WWE Royal Rumble 2022

We get the kickoff panel talking about how hyped the building is...as it appears to be dead. Rumble history hype vid showcases Edge's return two years ago. Roman vs. Seth starts off with Roman's goofy CG and then SETH COMES OUT IN SHIELD GARB TO THE SHIELD THEME! Triple dives to Roman. Diving knee meets an uppercut. Seth running powerbombs Roman through the announce table. Buckle bomb has been rebranded THE SHIELD BOMB and gets 2.

Roman "hits" some mounted strikes and a powerbomb for 2. Superman punch gets 2 because of course it does. Seth counters the spear with a pedigree for 2. Seth sets up the stomp but almost eats a uranage before landing Kawada kicks. Roman gets the guillotine and Seth laughs. He goes out and the ref lifts his hand up AND AS IT FALLS IT HITS THE ROPE. Roman better be careful or he'll get DQed for kicking too much ass. YUP, DQED! Unreal. A billion chairshots and Roman looks on orgasmically.

Women's rumble is up and Sasha's out in Sailor Moon cosplay. Melina comes out does the splits and straddles the mat a few times before being chucked out and getting into a splits-off. Tamina is out and eats a pair of meteoras. Kelly is out for a reverse rana and gets tossed out. Aliyah is out to NO REACTION. She gets  Thesz press to Sasha and a kick-ish thing to Tamina. Boy did they kill Liv off with both her booking and then changing her fantastic theme to...whatever this is. THREE AMIGOS BY SASHA!

Zelina is out and gets Sasha out. Bel Air is out to carry the load. Dana is out and...hits...a basement dropkick. Michelle is out and hits a faith breaker and then chucks out Dana. Sonya has so much more presence now than she did in her HAIR UP AND SQUARE UP days. She's got the jacket on so she isn't wrestling now - and she's doing commentary instead. Nattie's out and tosses Tamina and almost gets Bianca out but she saves herself. 

CAMERON IS OUT. Girl Bye incoming. Sonya destroys her since she's a "friend of Naomi". GIRL BYE and Naomi's out for a brawl. Carmella's out with Corey putting her over huge. WE. JUST. HAD. A HEEL. STALL. Jesus! RHEA'S OUT and does the stomp. Rhea takes out the tag champs with a dropkick before Charlotte comes out to AR stars. 

Charlotte runs wild before we get a Scar-Mufasa spot with Naomi and Sonya. Sonya is the face for nixing the annual bullshit and IVORY IS OUT in her RTC getup. Ivory sees LOST GIRLS and she wants to see women. Brie's out and hits forearms. Shocked they didn't refer to Bryan Bella there with the Yes chant. Mickie's out to her Impact theme and with the belt and gets rid of Michelle with a rana to pay off the Piggy James deal. Rhea and Nikki battle and Rhea calls her a twat. FOXY out being amazing! Summer Rae is out to face Nattie. Nattie chucks her and tells her to kiss her ass.

Sarah Logan returns in viking garb and reunites briefly with Liv before getting tossed by the Bellas, who then take Liv out. Lita DDTs Mickie and Corey says now it's Lita's time to make an Impact. Mighty Molly is out. WWE HALL OF FAMER MIGHTY MOLLY! Nikki ASH beats her up on the floor. Molly's chucked out and NOW IT'S RONDA TIME!

Ronda takes out ASH and BRIE TAKES OUT NIKKI BELLA! Shotzi's out and Shayna's the last one out. Ronda takes out Shotzi and Nattie's gone. Nattie gets taken out twice for a NEW WORLD RECORD. The state of Ronda's stomps. Shame she didn't come around in the PRIDE days. Charlotte boots Rhea out. Charlotte takes out Bianca and Shayna - leaving it to Ronda and Charlotte to set up WM. RONDA POINTS!

Becky vs. DouDrop. Long chinlock. Long sleeper. DD avoids a longer sleeper. Another sleeper. Becky armbars her like Ronda before a Rampage bomb. Senton to death by DD. THIS MATCH. WILL NOT END. EVER. Becky eats headbutts. HOW DARE THEY DO A NEARFALL. END! Big Ending by DD gets 2. SUPER MANHANDLE SLAM ends it after 78,239 years! 

Brock vs. Lashley is up! Jimmy Smith adds so much to Brock's matches with their MMA backgrounds. He says a lot of guys, like Herring and Carwin wanted to take him to the limit and couldn't. GERMAN BY LASHLEY SENDS LESNAR ON HIS NECK! Lashley is busted up and he eats two Germans. TWO SPEARS TO LESNAR! MORE GERMANS! F5, BUT LASHLEY GETS THE HURT LOCK! Brock chucks Lashley into the ref and then F5S LASHLEY INTO THE REF TOO! ROMAN SPEARS BROCK! Roman demands the belt from Heyman and he belt shots Brock! HEYMAN LEAVES WITH ROMAN AND LASHLEY WINS IT. Well that was a shitty way to win it.

Mixed tag is up. This match needs to be 99% intro, spear, glam slam - over. Maryse runs away and looks great doing it. Miz gets the yes kicks and looks bad doing it. Maryse's thong is by far the best thing about this match and her comedy with Miz. Loaded purse gets 2. WACKY faceoff with Miz and Beth. Beth powerbombs Miz into an Edge flying elbow that is...more Punk than Savage. MARYSE HITS A LITACANRANA TO EDGE and her DDT to Beth. Double spears, double glam slams,and the faces win.

FINALLY Rumble time! AJ comes out and does HBK's pose to tease this 2005 dream match in 2022. Bunch of not much between AJ and Nakamura before Theory comes out. Roode's out and gets a TNA chant with AJ before getting chucked out. RIDGE comes out and HOOKPLEXES AJ after taking out Nakamura. He's also got a modified version of Sheamus' OG theme. Montez is out and then Sami before Johnny Knoxville is around. Everyone beats up Johnny and Sami helluva kicks him out. Omos talks out the Profits and chops Ricochet down with an overhand Khali chop to the chest. 

Everyone gangs up on Omos thanks to Gable and AJ's forearm takes out Omos. Corbin takes out Ricochet. Sheamus V triggers AJ. Boogz is out and runs wild with Gable. ONE-ARM PRESS BY BOOGZ TO TAKE OUT GABLE! Moss tosses out Styles. Corbin takes out Boogz. Drew beats up the Happy Folks. BAD BUNNY RUNS WILD and then takes folks out. Shane returns! Poetry in Motion RKO by Riddle. Brock's out and chucks dudes before it comes down to him and Drew. Brock tosses Drew out while Drew looks on sadly.

AEW Dynamite 1-12-22

 

Dynamite returns to DC next week - and if they set up a big card this week, I'll go. If it's a middling show, then I won't even with a ticket. That's one nice thing about using Stubhub for it - much lower price than Ticketmaster and I got insurance on the ticket anyway due to COVID concerns. Working retail, you can't be too sure and it was only $15 - which is nothing for a $200 ticket. And yes, THAT'S CHEAPER THAN TICKETMASTER. If it's got Sting working a match, I'm there - never seen him live and this will probably be the last chance to do it. 

Cole starts the show and says he's undefeated in one on one action. THE BOYS are back and KOR is rocking out to his theme perfectly. We get the Bucks out in Saved By the Bell getups and more Bucks vs. ReDRagon teases with them definitely wanting a war. Big brawl and Kris gets curb stomped by Britt and THE BOOM hits OC. Go Big-Show preview and it's Wardlow time. Tremendous SYMPHONY OF PAIN video for Wardlow. 

Wardlow's out in a new, brighter purple and white getup that gets you used to him being in a babyface role slowly. Punk's out with a WALMART MIZ sign in-frame perfectly. Wardlow teases a powerbomb symphony, but Punk rolls outside. Punk's tornado DDT is tossed off. POWERBOMB SYMPHONY TO PUNK! He has it! But MJF wants more and stops the count. A SIXTH POWERBOMB and MJF wants more! SEVEN POWERBOMBS! Powerbomb through the table by Wardlow is not a DQ and gets a near countout. MJF wants another, but a FLASH SMALL PACKAGE GETS THE PIN FOR PUNK!

Hobbs vs. Dante Martin is up and Dante gets a crazy crossbody to the floor with Hobbs taking a crazy bump. Spinebuster on the floor by Hobbs and a Biel FROM THE FLOOR TO THE RING by Hobbs! Dante avoids the rack with a knee. Dante gets uppercutted and sails over...sorta. MASSIVE missile dropkick gets 2 for Martin. TORNILLO ON THE FLOOR! Sliding kick to Hobbs draped in the ropes! Starts sneaks around before Lethal helps out and the NOSEDIVE ENDS IT! DANTE MARTIN WINS IT! 

Inner Circle bickers with Kingston. MJF comes out and says YOU'LL GET THE MATCH. CM Punk vs. SHAWN SPEARS in DC. Well, That kills my hype a bit. Britt and Cole vs. OC and Kris is made for next week. Page is out with a BEYOND BEEF COWBOY graphic and says he's spilled enough blood to float a battleship with Bryan before Dan Lambert talks about great cowboys - and instead of Hansen and Watts, now we get the urban cowboy. Archer comes down and Lambert is scared - until he attacks Page!

Arn and his boys talk about being in Horsemen country before Tully and FTR talk about how they're really Horsemen - and we'll get an open challenge next week. Shotty Lee and Brock vs. FTR should be...fine. Jade hype video showcases her daughter and win. Serena jumps Shida before the bell to take the knee out and then destroys it mid-ring. Serenity lock ends it before some Kendo sticks shots to the knee and that's good stuff. I feel like I should care about this Deeb-Shida angle more than I do. 

Jurassic Express and Christian chat with Tony and we get a nice, fiery babyface promo from Jack before Hunks and Meat come in for the open challenge for Rampage. Matt's out in NC and says that Penta's lucky TRULY got bad when his HFO beat them! He will DELETE Penta and send him to his brother in the hospital. LONG Ciero meido/DELETE bit like this is a match in an armory and not on global TV. PENTA stomp gets 2. APRON SIDE EFFECT gets 2 for Matt. Twist avoided and a gamenguri to the neck MATT MOONSAULT MISSES! Superkick to the gut and the package piledriver hits and ends it. Penta calls out Malakai and says he'll show him SOME RESPECT! 

Malakai jumps Alex and attacks Penta. Varsity Blonds surround him and BRODY KING ATTACKS THEM! Bear Country vs. the Acclaimed is up. Mic drop ends it. IT'S STINGGGGGG and Darby! Sting saunters out and DARBY DIVES INTO CASTER! Sting takes out Bowens with the bat. Coffin splash and the death drop hits! PAC video about him possibly never seeing again. Sting and Darby against the Acclaimed in DC!? Definitely glad I've got my ticket to the show!

Matt Hardy tells Tony that SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE and Andrade tells him to focus - he's a businessman and so is he. Andrade will seemingly be buying some contracts. Sammy and Garcia go at it quickly with rapid-fire matwork. Hard overhand shots by Sammy before a snap suplex gets 2. Leapfrog, then a moonsault leapfrog before a third jump meets a backbreaker from Garcia. DOUBLE-JUMP SOMERSAULT BY SAMMY TO GARCIA!

Corner uppercut, big rabbit lariat and a backdrop driver gets 2.9! Scorpion deathlock WITH A BACK BEND! Sammy gets the ropes and Danny misses a corner dropkick. Shitty Cross Rhodes gets 2. Double dump into the cutter and Garcia turns it into a bulldog choke! PILEDRIVER GETS 2.99999! 2.0 jump Kingston and Jericho before Sammy brings him in for a knee before the GTH gets countered into a cradle for 2. GTH after Matt Lee bonks heads with Danny! Jericho and Kingston bicker after Jericho makes a save with the bat and oh yeah Sammy's there too. Sammy getting And Zoidberg'd in his own main event.

AEW Saturday Fight Night - Battle of the Belts 1-8-22

Dustin vs. Sammy, Starks vs. Sydal, and Riho vs. Baker are on tap. Dustin vs. Sammy opens up and David Crockett Jr. will present the belt to the winner. Sammy works as the cocky heel here posing in the corner and doing muscle poses. Sammy gives Arn a finger gun and Arn gives him the bird! Snap powerslam gets 2.9 after Dustin almost wins via countout - which would net the title in this instance. 

Big lariat gets a flip sell from Dustin. Double jump 450 dive...kinda hits...  MASSIVE sell for the Cross Rhodes there - love it! Code Red hits for 2.5. Dustin goes up and eats GTH for 2.9! DESTROYER OFF THE APRON BY DUSTIN THROUGH A TABLE Fuego set up. I'm so cool with this being a start for one last singles run with Dustin. 2.99 OFF THAT!  Pair of Cross Rhodes but Sammy avoids the Tiger Driver '98! Sunset flip back and forth ends it with Sammy coming out ahead. 

Dustin and Sammy hug and Danny Garcia goes nose to nose to set up another match. Sammy says he doesn't give a shit about Danny Garcia and he'll take him out on Dynamite. Taz and Ex hype up the FTW Title and Ex says it was originally the Brooklyn World TItle - wow! Sydal gets a  jumping kick and then we go to a break...okay then. Spear and Roe Sham Bow ends it. Lee Moriarty comes out and eats a beating before Dante Martin comes out for a save. Enzuiguri and the shotgun dropkick send Hobbs out.

Riho-Britt hype video gives the match maybe 15 minutes. More Hayter vs. Britt build with Jamie tossing the belt around. Slingblade on the floor by Britt. Britt reverses a dragon suplex into a lockjaw. Riho evades and gets the rope. Mid-ring rollthrough by Britt gets the lockjaw again and Riho turns it into a cradle for 2. CURB STOMP HITS for 2.9! Rebel gives her the belt and then the ref FINALLY kicks her out! Jamie and Britt bicker and a crucifix bomb hits alongside a northern lights for 2.999. Spike curb stomp gets another 2.9. Lockjaw is on and wins it!

AEW Rampage 1-7-22

 It's been a bit since I've done ongoing Rampage coverage - but I didn't get run too ragged by work, so what the heck. Cole vs. Atlas starts off and they hype up Cole as the top contender for the World title. Jake snaps him over with a side headlock takeover. Slick discus forearm by Atlas leads to a sringboard, but he springs right into a backstabber by Cole!

Uppercut by Atlas and a baseball slide before a tope! Springboard flatback dropkick gets 2! Pump kick and an ushigoroshi gets 2 for Cole. Series of superkicks by Atlas leads to Cole getting a patella brainbuster for 2. That was such a good match until the finish too - although I like this accidentally giving Cole another finisher. I like Ex saying that it's due to training from ReDRagon. Orange Cassidy makes the save and the BEST FRIENDS!

Dustin Rhodes faces Sammy Guevera to determine an interim TNT Title holder. I kind of like the idea of Dustin getting an interim title run just as a gold watch to keep the lineage intact and basically keep him in as Cody's surrogate title holder. Andrade cuts a promo on Sting and Darby and he wants a new assistant. HOOK is out and we get a runthrough of Ex saying that QT took credit for his training and Taz basically says they'll prove that's bullshit tonight.

Starks warns Solo to not touch the hair. HOOK gets a legsweep into a grounded octopus. EL CAMINO SUPLEX. Crossfaces and the Redrum gets the win! QT talks shit and WE GET A STAREDOWN AND HE ATTACKS HIM! Starks announces that he'll face Sydal for the FTW Title on BOFT. Bunny/Ford vs. TayJay recap showcases the blood nicely.

Britt and Hayter vs. Ruby and Riho! PK by Ruby after she avoids the swinging fisherman's suplex. Riho fakes Hayter into the ropes and 619s her. Britt shoves her off to avoid Hayter taking a stomp off the top. Riho gets a schoolboy and hops around a bunch during it for the win. This was a thing. Men of the Year bitch about the TNT Title match and Sky wants it while Ethan is in a Partridge Family bus shirt. 2.0 tells Kingston to suck his ass with his complaining and then they brawl.

Kingston walk and brawl. Ortiz madballs Jeff Parker. Walk and brawl. Bell shot from Garcia leads to CRAZY FACES when Kingston kicks out. Tornado kick and a discus elbow get the win for PNP. This was their best showcase in quite some time. BALLSHOTS APLENTY for the faces after the match. Jericho...runs down to save PNP from being attacked.