Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!
WWE Royal Rumble, Saturday, February 1st, 6:00 at Second Place
I fell in love with professional wrestling as a young dude in the 90’s, at the peak of the “Attitude Era,” that gave us Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mr. McMahon, The Rock and Mankind. I followed through the Ruthless Aggression Era along with John Cena, Kurt Angle and the late Eddie Guerrero. As the last decade turned I drifted away from the product, as most of my friends had moved on as well.
The scandals and sleaze of the Vince McMahon regime that has dominated the pro wrestling scene since he bought most of his competition has come to a messy end. Since his sidelining the writing and performances have been top notch, business is booming. Even the competition is thriving, with more promotions providing good paychecks to performers across the globe.
My favorite Premium Live Event (what we called Pay Per Views back in the Stone Age,) is the Royal Rumble, taking place this Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. There will be a Men’s and a Women’s Over the Top Rope Battle Royal (wrestling requires a lot of capitalization,) with the last superstar in the ring challenging for one of the World Title of their choice. It’s a fun event to introduce new fans to the characters and storylines.
On top of that the card is stacked with action, from Bleacher Report
30-Woman Royal Rumble Match: Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley vs. Nia Jax vs. Bianca Belair vs. Naomi vs. Liv Morgan vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Iyo Sky vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. Ivy Nile vs. TBA
WWE Tag Team Championship 2-Out-Of-3 Falls Match: DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
Undisputed WWE Championship Ladder Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Kevin Owens
30-Man Royal Rumble Match: John Cena vs. CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn vs. Jey Uso vs. Rey Mysterio vs. LA Knight vs. Logan Paul vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Penta vs. Chad Gable vs. Bron Breakker vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. TBA
This year it gets even better. Starting with pre show at 6:00 EST, I’ll be setting up camp and live chatting the whole shebang from Second Place in Northside. So swing by the neighborhood if you can or chat if you can’t and we’ll distract ourselves from the mess that is the world around us while incredible athletes pretend to fight for our amusement.
I recently had a conversation touting Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Wildfire Rich from the old NWA days and matches at the Cincinnati Gardens. Although I've been out of the loop for years, wrasslin' is always great theater.