Tonight’s episode premiered on January 25th 2016, and emanated from Miami Florida; the home of The Rock; who in a surprise appearance was the special guest who will also appear at Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania mind you, is on April 2016. (Just for hype, a thought)
The Rock also hyped not only his appearance as the hometown boy, but also Wrestlemania. He had his promo segment in the back with Lana, drumming up prior history from Brooklyn. The Brooklyn history was the night in August after NXT Brooklyn and the Brock Lesnar-Undertaker main event from Summerslam 2015. Rock also was humorously up to his usual self in a segment magic featuring the New Day and beat-down from Rock’s cousins, the Uso’s who were unsuccessful in their quest versus the New Day at Royal Rumble.
The show (RAW) began with fall out and recaps of last night’s Royal Rumble on Sunday. For those who did not see, Triple H was the last man standing. Yes, the COO became World Heavyweight champion and appeared as number 30. He eliminated former champion Roman Reigns and lastly Dean Ambrose to win the title. In kicking off the Rumble though was a fatal four way tag bout, in which the winning team would advance to the Rumble bout itself. Mark Henry and Jack Swagger were victorious and defeated teams: Dudley Boyz, The Ascension, and tandem of Sandow with Darren Young.
Fastlane and the big announcement were hyped. In the Fastlane main event, we will see a triple threat match in which the winner faces WWE Champion, Triple H at Wrestlemania. Fastlane will feature Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vying to wrestle for the biggest prize on the grandest stage of them all.
Royal Rumble also saw the much speculated, debated and hypothesized debut of AJ Styles at number three. Styles was eliminated by Kevin Owens in an impressive showing. Styles also won his debut match on RAW tonight versus Y2J Chris Jericho. Owens was also defeated by Lunatic Fringe Dean Ambrose who regained his IC title in the Last Man Standing match. Owens though would not be denied on RAW, as he defeated Dolph Ziggler in singles competition.
Reigns and Ambrose would return to winning ways this evening by defeating League of Nation members Sheamus and Rusev in the RAW tag team main event. In other action, Kalisto continued his success, by beating Alberto Del Rio for the US title at Wrestlemania, and defeating the Miz on Monday Night RAW. The Wyatt’s continued to wreck havoc and destroy people, as Kane was defeated tonight on RAW by Bray Wyatt. Kane was also eliminated, as was Big Show and a plethora of others by Braun Strowman at the Rumble.
In Divas competition, Charlotte would retain her title versus Becky Lynch at the Rumble. Lynch would also lose to the returning Sasha Banks on Monday. We saw developments and feeding the flames of a potential feud to boil. The last of the four horsewomen, Banks re-appeared on Sunday, and laid her claim for the Divas title and laying out Charlotte after her victory Sunday. A divas tag team match on RAW led to the victory of Natalya and Paige teaming up to defeat Alicia Fox and Brie Bella; as we also found out Nikki is sidelined due to a injury and requires subsequent neck surgery.
This is the Royal Rumble Recap, with the RAW rebound. Styles and Jericho was the key cog in drawing the hardcore diehard fans, seeing how WWE will follow up. Styles is on the main roster, but with Austin Aires signed; and previewing of feuds (Finn Balor, Joe, and Kevin Owens); WWE is much more intriguing to watch. Hopefully, WWE will properly utilize these men, especially the new additions in Styles and Aires.
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