theory looks like a good guy.

Then there was the main event. Holy Moly. Hate to admit it, but this felt bigger than Kenny/Hangman. I mean this is Sami Zayn. Kevin Owens and him are 'my guys'. And there he is as a pure babyface (his natural role) vs. Roman Reigns, being a heel. 18 months ago this would have been absolutely impossible to think of. Usually having the family there in the front row is too much and hokey, but it worked so well this time. The minutes they spent just milking the amazing moment at the beginning of the match was great. I think I say that on each PPV Reigns main-events in, but I've come to love the Roman Reigns Main Event. His facials are great.

The only thing I wasn't that keen on was the houseshow-y ending. That I felt was unnecessary. Okay, having KO come out was required, but that went on a bit too long I felt. And I just don't like the stunner as a move. Always feels like it's an hommage to Steve Austin rather than anything else. He could just as well have used the chairs.

Really keen to see what happens next.

...was solid fun!

I really like how different AEW and WWE book their PPVs. The latter is all about the big stories (or the occasional spectacle of big bodies slapping each other), the former is a bit more about the variety, and a litte bit more 'raw'. I like either right now. AEW could do better in some regards, but when you watch the actual matches and PPVs... it is good. Yes, WWE now know how to take their time. They're really good at the moment and that's brilliant. Yes, AEW suffered a bit over the past 6 months or so, but they still produce a.) the only alternative outside of Japan and b.) really good wrestling.

At the beginning I was unhappy with how they dealt with Ruby Soho (not that I'm a huge fan, but anyway). Now she's in the title picture! And then got a big storyline. And now on Dynamite she cut a great heel promo. The sort where you know she's right and she's got a point shame that it's the only women's match. AEW's got a strong women's roster. Remember that Yuka Sakazaki is technically a member of that roster? Get her over to the US, have her tear the house down. Hikaru Shida, Athena, Penelope Ford. I think Kylinn King is still on there? I liked her, even though some stuff she did on dark looked scary. Okay, Abadon can't be a main eventer, but heck, just give us a trios match or something. Trios women's match instead of Joe/Wardlow (no disrespect to either) or Jericho/Starks would have made for a nice, colourful affair. I just don't want to see the big, impressive lady who holds the Tbs title on a PPV. Or what's wrong with a women's royal rumble? Everybody loves a royal rumble, you get to showcase people, all is well.

Jericho - Starks was a very good opener. Nobody was really looking forward to that match all that much, right? But perfect for the opening spot. Ricky Starks is an interesting one, because he's such a natural heel, but it's also easy to root for him. Still, to me he works better as a heel. Look at the interview in the media scrum after the show.

Jungle Boy - Christian Cage was big drama and good fun. That belt whippig sequence was gnarly. Having Mrs. Perry and her daughter around is always fun.

The Elite (c) vs. The House of Black - cool. Great match. They made Brodi King look like a monster, which is good and correct. All of the House of Black are great. I don't get Julia Hart's role. I'm not keen on the hat either. I loved her turn and how long it took, and I loved her with the Varsity Blondes, but how she's this somewhat ill-fitting piece in the House of Black. Very funny when she took that bump though - at least Kenny Omega's reaction, because only Omega can do that without turning heel.

Samoa Joe (c) vs Wardlow- AEW TNT Championship match: Yeah, it was perfectly OK. Don't like the thing where tehy have the next contestant sit up in some loge and watch on. It's pretty distracting and has nothing to say.

Tag titles match: was perfectly OK! Also, correct call to keep the belts on the Gunns (on whom they missed out majorly by not calling them Young Gunns). Good to see FTR back. I hope they grab those titles now and turn the tag team division around again. I did not love The Acclaimed as babyfaces, I don't care much for the Gunns, I get the urge to go away when Lethal/Jarrett turn up. Didn't AEW have this amazing tag division once? Bucks, FTR, Top Flight, Butcher/Blade, the two dark order fun guys? They could also have Wheeler and Castagnoli as a tag team an time. And then they decide to push the Acclaimed and the Gunns as the centre of the tag division? Jeez.

Moxley - Hangman: Two men whose themes I LOVED and whose new themes I don't care for. Oh well. The match was ...yeah, it was a bit of a spot fest but it was alright.

The Ironman match was something else. I loved the little detail that MJF kept on hydrating (including H2O chants by the audience). Daniel Bryan is a scary man. In the beginning of the match he reminded me a LOT of the match he had with Brock Lesnar, where he had studied all those animal techniques before. But that match was quite something.

I mean there was a lot of Sports Entertain-y stuff in there, but I kinda liked the 4-pillars-promo. What surprised me the most was Darby Allin. Usually I don't give two hoots about the guy, but in this he came across the best out of all four. MJF did sports entertainy bollocks. First 2 minutes I was doubting him again, going wiht all that super-cheap heat. Then he put the hat on. Which - as we learned later - served a purpose, but you don't look like a champion with that hat on, surrounded by balloons.Jungle Boy came across as rather whiney. Sammy Guevara is an utter wally, but as long as he's a heel I'm somewhat okay with it. His promo was a bunch of lies as far as I know, but it fits the character. He's a tit. Then Darby started saying things and thought "god, young people are annoying" (the bloody film school anecdote. I mean we've seen his little films. Maybe sometimes it's not a bad idea to compromise one's vision) but then it got better and good.

.) I would have liked to see more of Miss Matthews. I know little about Taya Valkyie, but if she takes the tbs title off Jade Cargill, I'm okay with that.

.) Really like the look of The Outcasts. Do not like the use of the word "bitches", and it was a weird analogy. But again - Soho wasn't wrong, Storm wasn't wrong, Saraya was entertaining ("I AM A MIRACLE" is a great, simple heel line. ). They beat down the women's champion and Dr.Britt Baker (who in kayfabe should be pretty much the second strongest wrestler in the company) with ease, but then RIHO comes out. And there's nothing funnier than Riho hitting the ring, striking unholy fear into the hearts of large groups of main-event level heels. Nothing against Riho, she's really good, and I greatly enjoy her matches and joshi wrestling in general, but she isn't exactly the "muscle" type of wrestler. It's just really funny how she comes out with that tube or pipe and in her outfit and the baddies flee. We hat that before, where Riho returned after a long time, came out and beat the heels into submission, all the while wearing a very friendly looking dress. It was great. Anyway. Riho is great. Good to see her back. Not so good to see Skye Blue, but oh well. Nightingale of course is great, no question about that.

Also - that shot in the end. The baddies are in full retreat, Nightingale and Blue (groan) see them off as wrestlers do when the baddies are in full retreat. Riho, DER RING GENERAL, sitting atop the ring post, pointing her lead pipe or whatever that thing is like a general's baton. She is Alexander the Great.

Now we need to see this guy in the ring...

Really sad that Cody couldnt close it out Vs Roman and win it all, it would have been such a good ending to Wrestlemania!

The question now is who the hell can take the championships off Roman now? And why am I afraid that it will somehow be Orange Cassidy?!

They really got us with the result of the main event. Wtf.

I'm really down on the whole WWE thing again. I shall retire to the saccharine bubble of Tokyo Joshi Pro and watch AEW in between. Wake me up when Vince is gone.