Month: February 2017

2017 Grammy Nominations: Thoughts on Rock, R&B, Rap, Country and Mu

Posted on by nwadeblogs_

Part 2..

Best Alternative Rock Album

  • 22, A Million- Bon Iver
  • Blackstar- David Bowie
  • The Hope Six Demolition Project- PJ Harvey
  • Post Pop Depression- Iggy Pop
  • A Moon Shaped Pool- Radiohead

I listened to a bit of Post Pop Depression, and as my first real exposure to Iggy Pop besides that one time I saw him on American Idol, I kind of liked it. He’s not as much of a novelty act as I thought. However, “22, A Million” and “A Moon Shaped Pool” are albums I have listened to multiple times since their release and I think they’re both fantastic. Radiohead is as alluring as ever here, producing a stunning record that I was pissed did not reach #1. Bon Iver delivered in a huge way as well, producing what was probably the best received album of the year critically.

As good as these albums are, they’re up next to Blackstar and that is not a good thing. When an artist can frame their own death as poignantly as Bowie did and wrap it up like a package before handing it over to us to let us digest it, you can’t not celebrate it. I’d love to see Radio head win but this is industry people voting so expect a Bowie win.

Prediction: Blackstar- David Bowie

Simplified thoughts on R&B (at least the stuff I’m familiar with, which is not a lot)

Best R&B performance is an interesting category. I saw Ro James perform “Permission” live in early November, and it’s a great song, but you can’t put it in the same category as Cranes in the Sky or Needed Me. The latter is an absolute banger of a track from “Anti” and the former is the standout track from what was by far the most surprising album of the year for me, in Solange’s “A Seat At The Table”. I would love to see Solange get the win, but I think Rihanna is just too respected of an artist to lose in this particular category. I think she takes it.

Prediction for Best R&B Performance: Needed Me- Rihanna

The only song I know from the Best R&B song category is Kiss It Better. I like that song, but it’s not even in my top 5 favorites on Anti and I genuinely don’t know what’s so special about it. It’s become a song I keep on and dance to in the shower but skip anywhere else.

The Best Urban Contemporary Album category is going to be an interesting one. Anderson .Paak’s “Malibu” was a really fantastic album, but it has no chance against Lemonade AND Anti. It’ll be interesting to see how that one plays out….the two queens of the music industry competing without Adele lurking for once. The category is Urban Contemporary, so for that reason I’m going to say that Rihanna takes this one. Anti is still, in my opinion, Rihanna’s best album and I’d love for it to get some recognition as a whole.

Prediction for Best Urban Contemporary Album: ANTI- Rihanna

Rap

Best Rap Performance

  • No Problem- Chance The Rapper ft. Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz
  • Panda- Desiigner
  • Pop Style- Drake ft. The Throne
  • All The Way Up- Fat Joe and Remy Ma ft. French Montana and Infared
  • That Part- ScHoolboy Q ft. Kanye West

I’m going to take Panda out of this right away. I know the song did really well commercially but the fact that this mediocre Future wannabe got nominated for a Grammy blows my mind. Next

I’m taking Pop Style out of this as well. Drake released both Pop Style and One Dance at the same time before Views came out and I was really excited to hear The Throne on there but Jay-Z literally has two lines on it. I’m all for putting a name on something to get it to sell more but two lines?? Really?? You could have had an uncredited vocal and people would have known exactly who it was.

No Problem is by far the best song here and should easily take the win. It’s got this incredible energy about it that the rest of these songs lack….like all of Coloring Book, it’s a rap song with that jam-band feel to it and I can’t get enough of it. Also, again, the Grammys are industry voted awards and Chance is REALLY popular among everyone right now so expect him to walk away with a few.

Prediction: No Problem

Best Rap/Sung Performance

  • Freedom- Beyoncé ft. Kendrick Lamar
  • Hotline Bling- Drake
  • Broccoli- D.R.A.M ft. Lil Yachty
  • Ultralight Beam- Kanye West ft. Chance, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin and The Dream
  • Famous- Kanye West ft. Rihanna

Hotline Bling came out wayyyyy before the cutoff date for last years Grammy, but I guess they wanted to wait until his album was out so he could rack up a huge number of nominations. For that reason, I’m taking it out of consideration. Broccoli is shit, so I’m taking that out as well.

It would be interesting to see Famous win, just because of all the controversy surrounding it this year. I don’t think it should though, because Freedom and Ultralight Beam are significantly better. Freedom, one of the most electric songs of Beyoncé’s career, is the standout from Lemonade assisted of course by Kendrick Lamar, who never fails to perform at the highest level. Ultralight Beam is the standout from Life of Pablo (along with No More Parties in LA) and is my pick to win

Prediction: Ultralight Beam (it’s totally not gonna win but let me dream)

Best Rap Song:

  • “All The Way Up”
  • “Famous”
  • “Ultralight Beam”
  • “No Problem”
  • “Hotline Bling”

As much as I hate to admit it, part of me feels like “Hotline Bling” is going to win this. There would not point in putting a song that’s been out for over a year and a half into these categories if it’s not going to win at least one of them. If the song was any good I really would not care but it’s really just shit, so I’m just gonna have to let it roll of my shoulders. They could, of course, give it to Chance again as well, which would make me very happy, but who knows really. Kanye isn’t going to the ceremony this year so “Famous” has even less of a chance then it did before.

Prediction: “Hotline Bling”

Best Rap Album

  • “Coloring Book” – Chance
  • “and the Anonymous Nobody” – De La Soul
  • “Major Key” – DJ Khaled
  • “Views” – Drake
  • “Blank Face LP” – Schoolboy Q
  • “The Life of Pablo” – Kanye

This is a really strong category, except for the fact that Travis Scott’s “Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight” isn’t included. That was one of my favorite records of the year and I would have gladly traded that for De La Soul’s record, mostly because I didn’t listen to it so I have no clue what it sounds like therefore don’t have an opinion.

“Views” to me is just one song repeated over and over 18 times and I’m still so underwhelmed whenever I go back to it. I know it’s Drake and he can put out whatever the f*ck he wants and everyone will find a way to relate to it for 5 minutes, but I do not think it’s deserving. “Major Key” is good, but Khaled loaded it up with features like he usually does and didn’t even produce some of the tracks himself on there, so I’m taking that out of contention. I enjoyed “Blank Face LP” but not as much as I did “Life of Pablo, but even that didn’t live up to my expectations growing up in the era of 808’s and Heartbreak and MBDTF….those albums are just stellar.

I really think that the Grammys making the change to the rules so that artists like Chance could is good enough reason as to why “Coloring Book” should win, not to mention the fact that the replay factor is still high after almost a year. That being said though, I would not be surprised if they gave it to Drake. One of the most highly anticipated and biggest albums of the year commercially, “Views”, like “25”, blows it competition away sales wise. Again, does that play a huge factor? I think it should. There’s a lot to be said these days when an album actually sells. So yeah, it hurts me to take the award away from Chance, but….

Prediction: “Views” – Drake

Country

Best Country Solo Performance

  • “Love Can Go To Hell” – Brandy Clark
  • “Vice” Miranda Lambert
  • “My Church” – Maren Morris
  • “Church Bells” – Carrie Underwood
  • “Blue Ain’t Your Color” – Keith Urban

This is an interesting category, but I’d say it’s really between Maren and Miranda, although “Love Can Go To Hell” is great as well. “Church Bells” is Carrie barely on autopilot, and I prefer other songs off of Ripcord for Keith. Maren is so young and so talented and she has truly established herself as one of country’s brightest stars over the last year, but “Vice” is Miranda at her best in my opinion. “The Weight of These Wings” is her best album by far, and “Vice” as a lead single was such a pleasant surprise after the mess that was “Something Bad”. So I’ll give this one to Miranda, and Maren can take the next one.

Prediction: “Vice” – Miranda Lambert

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

  • “Different For Girls” – Dierks Bentley ft. Elle King
  • “21 Summer” – Brothers Osborne
  • “Setting The World On Fire” – Kenny Chesney ft. Pink
  • “Jolene” Pentatonix ft. Dolly Parton
  • “Think of You” – Chris Young ft. Cassadee Pope

“Think of You” blows the rest of these songs out of the water. Both Chris Young and Cassadee Pope are fantastic talents, and their voices mesh so well together. “Different For Girls” and “21 Summer” don’t do much for me, and as much as I love Pentatonix their cover of “Jolene” with Dolly was nothing too special. I liked “Setting The World On Fire” much more then I thought I would, but I’d really love to see the award go to Chris and Cassadee

Prediction: “Think of You” – Chris Young and Cassadee Pope

Best Country Song

  • “Blue Ain’t Your Color” – Keith Urban
  • “Die A Happy Man” – Thomas Rhett
  • “Humble and Kind” – Tim McGraw
  • “My Church” – Maren Morris
  • “Vice” – Miranda Lambert

“Die A Happy Man” and “Humble and Kind” are very average. Good, but average. The lack of Chris Stapleton is really showing with those. “Blue Ain’t Your Color” is just another single, and if Miranda wins in the other category, this could definitely be Maren’s for the taking. I mean, it’s gonna win SOMETHING, so it might as well be this.

Prediction: “My Church” – Maren Morris

Best Country Album

  • “Big Day In A Small Town”- Brandy Clark
  • “Full Circle”- Loretta Lynn
  • “Hero”- Maren Morris
  • “A Sailors Guide to Earth”- Sturgill Simpson
  • “Ripcord”- Keith Urban

For some, seeing Loretta Lynn in this category might be a surprise even with her legendary status. “Full Circle” was a great record, highlighted by a beautiful cover of Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind”. “Ripcord” is an excellent rebound for Keith after “Fuse” which was, with the exception of Cop Car, absolutely terrible. I don’t see either of those winning, but they’re good additions to the category.

I’d say it’s really between Sturgill and Maren. Sturgill probably isn’t going to win Album of the Year with the stiff competition its up against, and because it’s a really frigin great album, I’d love to see it win here and propel Sturgill to the mainstream. Maren could easily win this too, but it’s really 50/50.

Prediction: “A Sailors Guide to Earth” – Sturgill Simpson

Musical Theatre

Best Musical Theatre Album

  • Bright Star
  • The Color Purple
  • Fiddler On The Roof
  • Kinky Boots
  • Waitress

Congratulations!! The year of Hamilton is over!! Someone else finally gets a chance!! Haha, no honestly, I love Hamilton, but it’s a buzzkill when it comes to awards cause YOU KNOW it was winning everything.

So I wasn’t aware that West End cast recordings were eligible for Grammys. Am I just a dumbass? Like I honestly didn’t know that. I haven’t heard that or the Fiddler album but I’ve heard very good things from those who have seen the show and listened to the album.

I was really bummed I didn’t get to see “Bright Star” when it was on Broadway….I read on it in a playbill and fell in love with it when I checked it out. I think it’s a bit too indie-ish to score the win here, but still, I highly recommend. So it’s down to Waitress and Color Purple, which is very hard for me as it’s my favorite new musical (besides Hamilton) and my favorite revival of the year. I think that because Sara Bareillis is attached to it, Waitress will walk away with it, but you can’t take anything away from Cynthia Erivo and the Color Purple crew….just incredible.

Prediction: Waitress

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WWE Predictions: Elimination Chamber

Posted on by nwadeblogs_

2439662776f090befbcc4b4312e00f01_xlWWE’s Elimination Chamber PPV takes place tomorrow night at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. We’re just a little over a month and a half away from WrestleMania, and tomorrow night marks the last Smackdown Live event before Mania, with Raw following suit early next month with Fastlane. Smackdown has ultimately come out on top at both Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble (if Orton winning counts as a brand supremacy thing), and with the amount of time they have to build their Mania feuds as opposed to Raw, I think we’ll be getting some really special stuff in Orlando.

Gotta be honest, I haven’t watched Smackdown in full in three weeks, but I’ve been trying to keep up as best I can. Here are my predictions.

Preshow

Match 1: Mojo Rawley vs Curt Hawkins

Who cares? I mean, honestly. Curt Hawkins is a really talented guy, but he has done absolutely nothing since coming back. And then there’s Mojo, who was an absolute waste in the Rumble and hasn’t done much for me since coming up either.

Winner: Mojo Rawley

Main Card

Match 1: Randy Orton vs Luke Harper

With Bray Wyatt doing his thing in the Elimination Chamber match later on in the night, these two are going to blow off whatever steam is left of this feud after the few matches they’ve already had. It’s pretty much a given that we’ll be seeing Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship at Mania, but I’d really like to see Harper in that match as well. He’s an incredible talent and a hard worker, but it looks like he’ll get lost in the shuffle match wise. Randy took the loss to John Cena this past week on Smackdown, so he needs the win against Harper in this match. Even though Harper probably won’t be in the title picture, I fully expect him to be involved in the match in some capacity.

Match 2: Nikki Bella vs Natalya

These two have been having matches and brawling all over the place for months now, and with probable Mania plans evident for Nikki, this match will be the blowoff. I don’t expect to see anything new or spectacular here, but the two will put on a pleasant match just like they always do. Nikki should walk away with the win here.

Winner: Nikki Bella

Match 3: Apollo Crews and Kalisto vs Dolph Ziggler

So yeah, I haven’t been following this storyline too much. I thought Ziggler and Crews would have a match at the Rumble but they did not, and that’s the last time I thought about it. Perhaps Ziggler will pull a Ted Dibiase and bring out a partner for the match, or maybe Crews and Kalisto will kick the shit out of him for a while but Ziggler will still find a way to cheat and win because he’s the pissed off heel and that’s what they do. Should be interested.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Match 4: Becky Lynch vs Mickie James

Man, does this match have potential. Two of the best female wrestlers in the business…one from the era of old and one from the era of new, but both in their prime. I’d love to see this get a good 10-12 minutes.

So yeah, Asuka did her job and sent Mickie right out of NXT after one match, and a few weeks later Mickie appeared on Smackdown, helping Alexa Bliss retain her Women’s title in her cage match with Becky. Mickie is seemingly back to her crazy gimmick, though somewhat subdued, and it’s great to see her back. After taking that loss to Asuka, I’d love to see her pick up the win against Becky here.

Winner: Mickie James

Match 5: American Alpha vs The Usos vs The Ascension vs Heath Slater and Rhyno vs The Vaudevillians vs Breezango- Smackdown Tag-Team Championship match

Man is that a hodgepodge of a match. While it is a Tag-Team Turmoil match and not a Tornado-Tag like it should be, there’s gonna be a lot of bodies flying around that ring. The Ascension surprisingly picked up a win last week on Smackdown giving them some momentum going into tomorrow, and I can see them, as well as Breezango, having a good showing. Smackdown needs to establish the fact that there are more then two legit tag-teams on the brand, and this is the way to do it. I really don’t know who they’re going to give it to, so i’ll just say that American Alpha retains.

Winners: American Alpha

Match #6: Alexa Bliss vs Naomi- Smackdown Women’s Championship match

Naomi has been one of the most over female competitors on the roster for years now and they’ve gone to pull the trigger for her multiple times, but then plans have always changed. She’s looked absolutely incredible over the last few months, and has definitely earned her shot. Alexa Bliss has been a fantastic, ballsy champion, and I don’t expect her to lose the title so close to Mania as I feel like WWE has something good coming her way, but I really like the build up to this. Alexa mocking Naomi’s return, then Naomi repeatedly scoring pinfall victories over her. Should be a fun match.

Winner: Alexa Bliss

Match #7: John Cena vs AJ Styles vs The Miz vs Bray Wyatt vs Dean Ambrose vs Baron Corbin- Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship

The first Elimination Chamber match for a major world title since 2014. That’s pretty crazy. This marks the first chamber match for AJ, Dean, Bray and Baron Corbin, who I think will have a career-defining performance here. I expect Dean and Miz to start off, before Corbin, AJ, Bray and Cena enter one by one, and I also don’t expect any pinfalls until well after all six men are in.

With the exception of Cena and Miz, this match greatly benefits the styles and personalities of the other four. AJ will excel like he always does, but we should really see a star is born moment in Baron Corbin. Ultimately, I’d like to see Cena taken out before the final two, allowing Bray and AJ to go at it with Bray coming out on top. It’s a lot to ask, but I think it could really work. I’ve been hearing rumblings of Miz winning it too, and I’d really have no problem with that.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

 

 

 

WWE Review: Royal Rumble

Posted on by nwadeblogs_

For many wrestling fans, the Royal Rumble is one of the most anticipated nights of the year. Every year, we wait anxiously for the big show, going through scenarios over and over again to ourselves and to friends, in person or online, thinking “There’s no way WWE can f*ck this up. It’s literally right in front of them. It’s all there.” The Rumble plants the seeds for the WrestleMania card, and by the time of the event, those, like myself, who go to Mania most years, already have their tickets bought and travel arrangements settled after months and months of saving. We want a high quality card if we’re going to travel that distance. All the time you see rumors on dirt sheets about potential feuds…some you dismiss, some you think “Yep, that works. No way they won’t do it.” But of course, WWE loves to be the dumb trolls that they are and give us what nobody except for some idiots with Roman Reigns fan accounts on Twitter wanted because they KNOW it’ll get us talking. They’ve done it three years in a row now, and I for one have had it.

I’d like to thank Triple H and the NXT team for giving us a fantastic TakeOver on Saturday, that ended with Bobby Roode defeating Shinsuke Nakamura in an amazing match to win his first NXT Championship. The rest of the card was great as well, and I think most people felt the same way. That brings me to the Rumble. Let’s break it down.

Preshow

Match 1: Nikki Bella, Naomi and Becky Lynch vs Mickie James, Alexa Bliss and Natayla

This was a fun little match. Everyone got to have a special little moment or two with the exception of Mickie James unfortunately, who I’m sure will have plenty of great moments going forward. Naomi was the star of the match, showing off her incredible athleticism, pinning champion Alexa Bliss to pick up the win her the face team.

Winner: Nikki Bella, Naomi and Becky Lynch

Match #2: Anderson and Gallows vs Sheamus and Cesaro- Raw Tag-Team Championship match w/ two referees

Sheamus and Cesaro have grown leaps and bounds as a team over the last month and a half or so. They’re both great workers and really fun to watch together…can you imagine them as a heel team? They delivered another solid, hard-hitting match against Anderson and Gallows, who FINALLY walked away with the tag titles for real after months and months of losing to teams, repeatedly, who are beneath them.

Sheamus and Cesaro had some good tag work, Gallows continues to shine as the “athletic big man” and Anderson is just as impressive. The kick to that referee near the end of the match looked absolutely brutal, with the crowd letting out a collective “OHHHHH”…this would call for the 2nd ref to come into play and count the pin. Expect this feud to continue till at least Fastlane

Winners: Anderson and Gallows

Match #3: Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax

At just over 5 minutes, this match was insanely short by Sasha Banks standards. She got almost no real offense in on Nia, who dominated and pinned Banks with a Samoan Drop. The two had another quick match on Raw tonight with Sasha losing again, so clearly they’re really trying to push Nia so by the time Mania rolls around, she looks like a viable contender for Charlotte’s title. At the expense of Sasha Banks though? Not my favorite decision.

Winner: Nia Jax

Main Card

Match #1: Charlotte vs Bayley- Raw Women’s Championship match

This match has been generally well-received, but I didn’t really like it. It felt off-kilter to me, and the finish felt like it came out of nowhere. I didn’t care for the card placement either…I would have preferred it right before Cena/Styles, just because of the supposed magnitude of the match. 13 minutes is nothing to complain about for a women’s match, but for Bayley’s first singles match for a title on PPV in WWE? I wanted it to be better and it’s unfortunate that it wasn’t. The two have great chemistry together, but something just didn’t gel for me.

Sure, this keeps Bayley on the hunt until Mania but I really still think they jumped the gun with this match happening now. If they go with the Fatal Four-Way option, she won’t have to pin Charlotte to win the title and her inevitable victory will feel kind of cheap.

Winner: Charlotte

Match #2: Kevin Owens vs Roman Reigns- Universal Championship match w/ Chris Jericho locked in a shark cage

I really hate when WWE gives matches away for free on TV when the same match is going to happen a few weeks later on PPV. The matches Owens and Roman on Raw have been fine, but they really turned it up at the Rumble. The No DQ stipulation allowed them to brawl all over the arena, and for both of them, particular Owens, to really use weapons and other sneaky tactics to try and get ahead. Chris Jericho had little to no involvement in the match at all, not dropping his US Title belt down to Owens as many thought he would. Instead, we got interference from Braun Strowman, who attacked Reigns as he was about to hit the Spear on Owens. I’d be perfectly ok with a Roman/Braun match at Mania for the sole purpose that it keeps Roman away from a title. Braun gets the short end of the stick there, as he SHOULD be wrestling for a title at that point.

Winner: Kevin Owens

Match #3: Neville vs Rich Swaan- Cruiserweight Championship match

Neville has never been more interesting then he is right now. He was always a great asset, but he came in REALLY over and lost steam the longer he stayed a face. Now he’s a monster heel in terms of Cruiserweights and it’s going to take someone like Austin Aries or some other big name to take that title off him.

I enjoyed this match, although the crowds lack of….anything, as per usual for this match bummed me out a bit. The fans wouldn’t even cheer for Neville?? That’s when you know something is wrong with that division. The match was well-paced, it got time, the two men in the ring can really go….I just don’t get it. I don’t really care for Swaan too much, but he held his own for a while, hitting some of those signature kicks of his, before Neville ultimately forced him to tap out in convincing fashion. Good decision.

Winner: Neville

Match #4: John Cena vs AJ Styles- WWE Championship match

The question has always been when, not if, will John Cena tie Ric Flair’s record of 16 world championships. The bigger question, to me, was who is he going to do it against? Well, he did it against AJ Styles, who has had an amazing run with that title and the absolute best first year of anyone I’ve seen in WWE. My friend Graham tweeted that he thinks AJ surpassed CM Punk as Cena’s greatest rival, and I agree 100%. AJ floors Punk in all categories….in-ring ability, charisma, connection with the crowd, storytelling ability, the “look” WWE likes in their guys, and just being a good, respectable person really, which is important as well (I absolutely hate CM Punk as you can probably tell). Punk, the character, came across like his real persona; that he was owed something for Lord knows what reason. That Cena was lucky to be in the ring with him because he was the best in the world right!? Wrong. He didn’t get his way, had a piss fit, left the company and got squashed out of UFC by a damn rookie in just over 2 minutes after 2 years of doing absolutely nothing while AJ Styles walked in there with class and brought out 3 of the best John Cena matches we’ve ever seen with EASE.  What that piece of trash did in Chicago means absolutely nothing anymore. Rant over.

So yeah, this match was pretty epic. It was the 3rd match of the Cena/Styles saga and yet the fans were cheering like it was the first time ever before the bell even rung. The two of them have developed incredible chemistry over the last few months and they continued to keep things fresh; trying new things, trading multiple submission holds, attempting to use or actually using each others finishing moves….it was beautiful. Near the end of the match there were ALOT of nearfalls…some more believable then others, but that’s fine. Can’t do headlocks and shoulder tackles forever right? Finally, after 2 emphatic AA’s, Cena put AJ away to become a 16 time champion. He shared his moment with a sick kid in the crowd, again proving that John Cena is the most giving man in all of sports. Hats off to both men.

Winner: John Cena

Match #5: Royal Rumble match

Oh boy, here we go. If you thought my rant on Punk was bad, just wait.

So yeah, the Royal Rumble match. The most stacked Rumble match in history….one with Undertaker, Goldberg AND Brock Lesnar in there (I still piss myself at the thought of that) not to mention all the other huge names. Fans unanimously agreed that we had NO IDEA who was going to win because it was that unpredictable for once. Or so we thought. We really thought.

It was well paced for most of it, but with 5 of the 8 unannounced (and somewhat underwhelming) entrants coming in before the halfway point, it appeared there wouldn’t be a lot of huge surprises. Baron Corbin eliminating Braun Strowman was a surprise…I would have rather that happened WAYYYY later, and would have liked for Braun to break Roman’s elimination record, but 7 is a good number too. Strowman’s confrontations woth Henry and Big Show were cool, but short. Which I guess is fine too. What I didn’t like were the WASTED SPOTS. Mojo Rawley, Jack Gallagher with his damn umbrella, Apollo Crews, Enzo at #27 of all places and F*CKING JAMES ELLSWORTH. I do not understand why they REALLY needed to do that. Even though we got Samoa Joe on Raw last night, one of those spots could have easily been used for him, and another for Finn Balor whose return would have blown the roof off of the Alamodome.

Chris Jericho, who was projected to win by many media outlets, Sami Zayn, Dean Ambrose and the Miz all performed exceptionally well, all lasting over a half hour or close to it. Brock came out at 26 at my displeasure…I wanted him to work a little bit considering he’s done practically nothing for months now. He was eliminated by Goldberg, who came out at 28, almost immediately, setting up their main event match at Mania. No complaints there, though I would have liked a Taker/Brock staredown one last time. Taker came out at 29, receiving the ovation of the night when he appeared in the center of the ring like the badass he is. He dumped Goldberg with ease, much to my delight.

Then the clock ran down for #30. Who could it be??? Balor? Joe?? Someone else unexpected?? The anticipation was real. Roman Reigns’ music hit, and the spell was broken. “You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me!” I said in disbelief. “Are they seriously doing this to us again??? I swear to god if they have him win….” Roman walked down the ramp huffing and puffing with a look on his face that meant people were about to get wrecked. He got in the ring and started cleaning house, and eliminated of all people, the f*cking Undertaker. Taker got up and looked at Roman, the camera focused just enough on the WrestleMania sign in the back of the arena to send the message of “Yep, it’s happening.” Roman, fuming with anger, stared right at Taker with a look that said “This is MY yard now.” I have a problem with that.

3 years in a row now WWE has forced Roman down our throats in the Rumble. I don’t care that he’s the company’s new golden boy, the fact that they scraped plans for Taker/Cena and Taker/Balor for THIS just blows my mind. Taker is a God in my mind, and while Roman has gotten significantly better over the years, he is not and will never be on Taker’s level. Not by a long shot. “It’s just entertainment, calm down” people said on Twitter. Bitch, I’m paying a lot of money to get my ass down to Florida for Mania weekend. Taker probably doesn’t have too many Mania’s left in him, so I wanna see him in matches that actually mean something. A feud with Roman does NOTHING for me, especially if he’s going to lose.

Vince and crew, listen up you dumb turds. Stop. Trolling. Us. I swear….it’s getting SO old. Yes, we come back no matter what you give us because we love wrestling but Roman is never going to be received well. Eliminating Taker, in TEXAS no less, ain’t gonna do him any favors. Fans cheer the HEELS in Owens and Strowman earlier in the night when they take down Reigns, and they cheer as HEEL Randy Orton RKO’s the shit out of Roman and chucks him out of the ring like a toy. One day you’ll understand it, but for right now we’re just going to have to suck it up and continue to boo the ever loving crap out of him. Continue to be hostile, continue to not care. He’s not John Cena. He’s not Superman. He’s a second-rate Samoan with family members he can’t even hold a candle to.

So yeah, Randy Orton won the Rumble. Hopefully this means a long overdue title win for Bray Wyatt at Elimination Chamber….the two had a match early in the fall but there was something missing from it. It didn’t feel like it was as big as it could have been, and I realize now it because there wasn’t much of a story. Now, there’s a great story there and a triple threat match between Orton, Wyatt and Harper at Mania would be fantastic. Orton wasn’t on anyone’s radar to win, and many were mad that they can never give the win to a fresh face, but I think we all preferred that over another Roman shitfest.

Winner: Randy Orton