Rumble results, Rousey debuts
There are plenty of newsworthy items that fans emailed about this week, so let鈥檚 take a look at them.
Rumble results
WWE delivered one of the better Royal Rumble cards last Sunday and several fans chimed in with thoughts.
Tom Smith of Uniontown asked why the WWE championship match opened the show, and it was simply because with only six matches on the card, it was obvious that one of the two Rumble matches would close the show.
The women鈥檚 match was given the main event spot after it was confirmed that Ronda Rousey would appear at the show.
WWE wasn鈥檛 going to put the men鈥檚 Rumble right before the women鈥檚 version because doing back to back Rumble鈥檚 would have been overkill and would have bored the fans.
Brock Lesnar defending the Universal title was a bigger deal than Styles defensing the WWE title, so Lesnar was given the co-main event spot.
It wasn鈥檛 the first time WWE has put a heavyweight title match first, and it won鈥檛 be the last.
Bentleyville native Ronnie Wilson asked if I liked the results.
WWE did a solid job with all of the matches and I was happy to see them go with Shinsuke Nakamura in the well-written men鈥檚 Rumble.
He has been misused since debuting on Smackdown, and his match with A.J. Styles at Mania, if it remains, should be nothing less that phenomenal, no pun intended.
Styles against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens was what I expected and a good way to start the show.
The Bar had to win the Raw tag title back because Jason Jordan is legitimately injured and having Seth Rollins in the men鈥檚 Rumble for so long right before the match gave a built-in excuse for him being pinned.
I was surprised that The Uso鈥檚 retained the Smackdown titles in two falls, but let鈥檚 see how it plays out before judging.
Asuka was a logical move for the women鈥檚 Rumble, and I liked how the women鈥檚 Rumble balanced out today鈥檚 stars with the stars of yesterday.
The only thing I was not a fan of was how Asuka鈥檚 win, in possibly the most important women鈥檚 match in WWE history, was overshadowed by the post-match debut of Rousey.
Rousey debut
Almost 25 fans reached out sharing their thoughts, which were mixed.
While we shouldn鈥檛 rush judgment on her debut either, several WWE women鈥檚 wrestlers took to social media after the match sharing their unhappiness of when Rousey debuted as it totally overshadowed the finish of the actual women鈥檚 Rumble match.
In the long run, the women鈥檚 division will garner much more attention because of Rousey, but at the Rumble, the segment took away from a historical landmark moment for the women鈥檚 division.
RYSE back to Lemont Furnace
On Saturday, RYSE returns The Stronghold Arena for a new event.
In what is being referred to as a dream match for the Pittsburgh area, 鈥淭he Apex of Combat鈥� Lee Moriarty is facing 鈥淭he Next Trending Topic鈥� Jack Pollock.
Both are tremendous in the ring and the match should be nothing less than stellar.
Two other top matches include Ganon Jones taking on Tony Johnson and Jackson Stone facing Lewis.
Several other matches will take place and for more information on the show and on RYSE, go to www.rysewrestling.com for more information.
The address is 1952 University Drive in Lemont Furnace.
WWE announces Cruiserweight title tourney
WWE said it will begin a Cruiserweight title tournament to crown a new champion with the title match taking place at WrestleMania.
Mixed Tag Team Challenge continues Tuesday
Week 4 of the WWE Mixed Tag Team Challenge takes place Tuesday with Goldust and Mandy Rose taking on Jimmy Uso and Naomi.
This past Tuesday, Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss defeated Zayn and Becky Lynch to advance to the quarterfinals where they will take on the winner of Tuesday鈥檚 match.
Airing immediately after Smackdown, the Challenge can be found on Facebook Live.
XFL look
Ryan from Smithfield asked if WWE wrestlers will appear at XFL games.
While some may make appearances, Vince McMahon stated that WWE and XFL will be kept as separate entities.
WWE signs announcer
Jeremy Borash, an announcer who had been with TNA/Impact since its inception, signed with WWE this week and will announce in NXT.
Borash began his career in WCW before heading to TNA after WCW was bought out by McMahon.
Lashley signs?
Earlier this week, it was announced that Bobby Lashley assigned with WWE instead of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
WWE has not announced the signing as of yet, but a logical feud for Lashley if he does return to WWE, would be against Lesnar because of their MMA backgrounds.
Mania 35 to NYC?
As has been reported in this column several times in the last few months, WWE was looking at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Lincoln Financial Stadium in Philadelphia as possible locations for WrestleMania 35.
Earlier this week, it was all but made official that WWE will return to MetLife Stadium, which is literally across the Hudson river from New York City, for the show.
WWE ran Mania 29 there, which I attended.
Check back for more after the announcement is finally made official.
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Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III