It’s time for a snowy SmackDown In A Nutshell-at least for those of us in the northeast United States. The theme this week, is well…the blue brand is almost ready to Rumble!
If you were somehow under a rock, Saturday night gives us the annual Royal Rumble.
The Rumble, of course, is the first of WWE’s fabled “Big Four” PPV. Or, premium live events, whatever they are calling them now…
So, the blue brand is almost ready to rumble, because we are less than 24 hours away.
We know a lot of what to expect at this point, of course.
In a marked departure from years prior, WWE has actually revealed a number of entrants that would have usually been kept as surprises.
Does that mean we have even bigger surprises yet to come?
Or is that it, and it’s going to be whatever it is?
Well, that’s the beauty of the go-home show…we don’t have to wait much longer!
We know about the big title matches-and Seth Rollins promised on RAW that he’d be paying Roman Reigns a visit tonight.
And of course, there are the two main attractions: the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches themselves.
So, with all that chatter, we are almost ready to rumble…so let’s get things moving.
It’s time for…
Let’s get ourselves over the top rope and into the Nutshell!
If I had to pick a match, I would take Big E and Kofi versus Corbin and Moss.
But, it’s my post and I don’t have to…
For me, the main event segment was the best part of the show.
Rollins pushing all of Roman’s buttons was great stuff.
Saw this one coming, but Sonya versus Naomi.
The best part of this match is that, after eons of teasing and build up, the two could finally get physical.
However…as I expected…it wasn’t worth the wait.
Crowd seemed to like it, Naomi winning and all…but in the end, we will see more of it tomorrow.
Deville, in losing fashion, entered herself into the Rumble too.
1000% this one belongs with Seth “Freakin'” Rollins.
That last segment, pushing all those buttons, his body language, all of it…was gold.
Nothing notable. Shouldn’t be a problem tomorrow though.
No one was up to the task tonight.
Not match-related really.
Deville was probably upset she lost in her return to the ring.
Naomi was probably upset she won, only to hear Deville enter herself into the Rumble.
Yep, Sonya is another one from the blue brand almost ready to Rumble.
Well, 24 hours ahead of the Rumble, WWE blows another possible surprise.
Sasha Banks has been out with an injury for a few weeks now. Some reports had made it sound like she’d miss the Rumble.
She came back at the beginning of the show. Rather than, you know…have her return tomorrow as a semi-surprise entrant.
Then again, she goes away and comes back with so much regularity, maybe having her as a surprise on Saturday wouldn’t be that big of a deal?
That mask that Ridge Holland wore was having issues tonight. Not a botch, per se…but…
I feel like, too often lately, WWE is happy to have guys with broken noses back in there. Masks and all.
Look, I get it, they are tough. And, mask or not, maybe they got cleared.
The mask-as-a-weapon stuff has happened too much of late…and I feel like having someone who had a facial fracture in there is just asking for issues.
Like…if someone had a broken arm or leg, they wouldn’t be performing until the cast was off.
And, keeping on the Holland theme…there’s this:
Aliyah’s shirt.
I suppose I can give them credit for trying?
But, while it’s a play off of the iconic Steve Austin shirt…it’s not really correct.
Yes, she beat Natalya in a 3.17 seconds (not really, but OK).
However…it’s not displayed as 3:17. It would be 00:00:03.17…
Pedantic? Sure…but…I like accuracy.
Sasha is back…again.
Sonya Deville made her not-long-awaited in-ring return…lost…and then entered herself into the Rumble.
And…I guess I missed the memo as I was prepping for our winter storm, but they did confirm that Big E is back together with Kofi on SmackDown.
So much for that big singles push for Big E, eh?
Though, perhaps Rollins beats Reigns on Saturday…and then Big E wins the Rumble…and then main events and beats Rollins?
It could happen…
So over Sonya and Naomi. Really not sure who sees what in this feud.
Maybe they are both talented…I am not saying they are not.
But…right now…there’s just nothing that makes me care about it.
And…I’ve said this a time or two…but WWE seems to be giving away too many entrants.
I mean, I know people will have the entire list compiled, and know precisely how many surprises we can expect.
However…we know there are not many…and we also know there are quite a few who have been revealed, who in normal years past, we wouldn’t know about until the match entry happened.
I hope we have a few legit good surprises still to come.
I feel like the opening segment with the women was good…but honestly came up just a hair short.
Sasha being back is nice…but did not quite make that segment explode.
The middle of the show was not bad.
I think my favorite mid-show segment was actually the Rumble by the numbers package, honestly.
And then we closed the show. Both Rollins and Reigns were present, and barely had to get physical…but absolutely did a good job hyping tomorrow’s match.
And just like that, we are almost ready to Rumble.
Not a terrible go-home show. We’ve had better, of course…but it was good enough as the blue brand is almost ready to Rumble.
At this point, there is nothing left to do but sit back, relax and enjoy the Rumble.
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