Main Event – January 31, 2019: I Hope You Like It
IMG Credit: WWE
Main Event
Date: January 31, 2019
Location: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Renee Young, Percy Watson
It’s one of the final shows in Phoenix as we deal with the Royal Rumble fallout. That means a lot of recapping from the main shows, even though there isn’t much to talk about. I’m sure Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch will be prominently featured, which isn’t the worst thing in the world. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Lucha House Party vs. Singh Brothers/Jinder Mahal
Mahal doesn’t even get the Main Event main event spot anymore. Dorado and Mahal start things off with Mahal muscling him up for a somewhat impressive suplex. We hit the required chinlock until Dorado fights up for a standing Lionsault onto Sunil. Everything breaks down and the House Party gets to take turns beating up both Singhs.
As usual, Mahal has to come in and clean up their mess, this time with another chinlock and some stomping in the corner. Sumir comes back in for another chinlock but Metalik fights up and makes the tag to Kalisto. A bunch of kicks to the head have Sunil in trouble and it’s the Salida Del Sol into the shooting star to give Dorado the pin at 5:39.
Rating: D-. This was a nuisance to sit through as there was no way the Singhs and Mahal are going to be a major threat to the Lucha House Party and everyone knew it. Kalisto alone can hang with Mahal and the Singh Brothers are more of a liability than an asset. This felt way longer than it was and that’s hard to do in a match that isn’t even six minutes long.
We look at Becky Lynch winning the Royal Rumble and then challenging Ronda Rousey for Wrestlemania.
From Smackdown.
Here’s Becky to open things up. A lot has been happening in Phoenix and while the first part of the Rumble didn’t go well, she didn’t fold after a loss like Rousey. She’s coming for the title and is very proud of moving from the pre-show of last year’s Wrestlemania to this year’s main event. The fans cut her off with a YOU DESERVE IT chant before Becky says that she saw doubt in Ronnie’s eyes last night and now she’s going to break Rousey’s arm at Wrestlemania. If Rousey doesn’t walk into Wrestlemania believing that, she’s going to be carried out knowing it.
That’s a great line but here’s Charlotte to interrupt. Charlotte is proud of Becky, who somehow won the Royal Rumble without being in it. Maybe Becky learned something from her after all, because Charlotte brought her to the main event. Becky slaps her in the face and leaves, only to have Charlotte chase her down for the attack. Charlotte whips her into the barricade and the bad knee gets banged up again. Agents break it up in a hurry. It’s pretty clear where this is going and that’s fine.
From Smackdown.
Here’s Daniel Bryan, sporting a black eye, to change the WWE climate. He asks who won on Sunday, and after waiting for the BECKY chants to die down, Bryan says the people and their children all won. Bryan is the planet’s champion and now someone has seen the light. That person came out for the greater good on Sunday, so here’s Rowan, carrying a bag over his shoulder.
Bryan praises Rowan as an enlightened man of the Earth and his intellectual peer. However, Bryan calls himself a hypocrite because he carries around this title. A trashcan is brought into the ring as Bryan calls the title a symbol of both excellence and excess. This title was made from a cow who did nothing wrong, and Bryan thinks she should be called Daisy. Bryan thinks Daisy had the ability to feel immense job, but she didn’t get to feel it long enough. The title is thrown into the title because it’s trash. Fans: “GOODBYE DAISY!”
Rowan pulls out the new title, which is rather….wood looking. The new title is made of hemp and carved from an oak, with the fans being more interested in the hemp. This brings out AJ Styles, who asks if Bryan smoked the prototype of that belt…..and here’s Randy Orton to cut them both off. Back from a break with Jeff Hardy in the ring and Mustafa Ali coming out.
Before he can say much, Samoa Joe comes out to say he’s here to put a champion to sleep. Jeff can pretend that he’s at an AA meeting and shut up while Joe is talking. Ali got choked out last week, and Joe wants to know how Wendy is doing. The fight is on as Bryan shouts that he’s going to be champion forever because no one is getting a title shot. HHH pops up on screen to announce Bryan defending the title in an Elimination Chamber match next month to end the show.
B Team vs. Ascension
Viktor shoulders Axel down to start and we take a very abrupt break. Back with Axel getting a hot tag to clean house and getting two off a PerfectPlex. The belly to back suplex into a neckbreaker finishes Viktor at 1:57 shown. Clearly a lot was cut.
From Raw.
Here’s Seth Rollins to open things up to a very strong reaction. After a BURN IT DOWN chant, Seth talks about putting his heart into everything last night and that’s why he won. Now he gets to stand in this ring and say that Seth Freaking Rollins is going to the main event of Wrestlemania. Rollins promised himself that he wasn’t going to do it, but he has to point at the sign man. Now though, Rollins has a choice to make. He can go to Smackdown and challenge his longtime friend Daniel Bryan, or he can go to Suplex City.
With a SETH FREAKING ROLLINS chant going, Seth says it’s going to be a decision he needs to think about. This brings out HHH to say Rollins got to point at the sign and would have been disappointed if he hadn’t. HHH has been there before and it’s why he challenged Rollins to step up a few weeks ago. The Royal Rumble was designed to put thirty athletes in the ring and see who is best. Rollins, who may be crying, did that, but now he needs to know what he’s doing at Wrestlemania. That’s what he can decide tonight, because Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar are going to be here tonight. Fans: “SLAY THE BEAST!”
And from later on Raw.
Here are Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman for Rollins’ pick. Heyman calls it easy to make decisions when you only have one option. Rollins’ only choice is to fight Daniel Bryan because all other roads lead to the Beast. This brings out Rollins for the staredown with Lesnar and Rollins starts slugging away, including a Stomp attempt, which is countered into an F5. Brock hits a second through fourth, followed by a fifth on the title. Rollins asks if that’s all Brock has and picks himself up, meaning it’s a sixth F5 to end the show with Rollins not picking anything yet. You know, because it’s such a mystery.
Overall Rating: D+. The original wrestling was nothing to see here (as usual) but we’re getting closer to the biggest show of the year and the Royal Rumble was a major part of that. If we can get things to pick up a bit as we move closer to New York, the show might actually get watchable. As it is now, we have the matches presented to us with the hope that things aren’t too bad. Pretty lame show, with Wrestlemania not looking great at the early stages.
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