WWE Week in Review: Royal Rumble fallout, Samoa Joe debuts

Let’s take a look back at a huge week in WWE with the highlights and lowlights of NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, the Royal Rumble, Monday Night RAW, SmackDown Live, 205 Live and NXT.

It was a big week in WWE. Over five days of action, we got some great matches, some big debuts and plenty to talk about in both NXT and WWE. So let’s not waste any time with an intro this week and get right into the event that kicked everything off, NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.

NXT TakeOver: San Antonio

When the final card finally came to be for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t overly excited. A few things were thrown together at the last minute, which obviously didn’t leave a lot of time to really build things up but I should have known better and still believed that NXT would find a way to put on an entertaining show and that’s exactly what we got last Saturday night.

As usual, the NXT crowd was hot and the fans got right into it from the start as Tye Dillinger and Eric Young kicked things off. Dillinger was given one last chance to join Sanity but once again refused and he and Young had a solid match. The storytelling, while a little expected, was still good here with Dillinger working to overcome the numbers game that inevitably came into play. Much to the dismay of the crowd, Young was able to pick up the win after about ten minutes of solidly-paced action. Good opener.

Roderick Strong and Andrade Almas put on a better match than I expected. There was a lot of good back and forth with both guys looking very strong in this one. Even with the loss, I thought Almas came away looking very good here and this may have been the best match he’s had since arriving in NXT. And that backbreaker he took was insane. Great follow-up to keep the show’s momentum rolling.

The tag team title match between #DIY and Authors of Pain was surprising on a lot of levels. This really was one of the matches that concerned me going in, as I wasn’t sure Ellering’s boys could put on the type of match that we’ve all come to expect from Ciampa and Gargano every single night but they hung every step of the way. Teams that are built as monsters like these two are usually a bit limited in the ring and while I’m not saying that they’re the best in the world, they really showed me that they could deliver on the big stage. And I was really surprised that they walked away with the titles but getting there was a lot of fun. #DIY was spectacular as always and continue to be over with the live crowds. Really fun match here.

I thought the whole Seth Rollins takeover segment was very good and a great surprise to further the storyline between he and Triple H. Rollins hasn’t been on NXT television in quite some time and it was pretty cool to see this huge feud get some air time here. Fun stuff.

I was hoping that the women’s title match would get a bit more time but the four involved certainly made the most of the time that they did get. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce came through with a nice performance and the double suplex to Nikki Cross off the announce table was awesome. But Asuka was still the star of the night as she continued her dominant run. I thought the ending was a little rushed and I’d still like to see some more one-on-one between Asuka and Nikki but this match was still pretty solid.

The NXT Championship match could have been absolute garbage and I probably wouldn’t have even cared because I knew the entrances from both Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura would both be amazing and I was right. Obviously this match was never going to be garbage and it was a great end to a great night. Roode and Nakamura put on a hell of a show that told a great story. Both competitors got their fair share of offense in and the pace was excellent throughout. I thought the knee injury angle at the end went on a tad bit too long but it still ended up working in the end. As it was with Authors of Pain, I was a little shocked to see the title change hands but it was a nice surprise.

The TakeOver bar has been set for the year with a surprisingly good show and the next special, which will take place over WrestleMania weekend, will certainly have a lot to live up to. Good start to a big week in WWE.