Daily Update: Royal Rumble fallout

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: January 30, 2022 Observer Newsletter: Royal Rumble rumors, NJPW cancels January shows

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue: December 20, 2004 Observer Newsletter: Brock Lesnar returning to wrestling, WWE Armageddon review

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

The weekend Observer radio covering the Royal Rumble is up on the site right now. We’ll be back with another show after Raw tomorrow night.

Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar and Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey are the top two matches set for WrestleMania. Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins seems as likely as anything for the Raw title main event but that is just speculation. Lashley and Rousey will both be on Raw tomorrow. Rousey will be considered as part of the Smackdown brand going forward.

Jillian Hall, Kaitlyn, and Aksana were in St. Louis for WWE but were not put in the Rumble match. Kurt Angle was also there. There were a number of extras for both matches in case someone got sick. The Drew McIntyre return was kept a surprise. He was not fully ready as far as being healed up, but is expected to be on television going forward, but not wrestling on the road shows until being more healed up. He didn’t seem to be impacted by the injury in this match, but before he took time off, even in his last match before the injury angle which was done to cover his neck injury, you really couldn’t see a difference. Sasha Banks was not kept a surprise since it was announced on the first segment on Smackdown, but she was a late addition to the match since she had been out with a sprained knee.

There were time constraints to the end of the men’s Rumble match although the basic idea was for Lesnar to destroy everyone at the end and that did happen.

Obviously the Kofi Kingston elimination was a botch and he was supposed to last longer.

Natalya was shaken up in the women’s match but continued and is okay.

There were a lot of former talents called and turned down doing the Rumbles.

There were a lot of complaints about predictability, but the reality is WWE’s booking January through WrestleMania is almost always predictable in the sense they’ve set in motion the key matches and Rumble is there to build those matches so as far as the winners go, there are only a few possibilities. The lack of compelling stories in the matches and no new stars who didn’t win being made is a valid complaint.

Bad Bunny was only in for the Royal Rumble. He has a concert on both nights of WrestleMania. Shane McMahon has a match on the books but it was said to have not been finalized a few days ago which is evidently why they did no angle with him.

The Royal Rumble got 1 million searches on Google which is a very high number. Still, it was only half of what the UFC PPV show did the prior Saturday. The key thing as far as interest went in searches was Rousey, followed by Lesnar. Nothing else related to combat sports cracked the top 20 in any category over the past week.

Bobby Horne, who was Mo of the Men on a Mission tag team, was in ICU yesterday due to COVID coming off a recent liver transplant.

We’re looking for reports from tonight’s PWG show in Los Angeles as well as last night’s show, and yesterday’s RevPro show in London’s York Hall to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

We’re also doing poll results for both the Royal Rumble and the Stardom PPV show yesterday, thumbs up, down or middle along with a best and worst match for each show to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

After Ryan Bader beat Valentin Moldavsky in the Bellator heavyweight title unification match last night in Phoenix, it was announced he would defend his title next on 5/6 in Paris, France against Cheick Kongo. Bader won the fight via unanimous decision.on straight 48-47 scores, but media had it 63-37 percent in favor of Moldavsky, so it was a close fight. Benson Henderson won a split decision over Islam Mamedov. Mamedov had won 19 in a row. Henderson said he wasn’t sure if this was his last fight or not. He said it was the last fight of his Bellator contract.

While this likely won’t be the case next year at WrestleMania, for the Rams-49ers game at SoFi Stadium today, parking near the stadium was going for $600 while a mile away in residential areas was costing $100 to $500. (thanks to Patrick Nguyen)

Some matches from PWG yesterday I was told were awesome were Bandido vs. Mike Bailey, which some were calling the best PWG match since the move to the Globe Theater (and there have been numerous incredible matches in that venue), Will Ospreay vs. Michael Oku from RevPro which went 41:00 and was a bloodbath and Francesco Akira vs. Gabriel Kidd also at the RevPro show yesterday and Mayu Iwatani vs. Giulia on the Stardom PPV yesterday.

WWE

  • Humberto Garza (Angel, not to be confused with his cousin, also named Humberto Garza, who goes by the name Humberto) put out a video noting that he and his wife are expecting a child.
  • Dwayne Johnson is set to appear tomorrow on Good Morning America.

OTHER NOTES

  • Stardom PPV results from yesterday in Nagoya: Tam Nakano, Waka Tsukiyama and Mai Sakurai were all pulled from the show due to health issues: Momo Kohgo won a handicap match over Saki Kashima, Rina, Ruaka and Fukigen Death via Battle Royal rules, Hanan b Lady C to keep the Future of Stardom title, Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid b Utami Hayashishita & AZM, Thekla b Mina Shirakawa to win the vacant SWA title, Hazuki & Koguma b Maika & Himeka to keep the Goddesses of Stardom tag titles, Saya Kamitani b Unagi Sayaka to keep the Wonder of Stardom title, Mayu Iwatani d Giulia over 30:00,Syuri b Marai to keep the World of Stardom title.
  • Warrior Wrestling on 2/2 at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, IL will be headlined by Thunder Rosa vs. ?. The opponent will be announced Wednesday. Other bouts are Bandido vs. Dante Martin, Warhorse vs. Dalton Castle, Mark & Jay Briscoe vs Workhorsemen, Santana vs. Mike Bailey, Lince Dorado vs. Sam Adonis, The Acclaimed vs. KC Navarro & Brian Cage, Miranda Alize vs. Skye Blue and Alex Zayne vs. Myron Reed vs. Gringo Loco vs Blake Christian.
  • Southern Hemisphere Wrestling from last night in Western Australia: Faizal Keris & LangKay won three-way over Dizzy Videl & Stella Nyx and Antonio Corrado & Mr. Thompson, Axxton DCOR Chadwick Johnson, Bruno Nitro won three-way over Elijah Henry and Ryan Rivers, Jay Taylor b Chris Target, Jarrad Slate b Davis Storm to keep the Pride title, Del Cano b Felix Young in a 1,000 bricks mach, Jordan Bishop & Ryan Allan b Johnny & Tommy Dux to keep the tag titles, Taylor King b Julian Ward to keep the SHWA title.
  • Adelaide Championship Wrestling from last night in Adelaide, Australia: Downunder b Joe Mundiem, Kit Condor and Malykai Slic in a ladder match, Simple Simon b Corporate Clint, Darven Rangarsson b Barren, Jesse Hardy won three-way over Duke Marshall and Jake Viper to win the Evolve title, Adam Brooks b Edward Dusk, Redshaw b Broderic Valentine, Zak Sabbath b Matt Hayter 2/3 falls to win the ACW title in a submission match, tables match and hardcore match for each individual fall (thanks to Kevin Chiat).
  • LFA on 2/11 at the Arizona Federal Theater in Phoenix has former UFC ranked contender Jussier Formiga (23-8) vs. Felipe Bunes (11-5) and Clayton Carpenter (5-0) vs. Windon Ramos (4-1). The show airs at 10 p.m. Eastern that night on Fight Pass.
  • MLW on 3/31 in Dallas with a show called Intimidation Games at Gilley’s.
  • Ruthless Pro Wrestling from last night in Maybee, MI: Gary Jay b Sage Phillips, Schwartzy & Kenny Urban b Arthur McArthur & Chuck Stone, Apollo Star b Brutus Atwell, Dread King Logan & Zach Thomas DCOR Shane Mercer & Hy-Zaya, Justin Kyle NC Hoodfoot, Rickey Shane Page b Madman Pondo, Randi West won three-way over Mathias Thrasher and Anakin Murphy, Neil Diamond Cutter b Malcolm Monroe III, Sau Jinn b Otis Cogar in a death match (thanks to Leonard Brand).
  • Mission Pro Wrestling from last night in Conroe,TX: Rache Chanel b Gigi Rey, JP Harlow won four-way over Kari Wright, Ninja Mack and Jesus Rodriguez (former WWE announcer/manager Ricardo Rodriguez), Davienne b Sierra, KiLynn King b Killa Kate, Madi Wrenkowski b Mazzerati, Robyn & Charlette Renegade b Viva Van & Kelsey Ragen, Thunder Rosa b Rosa Negra.