Announcers: Scott Stanford (7th PPV) Nigel McGuinness (14th) Wade Barrett (1st)
(Dark: Dark: Dunne d. Gargano, Dragunov d. Strong, Dark Ride Title: Walter d. Ciampa)
The show opens cold as Survivor Series did - on the ring, immediate postmatch of Walter's successful defense, Heyman hitting his catchphrase about the only place to watch the most dominant professional wrestler on the planet, Walter, is on Dark Ride Wrestling.
After - a taped package highlighting tonight's matches, with the theme of friends turned enemies - there's Lynch and Flair, together in developmental, now dominating the women's division as 4-Ground, then seprating and brutally feuding - now together again as Fight Forever.
-There's Sheamus/McIntyre and Nemeth in developmental, coming to the roster with Hooligans/Division One and feuding over the tag belts - there are Sheamus and Nemeth joining together to form Underground - there they are in modern times, Sheamus/McIntyre winning the tag belts; Nemeth joining Shoot Nation -- and then Lashley and McIntyre turning on them at Survivor Series
-There's the formation of the US Chapter of the Bullet Club; Nakamura/Styles/Devitt joining together - later there's Black joining up -- then we see Styles walk away; the Bullet Club stomp out Nakamura; we see Nakamura and AJ each winning the WWF Title; we see Black joining Steen and Danielson and winning the WWF Title - we see clips of them wrestling in various combinations post Mania.
-There's the Horsewomen stomping out the entire women's division; Rousey and Baszler running roughshod over the WWE -- then the Horsewomen turning on Rousey with Ripley replacing her; we see Baszler's Women's Title win -- then Rousey's return at Survivor Series, destroying Duke, screaming at the shocked Baszler.
-And then finally all the pre- WWE images of Steen and Generico we can get; then the version of GDI with the two of them with Pac and Claudio - we see Pac losing his mask; then Steen beating him in the Loser Leaves Town; we see clips of the Steen/Generico feud with Pac/Claudio; we see the Steen ripping off Generico's mask - we see Zayn, now unmasked, as a WWF referee; we see him turn on Steen and then clips of their program, all the way through the Cell match at Mania and then Steen aiding Zayn at Survivor Series, Zayn then winning the WWF Title, then clips from this build, Zayn nearly pulling his hair out in frustration at Steen; Steen smirking and walking away.
1. DEFIANCE (ORTON/PRIEST w/Crews) d. STREET PROFITS
-Orton gets the hometown reaction, despite working this match as a heel; Defiance wins via chicanery, that still draws a babyface reaction; they lean into MJF goes to Long Island type of reaction; the announcers indicate the feud will likely continue.
2. CARNAGE MATCH: THE GOD OF CARNAGE EDGE d. THE LEGENDARY REY MYSTERIO - winner to Legends Match at Wrestlemania
-Edge is sort of Undertaker+Sandman; the Brood music works for him; he's more deliberate than IRL Edge, more methodical - and he uses foreign objects, all his matches are No DQ in his current persona - he beats Rey here and wins the right to go to Mania to wrestle in this year's Legends Match.
3. 5 MINUTE CHALLENGE: FIGHT FOREVER: BECKY LYNCH/CHARLOTTE FLAIR d. MICKIE JAMES/NATTY NEIDHART
-Lynch and Flair have steamrolled all opposition since joining together after each missed a year; in thi build, they had to move to some type of gimmick; in this case, defeating opponents w/n 5 minutes. They do that again here - it's Natty who has to go under; it's not an attempt to embarrass James as the TNA Women's Champ. The point is the massive dominance of Lynch/Flair -- what, the announce speculates, could they possibly do now (we'll find out tomorrow on RAW, and I'm mentioning this now as it maybe looks like Hunter is about to get in front of me with Ripley IRL -- tomorow, Lynch and Flair will win a match aganst an enhancement male tag team, because that's where this is headed).
4. DOMINIC MYSTERIO d. BOBBY ROODE
- Young Dom is masked, green but improving and he gets his biggest win here against a former Impact Champion.
5. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (MCINTYRE/LASHLEY) d. SHEAMUS/NICK NEMETH
-Deeply personal; Sheamus and Nemeth once joined together (with Barrett, now an announcer) in a massive angle where Underground was created -- at Survivor Series, they learned how that felt as their stablemates (and in Sheamus's case, longtime best friend McIntyre) turned on them in the creation of the Holy Roman Empire. But they don't get any measure of revenge -- Lashley pins his former stablemate Nemeth and the bad guys win.
6. AJ STYLES d. RICOCHET
-Pure workrate match; it needs to be the second best match of the whole night and lifts this first half of the card. Styles lost his IC belt, goes over here to build some momentum for Mania.
Inrermission. Clip package promoting Mania in Dallas, you'll see all 4 belts defended, the WWF Title in the main event - the legend's match with the special guest referee - The Undertaker. 11 matches, 4 hours, it's gonna be a happening.
7. TAG TITLES: HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (REIGNS/GABLE, w/McIntyre/Lashley) d. NEW DAY (LANGSTON/KINGSTON w/WOODS) - New Day Must Disband w/loss
-The second half of the show opens with Reigns cutting his promo, his crew puts their fingers in the air, he tells St Louis to acknowedge him. New Day v. Usos has been a signature feud in the tag division for years; Reigns turning on his cousins (Reigns was long positioned as a third Uso brother, over the past year and a half as Reigns has been repackaged, they've moved away from that) really strikes New Day as offensive - that's how that long feud ends? With Reigns turning on Jimmy and Jey - it would be like Langston turning on Kingston and Woods? But - as Reigns points out - he sort of did - Langston didn't take Roman's offer to join HRE - but he also didn't tell his stablemates about it - indicating he was cosndering it all the way to Survivor Series. With all of that in the air - New Day gets this tag shot - but they have to agree to disband forever if they do not win.
-They don't win. Roman gets the fall on Langston. It's the end of New Day - HRE moves to attack postmatch, but Roman stops them - "let them suffer" - Roman doesn't want to take New Day out of their misery, he wants them to bathe in the knowledge that they are no more.
-That's going to wrap Langston; his injury will come as a fluke in a singles match, no angle resultant.
8. WOMEN'S TITLE: RHEA RIPLEY d. SASHA BANKS/BIANCA BELAIR
-Banks and Belair teamed up at Survivor Series in the tag tourney but had miscommunication and that got worse in a match in this build, they're both babyfaces but we're supposed to sympathize with Belair - this is a triple threat match, so it's one fall - Banks and Belair aren't able to team at all, it's a full on 3 way, Banks breaks up a potential Belair win, Belair winds up going under, Ripley keeping the belt - Banks is disgusted, stepping over Belair on her way out of the ring.
9. IC TITLE: SHINSUKE NAKAMURA d. TYLER BLACK (DQ) - Special Guest Referee: Prince Devitt
-There's not a finish here, which isn't great for a PPV, but there's a lot of matches here. We establish early on the "Devitt points at his shirt, he's the referee, treat him like a referee" idea - Black and Devitt needed to establish some tension in the prior 4 way match when Nakamura won the title - and that continues here, there are spots where Devitt argues with both guys, but as Black/Devitt never had a real falling out, establishing that tension has been important. Also important is more Bullet Club stuff (like, Nakamura hits Black with the One Winged Angel, that sort of a thing) the feud with these 3 guys and Devitt has all been about the Bullet Club and making sure there are some teases from outside the WWF are part of the match. Finish is a Black inadvertantly laying out Devitt - he takes a good bump - Black then gets a visual pinfall (if he wins, this would be the Triple Crown which has been a huge driver for his character all year) but as Devitt recovers - he doesn't count the fall -- he call for the bell, DQ'ing Black for knocking him out. Devitt grabs the belt and starts up the ramp.
He's stopped by Styles - Styles gets into Devitt's face - how could you call that DQ - Devitt telling him to get out of his way - Devitt and Styles now jawing -- Styles grabs the belt away from Devitt - he lost the belt in the 4 way and then was kept out of this match here comes Black -- Black is understandably angry, he grabs at the belt - he had a fall that wasn't counted - he's yelling at Devitt - and now here comes Nakamura - he grabs at the belt - he's the IC champ after all - and the four men are all yelling at each other, each holding at some portion of the belt when security swarms to break them up.
10. MATT RIDDLE (w/HBK) d. BROCK LESNAR
-Riddle just lost the WWF Title, so he has been the top guy in the promotion -- and while Lesnar, is of course, Lesnar, he's been away for awhile and so the story here is a little rust - Lesnar takes most of the match, Lesnar is a speciman, Lesnar remains dominant, but Riddle catches him in a hold and Lesnar has to submit. Maybe Lesnar's been gone too long - maybe he can't just step into a ring with a top guy anymore, regardless, he is forced to submit to Matt Riddle here. Big, big Riddle win.
11. RONDA ROUSEY (w/Dangerous Alliance: Walter/Heyman) d. SHAYNA BASZLER (w/Ripley)
-Rousey is Lesnar, that's how she's always been positioned and now is is managed by Heyman, Lesnar's former manager, and aligned with Walter, a dominant, seemingly unstoppable Dark Ride Champion -- this is match is short, stiff - Rousey doesn't wrestle like everyone else, who she works like is Lesnar, so this match is violent and short and Baszler submits. Ripley, despite being Women's Champion and having just won her match, comes to the ring with Baszler - and when the match ends, it's Ripley and Rousey nose to nose in the ring.
Prior to the main event - clip package of the start of every WWF Title match in Rumble history:
1989- Randy Savage v. Ted DiBiase
1990- Mr. Perfect v. Rick Rude
1991- Mr. Perfect v. Ted DiBiase
1992- Ric Flair v. British Bulldog
1993-Bret Hart v. Tenryu
1994-Bret Hart v. Undertaker
1995-Shawn Michaels v. Diesel
1996-Bret Hart v. Owen Hart
1997. Bret Bart v. Shawn Michaels
1998-Owen Hart v. Steve Austin
1999-Cactus Jack v. Owen Hart; Owen takes the title in a barbed wire match; this was the first time the WWF Title switched at the Rumble.
2000-Cactus Jack v. Taz
2001-Chris Benoit v. Chris Jericho
2002-Kurt Angle v. Ric Flair
2003-Kurt Angle v. Shawn Michaels
2004-Eddy Guerrero v. Kurt Angle, Angle takes here, it's the second switch.
2005-Chris Benoit v. Shawn Michaels
2006-Rey Mysterio v. Psicosis v. Super Crazy
2008-Rey Mysrerio v. Shelton Benjamin, Benjamin takes the title
2009-Chris Jericho v. Hunter Hearst Helmsley McMahon
2010-Chris Jericho v. Matt Hardy
2011-Edge v. Booker T
2012-Nick Nemeth v. Bryan Danielson, Danielson takes the belt
2013-Bryan Danielson v. Dos Caras, Jr.
2014-Bryan Danielson v. CM Punk v. Brock Lesnar v. Jack Swagger
2015-Claudio Castagnoli v. Brock Lesnar, Lesnar takes the belt
2016-Kevin Steen v. Brock Lesnar v. Nick Nemeth
2017-AJ Styles v. Luke Harper
2019-Shinsuke Nakamura v. Kenta
2020-Tyler Black v. Shinsuke Nakamura v. Samoa Joe
2021-Tyler Black v. Ricochet, Ricochet takes the belt.
12. WWF TITLE: SAMI ZAYN d. KEVIN STEEN
There's no trace now of the babyface Generico and any reticence he may have had to doing whatever he had to do to win. This is a wrestling match, full main event style - it's on the long end - I generally do not want a match to go more than 30 minutes, but this is maybe a 37-38 minute match, the idea is there is nothing left in either man's bucket at the end; Zayn holds the trunks at one point during a cradle, but that's not how he gets the fall. He hits his move, he gets Steen in the middle of the ring. The two men, exhausted, remain on the mat for an extra beat, they get up slowly together, ideally there's a good fan reaction - when the official attempts to hand Zayn the belt - Steen takes it from him -- Steen looks at the belt, perhaps wondering if this is the final time he'll ever hold it - and then he holds it out to hand to Zayn. There's a beat - does Zayn take it - do they shake hands - are we about to see these two men come to some sort of...
They're not - before Steen can give Zayn the belt the Holy Roman Empire hits the ring and just lay Zayn and Steen out - after a nearly 40 minute match, they are no match for the 4 man HRE; it has to be a pretty good beating, with Zayn the focus (say they toss Steen from the ring) - the money has to be Steen, bleeding, crawling back into the ring to shield Zayn with his body; Steen sacrificing his body to help save his friend turned rival. That's the big shot.
The Rumble ends with Roman Reigns grabbing the WWF Title...and raising it over his head.
Back in a month we're building to Wrestlemania where your main event will in fact be Sami Zayn defending his WWF Title against.....Roman Reigns.
