411’s WWE Backstage Report: Natalya Wins Entry #30, and Randy Orton and Edge are #1 and #2 for The Men, Plus More!

411’s WWE Backstage Report: 01.30.21

-Yes, Backstage has returned to hype this weekend’s Royal Rumble. Real quick I will throw out my 2 picks for Rumble Winners: Daniel Bryan and Bianca Belair. Now time for the return of Backstage and it seems most of the gang is all here. Let’s get to it!

-A pregnant and glowing Renee Paquette tells us it is clobbering time and it is an amazing feeling to be back. She introduces 2 Time WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T. It’s great seeing them back on the Fox Sports set for the first time since the pandemic shut things down. Booker tells Renee she is looking good as she shows off the baby bump. Next out is Paige who says she misses hearing her entrance music.

-Show opening and man, I miss covering this show.

-Booker asks Renee how she is doing and she says she is great. Paige jokes that can’t have Christian or Punk on the show anymore because the baby is on the Fox pay role and took their spot. Nice!

-Royal Rumble video package to hype tomorrow’s show. Really if the Rumbles deliver and Owens/Reigns pull off what we know they can this will be an easy thumbs up show.

-Back to our panel and Renee brings up that it has been 5 years since KO won his lone Universal Title. Booker looks at KO and the transition he has made not only inside the ring, but outside the ring. For Booker it is all about KO and how he has something to prove to himself. Renee is shocked that Booker thinks KO can end Roman’s hot streak. Paige says that she has been such a big fan of Roman and Renee says finally everyone is on board with the new character. Paige can tell Roman is buying this character and has something to sink his teeth into and Booker doesn’t think it is just a character. They briefly discuss the roles Heyman and Jey Uso could play tomorrow.

-Video package on McIntyre vs Goldberg.

-Paige says she is a fan of Goldberg, but she doesn’t feel he should be in this type of match. Drew has been carrying things so well and there are others out there that deserve that kind of spot. Booker says this is old lion vs young lion. He puts over Drew for the job he has done the last year during such trying times and he has to put his money on him. Booker compares Goldberg to an old 69 Chevy that looks good on the outside, but something inside may pop.

-Commercial break!

-Big E meets up with Rob Stone (host of FOX Big Noon kick-off) and he wants to take Urban Meyer’s spot on their countdown show. He uses the power of intimidation and Stone says he will see him in the fall.

-Renee says she can personally vouch for Big E. Next she throws to a package of SuperStars talking about their favorite Rumble winner. Xavier Woods starts us out and goes over a few moments, but his favorite moment was in 2009 when Santino entered 29 and was eliminated immediately by Kane. Ember Moon goes with her participation in the first Women’s Rumble or Santino’s elimination by Kane. Mark Henry goes back to Rumble 2008 and the shocking return of John Cena in MSG. “John Cena did John Cena things and threw my ass over the top rope.”

-Back to the panel and Renee asks Booker his top moments. Booker says he has never won a Royal Rumble (“not yet anyways” shoots back Renee), but his return in 2011 is his favorite. He calls the pop he got a Road Warrior pop and it made him want to look behind to see if The Rock was following him. Paige picks Edge’s return last year because of how hard he battled back from his neck injury. She also mentions the Three Faces of Foley in the 1999 Royal Rumble. Renee picks the debut of AJ Styles in 2016 and I have to agree with that. I still get pumped each time they play that clip. The Network just did a special on AJ’s debut and you can find my review here.

-Commercial break!

-Back with a video package on Steve Austin and his record 3 Royal Rumble wins. Renee throws to an interview Ryan Satin did with Steve Austin. Steve says he won 3 Rumbles, but he never like the match. He tells the story of his first Rumble when he was to make the Final 4 and go out from there. He took a clothesline from Rikishi and the ropes were so slippery due to all the baby oil he fell to the floor. They show the footage and Austin had to let Shawn know he screwed up without making it look obvious. Great moment and story there!

-Renee brings up recording artist Bad Bunny has a song and video for it called, “Booker T.” We see a brief clip of the video and come back to Booker dancing to the song. Renee wishes Booker was wearing his GI Bro gear right now. Booker says the wrestling business is universal and you never know who is watching. Bad Bunny was a fan and Booker says it is awesome to have someone that popular keep him relevant. The whole thing has left him humbled. Bad Bunny will be performing the song at The Rumble tomorrow.

-Commercial break!

-Back to last year’s Rumble and it sure seems like a lot longer than a year ago. I miss crowds!

-Renee has a previously recorded sit down interview with WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre. They are here to reflect on 2020 which is The Year of Drew McIntyre. They show him eliminating Brock at The Rumble and Drew says that was the moment that launched him. All he could think before making the entrance was that this was make or break time. It was his time to become the present and not just the guy everyone keep saying was the future. COVID hits and fans are gone which made Drew bitter at first, but he soon realized what was happening in the world was bigger than having no fans. He realized he needed to be more creative and break the 4th wall. Eventually The ThunderDome came along to give them something of a crowd. Now Drew just wants to get to a point where he can raise his title in front of fans in the audience.

-Back to the panel and Paige has known Drew since she was 11 years old. He just looked like a monster because of how much bigger he was than everyone else. He just looked and carried himself like a star while also staying humble. Booker talks about Drew being able to handle the pressure. He says Drew is a grown ass man that knows exactly what this business is all about. They talk about Drew being gone from the WWE and rebuilding himself and how it has inspired a lot of people.

-Commercial break!

-Video of package of the 3 men that have entered 30 and won: Taker, Cena, and HHH (last eliminating Ambrose which they show). No women has ever won from the 30th spot and that leads to the first ever match in the history of Backstage as the winner of this match will get the 30th entry spot.

Tamina vs. Natalya

-Cole and Graves are on commentary as I assume this was taped last night either before and after SmackDown. The ring apron is still the one from SmackDown as well. I would have popped had they had the digital one read “Backstage.” Tamina uses her power to run Nattie over as this one starts out rather slowly. Boot to the gut and Tamina follows up by going to work on the arm and shoulder. Nattie tries to flip out, but gets yanked down by the hair. These two were just BFF on Talking Smack last week and now talking trash to each other. Tamina gets a two count off a superkick as they show us the Backstage crew watching from the Fox Studio. I appreciate that small touch. I kind of wish they would have let Renee, Booker and Paige do the commentary over the match as well. More shots of the Backstage crew watching as this match isn’t really going anywhere. Tamina gets a suplex for another two count and now we get a wide shot of The ThunderDome as even the director doesn’t wants to focus on the match it seems. Nattie gets a fluke small package for two. Tamina is right back on her though as we cut back to Renee and the gang again. Nattie gets another roll-up and looks for the Sharpshooter but Tamina kicks off. Tamina misses a charge in the corner and Nattie gets a 3rd roll-up for the win at 5:12.

Winner: Natalya via pin at 5:11
-This was not good and seemed much longer than 5 minutes. Parts of the match you didn’t even see with all the cuts back to the Fox Studio and shots of the ThunderDome. Tamina dominated the match and basically tripped on a banana peel to lose. Still greatest Backstage match of all time I guess. *

-The panel discusses what we just saw and Booker thinks Tamina will be bothered by this blown chance for the next year.

-Commercial break!

-I love during the commercials they have the crawl on the bottom of the screen with Breaking News about Natalya winning the 30th entry spot. Again, small things like that make me happy as Fox Sports has done well with these little touches. I also like that they have been running Rumble facts along the crawl as well.

-Booker T puts members of the Bills’ mafia through a table last week in hype for the AFC Championship game. Renee mentions that Buffalo couldn’t get the job done last week.

-Christian Okaye (The Nigerian Nightmare) crushes Booker for picking Buffalo last week. He tells Booker to make the right pick this time and finishes with a Go Chiefs. That was cool! Booker cuts a promo on Christian and it seems like he will be picking Tampa and Tom Brady.

-Countdown clock and number 1 tomorrow will be Randy Orton. Red herring indeed! Countdown is back and #2 tomorrow will be Edge. HOLY CRAP! Well, that’s one heck of a way to start a Rumble.

-Time to pick winners and Paige takes Edge. Booker is going with Big E. Renee is going with Daniel Bryan. For the women, Paige is Bianca Belair. Booker is taking Ripley and Renee is running with Bianca Belair. Hey, I have the same picks as Renee.

-We are out with this special edition of Backstage and even though the match kind of sucked, I enjoyed this show. I loved covering it and it was just fun to have the gang back again. Hopefully we get another edition to hype WrestleMania. Thanks for reading!