Csonka Ranks The 34 Rumble Weekend Matches

Welcome everyone, today I take a look back at the weekend that was in wrestling. Starting on Friday, there five big shows, and I reviewed them all and have ranked the matches from worst to best. Check it out, I hope you enjoy and of course, feel free to share your thoughts on the weekend that was. The shows included here will be NJPW Road To The New Beginning, Evolve 76, Evolve 77, NXT Takeover San Antonio and of course The Royal Rumble PPV. Think of this as a guide to weed out what you can skip and what you should check out if you missed the shows.

34. From NJPW Road To The New Beginning – Tiger Mask IV & Yoshitatsu defeated, Henare & Jushin Thunder Liger @ 9:02 via pin [*½]: Unfortunately there wasn’t much to this, Yoshitatsu is the worst wrestler in a major promotion these days and don’t fucking come at me with Mahabali Shera bullshit; Yoshitatsu works way more than he does, had a WWE run/time in developmental and gets to work with some of the best workers in the world but has regressed, badly.

33. From NJPW Road To The New Beginning – YOSHI-HASHI, Jado & Gedo defeated Takashi Iizuka, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado @ 8:19 via DQ [*½]: Outside of HASHI running wild, there was nothing special or all that good here. I find it questionable to use the DQ finish here; it feels like something they’d was to save for the important players. This felt lazy.

32. From the WWE Royal Rumble – Kickoff Match: Nia Jax defeated Sasha Banks @ 5:10 via pin [*½]: This was fine for what it was, which was to give Jax a dominating win over someone with a name; if rumors are true about a multi-woman title match at Mania, she needed a credible win. They played up that Banks may not have been ready to be back in the ring, and Jax was just bigger and stronger. It wasn’t bad, but came off as flat to me.

31. From EVOLVE 77 – Tracy Williams defeated Laredo Kid @ 8:55 via submission [**¼]: Pretty a solid little match, Kid got in a fair share of offense but Williams picked up a strong and clean win. I loved the finish, because Kid’s mistake actually led to THE finish; the high-risk move was actually high-risk because he missed and lost due to it. The only real issue was that I never bought that Kid could win.

30. From EVOLVE 77 – EVOLVE Title Match: Champion Timothy Thatcher defeated Jeff Cobb @ 16:32 via pin [**½]: Unfortunately, this was an average at best outing in my opinion. Thatcher slipped back into that 2016 mode, where he works slow and methodical and with little emotion, he does his thing and doesn’t care if the crowd is interested or not. I used to be a big supporter of the guy, but outside of last year’s match with Hero, he’s been terribly average, lacking intensity that used to be a trademark for him. Cobb was strong here, selling like a champ until the closing stretch where he just dropped it to hit suplexes. This was just disappointing to me.

29. From NJPW Road To The New Beginning – Yuji Nagata defeated Tomoyuki Oka @ 7:42 via submission [**½]: This didn’t set the world on fire, but was another solid outing from Oka, he seems to be coming along well enough but we won’t really know until he starts working singles and tags without Nagata around.

28. From EVOLVE 76 – Jason Kincaid defeated DUSTIN @ via submission [**½]: DUSTIN showed more aggression than usual, but it was really lethargic until the final two minutes. They had a lot of good ideas, but the execution felt off. Kincaid winning was the right call as he is one of the new faces on the rise.

27. From the WWE Royal Rumble – Kickoff Match: Becky Lynch, Naomi and Nikki Bella defeated Alexa Bliss, Natalya and Mickie James @ 9:45 via pin [**¾]: You had to move Lynch away from the title scene, due to all of the recent losses, so Naomi is the next babyface up it appears. I still think that there is a chance that the women get an elimination chamber match, which could work as they have mixed them more over the last week. Good match, the finishing sequence kept the feuds rolling as Nikki wiped out Natalya, Becky took out Mickie and Naomi picked up the big win in a pretty good match, with a nice energy and purpose.

26. From EVOLVE 76 – Darby Allin defeated Chris Dickinson @ 6:30 via pin [**¾]: They did a good job of playing the bully vs. underdog formula, with Allin surviving long enough to pull off the upset victory.

25. From EVOLVE 76 – Jaka defeated Peter Kaasa @ 9:30 via pin [***]: Good match with smooth back and forth action, and they thrived even with the rope break, going right to the finish. Kaasa looked to be just fine, thankfully. Jaka has so much potential and seemingly improves every time I see him.

24. From EVOLVE 77 – Chris Dickinson & Jaka defeated Sammy Guevara & Jason Kincaid @ 13:35 via pin [***]: This was a good match, mixing the power and striking of Jaka & Dickinson and the high flying of Guevara & Kincaid effortlessly. It had a good energy through tout, with Guevara making a strong first impression.

23. From the WWE Royal Rumble – The Royal Rumble: Randy Orton wins @ 62:25 [***]: I thought that this was a good, but far from great Rumble match. I thought that they did a great job with BRAUN, sneaky Jericho was fun, The Goldberg vs. Lesnar interaction was really great, as were the Goldberg vs. Taker interactions. I liked the Harper angle as well, But there was a really slow middle portion that pulled the match down. It was disappointing that they brought Reigns back in, but didn’t have him get revenge on BRAUN. The only surprise was Dillinger, which was fun but one thing I always love about the Rumble is surprise entries, and we didn’t get those this year. This was an overall good, but also a disappointing match. I don’t mind the Orton win, because a lot can change with the Elimination Chamber coming up.

22. From the WWE Royal Rumble – Kickoff Raw Tag Team Title Match: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated Champions Cesaro and Sheamus @ 10:30 via pin [***]: I thought that this was another good match as the teams have developed a nice chemistry. The booking felt very backwards, as in that they still did a dirty finish and the two refs ended up favoring the heels. It didn’t really bother me, or hurt the match, but felt off. Happy to see Gallows and Anderson finally win the titles.

21. From NXT Takeover – San Antonio: NXT Women’s Title Match: Champion Asuka defeated Peyton Royce, Billie Kay and Nikki Cross @ 10:00 via pin [***]: The ending felt rushed and out of nowhere, Cross was still laying in the table rubble during that, she may have been hurt, leading to them going home early. I thought it was good while it lasted, and it made me want to see Asuka vs. Cross, one on one. I think it would have come off better with a better closing stretch, but again it felt as if they ended early. Good effort overall.

20. From the WWE Royal Rumble – RAW Women’s Championship Match: Champion Charlotte Flair defeated Bayley @ 13:15 via pin [***]: Overall this was a good match, and was a good one to kick of f the show. The crowd was into it, and Charlotte came off very good here as she continues to grow as a heel. The crowd was into Bayley’s near falls and hope spots. This also had a good energy, and the crowd bought into some of Bayley’s near falls. I thought the finish worked well, with Charlotte tossing Bayley to the floor and hitting her finish on the apron (to sell the hardest part of the ring gimmick).

19. From NXT Takeover – San Antonio: Eric Young defeated Tye Dillinger @ 11:10 via pin [***]: This was a fun and well-paced opening match, a good effort from both guys with a good energy. Dillinger was a great face here, working to overcome the odds and almost did, but the numbers finally got to him. Young’s work was strong and focused on the neck throughout, which led to the finish.

18. From NJPW Road To The New Beginning – Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima @ 12:14 [***]: With the KES challenging for the tag titles on February 5 at New Beginning in Sapporo, there was little doubt that they would win. That was the only thing that hurt the match, the overall work was good, the flow was nice and it felt like a fight at times. But I never thought KES was losing.

17. From EVOLVE 76 – Chris Hero defeated Keith Lee @ 21:50 via pin [***]: This was far from the great match I expected here; Hero looking to go out with a great match and Lee looking to prove himself, but the ring would not cooperate. I feel bad for Keith Lee, this was a huge opportunity for him to deliver and show he could be a player in EVOLVE. But with that being said, Keith Lee and Chris Hero had a better match with two and then one rope than most people have with a fully functioning ring. This was actually a tremendous display of overcoming adversity and improvising to still present something fun and worth watching. In the end it certainly comes off as disappointing due to the circumstances, but they did better than anyone could imagine. My main complaint is that they shouldn’t have gone so long and went home sooner, if not for better quality, for the safety of the performers.

16. From NJPW Road To The New Beginning – Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku defeated Kazuchika Okada, Rocky Romero & Barreta @ 16:45 via pin [***¼]: While not as good as some of the other matches on the same show, the match was good and efficient, setting up two title matches. The intensity was good, but the match was not quite as good overall as the previous two matches. I am really excited for Suzuki vs. Okada after this. Suzuki-gun picking up the wins and looking strong was what was needed here. The best part of Suzuki being gone for so long is that he feels so fresh, and he should because he’s like no one else on the roster.

15. From the WWE Royal Rumble – Cruiserweight Title Match: Neville defeated Champion Rich Swann @ 13:35 via submission [***¼]: They worked a good match, but it felt flat due to the lack of crowd reaction, despite the content being good. It felt as if they were setting up to really tear it up down the stretch, but it just didn’t happen. There was nothing technically wrong with it, it just needed some life from the crowd and a better closing stretch. It didn’t help that they had to follow Owens vs. Reigns.

14. From EVOLVE 77 – Barrett Brown, Darby Allin and Zack Sabre Jr defeated Ethan Page & The Gatekeepers @ 14:45 via pin [***¼]: Really fun opening match, with the booking connecting the angles with Allin, Page and Allin effortlessly. It was a car crash at times in the best way and provided a great energy to kick off the show, getting the crowd invested right away and keeping them the entire time. This was extremely fun and got the show started off on a good note.

13. From EVOLVE 76 – Ethan Page defeated Zack Sabre Jr. @ 13:30 via DQ [***½]: This was a very good outing with Zack Sabre Jr. showing more aggression and working a different style match to reflect that. The finish works to extend the feud, keeps Zack Sabre Jr. strong and adds to his anger as he seeks to take Page out before going for the title.

12. From EVOLVE 77 – ACH defeated Fred Yehi @ 14:40 via pin [***½]: They did a very good job of playing off the clash of styles, allowing each guy the chance to shine in very different ways. This was another good performance by ACH, who is already fitting in very well in the WWNLive family. The win, in theory, should get ACH a tag title opportunity if he can get a partner. Good match overall.

11. From EVOLVE 76 – EVOLVE Tag Team Title Match: Champions Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi defend defeated Timothy Thatcher & Jeff Cobb @ 16:05 via submission [***½]: This was a very good match, working a double heat on the champions and doing some set up for thru title match between Cobb and Thatcher, without the cliché tag partners can’t get along; they tried to one up each other for sure, but the drama was all post match. The Thatcher loss was played very well on commentary, questioning if he was healthy yet and then wondering if he would be questioning himself during the next day’s title defense. This was great work from Lenny Leonard. The win works to keep the tag champions strong and also sets up Yehi as a title contender down the line.

10. From NJPW Road To The New Beginning – Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi defeated Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA @ 12:58 via submission [***½]: This was here to set up Elgin vs. Naito’s IC Title match, but also the Hiroshi Tanahashi & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. SANADA & EVIL & BUSHI trios title match at the February 11th New Beginning in Osaka. During the FantasticaMania tour, Los Ingobernables de Japon owned Tanahashi and all of his other friends so the build has been well done, as the former champion have been relentless in getting revenge for Tanahashi and Friends ending their title run after one day; this was very good and fun.

9. From NJPW Road To The New Beginning – Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson defeated Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Will Ospreay 16:00 via pin [***¾]: This was the best match on the NJPW Road To The New Beginning show; simply put it was just a very good tag match with a great sense of urgency as they worked through the pairings to set up Juice vs. Goto, Shibata vs. Ospreay and the tag title match on February 5 at New Beginning in Sapporo. This was a ton of fun, Juice and Goto should be good but I have a feeling after this that Shibata may kill a flippy boy and it will be grand.

8. From EVOLVE 76 – Matt Riddle defeated ACH @ via 13:55 pin [****]: ACH will be a regular going forward, and did well here against EVOLVE’s favorite son, Matt Riddle. This was rather great, worked at a great clip with almost no down time and no messing around from either guy on offense. This was booked very evenly, ACH looked good and after a few wins for him they can rematch them down the line with possibly a title shot on the line.

7. From NXT Takeover – San Antonio: Roderick Strong defeated Andrade Cien Almas @ 12:00 via pin [****]: It’s seemingly taken a while to get there, but this is the Almas people wanted to see, as he feel more like La Sombra here; he was focused, had great fire and came across as supremely confident. I thought that this was a great back and forth match, that did a lot for both guys in terms of really putting them over as great performers. Almas lost the match but came away looking great in defeat, in what felt like hi best NXT performance to date. This was really great, and was a tremendous follow up to the strong opening match.

6. From NXT Takeover – San Antonio: NXT Tag Team Title Match: The Authors of Pain defeated Champions Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano @ 14:30 via pin to become the new champions [****]: I thought this had a chance to be good, but it exceeded all of my expectations as they delivered an absolutely excellent match. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano are amazing professional wrestlers, working to the strengths of the Authors of Pain. The Authors of Pain may be limited, but they are good monster tag team, and in the right setting and with the right opponents, proved that they could deliver. I was certainly worried about the match, but was pleasantly surprised by it.

5. From NXT Takeover – San Antonio: NXT Title Match: Bobby Roode defeated Champion Shinsuke Nakamura @ 27:30 via pin to become the new champion [****]: I have been very critical of Shinsuke Nakamura’s NXT run, I have found the vast majority of his big matches to be lazy and lifeless at times. But I felt that he and Roode knocked it out of the park here tonight. I thought that they created some great near falls, told a very good story, the psychology was sound with Roode working the neck, which even after the play off the knee injury, played directly into the finish with the DDT. This had a level of intensity & urgency that a lot of Nakamura’s NXT work has lacked. Excellent work from both guys, and this was a performance Roode needed. Roode beat the unbeatable, Nakamura was protected and Roode also came off as a complete asshole heel in the process.

4. From EVOLVE 77 – NO DQ MATCH: Matt Riddle defeated DUSTIN @ 10:55 via pin [****]: Tremendous match, worked at an excellent pace and both guys worked with great hate and bad intentions; this felt as if they really hated each other and were out to harm each other. DUSTIN felt really motivated here, which was great to see. Riddle delivers again, continuing to kick ass in all kinds of different matches. The crowd loved this match, and they made great use of the stipulation, a lot of these style matches lose focus and go way too long, this was extremely focused and kept the intensity through out. I also love that Riddle is using the ground and pound into the finish more often.

3. From EVOLVE 77 – Zack Sabre Jr defeated Chris Hero @ 23:20 via submission [****½]: These two have had battles before, great matches and ZSJ had been close to victory on several occasions. But Hero kept coming out on top, always having the answer to the ZSJ riddle. Hero has claimed that he’s the greatest of all time, no one is his equal and you better not speak his name. Overall they did an absolutely tremendous job of playing off of their previous matches, and also setting Zack Sabre Jr up with a new sense of urgency and aggression as he finally beat “the greatest of all time,” and is now able to continue his journey to be the “best in the world,” which Hero originally ended.

2. From the WWE Royal Rumble – WWE Universal Title Match: Champion Kevin Owens defeated Roman Reigns @ 24: 05 via pin [****½]: Going into the match, you knew that there would be smoke, mirrors and shenanigans due to the stipulation. And there’s nothing wrong with that, because these two tore it up and delivered an amazing outing. I have been critical of the Reigns vs. Owens matches; they have felt slow, lazy and just lifeless most of the time. That thankfully changed here tonight and they finally lived up to their potential and put on the match I knew they could. It had a great energy, a good pace, a sense of hatred and violence. I thought that they used the stipulation extremely well, both guys worked like they desperately wanted to steal the e show and they delivered on the big time spots. The BRAUN run in likely sets up Reigns in the Rumble tonight, or at the very least him arriving to screw BRAUN. With a clean finish, this would have been even better.

1. From the WWE Royal Rumble – WWE Championship Match: John Cena defeated Champion AJ Styles @ 24:35 via pin [****¾]: This kicked all of the asses, they completely emptied the tank and hit each other with anything and everything, making this feel huge, like they were both desperate to have this title. The crowd was great, the near falls were great and Cena’s subtle facials, showing his frustration and teasing possible heelish tactics added so much to this. Styles was put over huge in defeat, he doesn’t lose anything because he survived so much of Cena’s best, kept coming and almost won. They also played well off of their past matches, with some great cal back spots. These two guys have amazing chemistry, and I want to see more. Styles continues to show why many considered him one of the best for so long, delivering again. Also, Cena once again steps it up and delivers in the big match setting. I absolutely loved this.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”