WWE super-weekends have become a bit of a staple for the company over the past few years. An NXT TakeOver event, followed by a main roster pay-per-view, followed by Raw and SmackDown Live. Four consecutive nights and around 14 hours of programming.
More often than not, NXT comes away with the better wrestling show, thanks to their tried-and-true formula of short cards and great matches.
However, this weekend might just be the one to break the mold. As stacked as the NXT TakeOver: Phoenix card is, the 2019 Royal Rumble card may be even more so.
To kick things off, there’s a fatal 4-way match for the Cruiserweight Championship scheduled to take place on the pre-show that’s going to be must-see. Current Champion Buddy Murphy was one of the most consistent performers WWE had last year and can’t seem to have a bad match.
Murphy is facing off against Hideo Itami, Kalisto, and Akira Tozawa.
Following that up is a matchup for the United States Championship that should be no less than good. Rusev will be defending his title against Shinsuke Nakamura, last year’s Royal Rumble winner and former US Champ.
The two had one killer performance during last year’s Christmas Day episode of SmackDown Live. We expect to see more of the same on Sunday.
The SmackDown Live Tag Team Championship match might be the weakest match on the card and should still be good. Current champs The Bar are facing off against new best friends Shane McMahon and The Miz.
Shane O’Mac is going to do at least one stupid thing that almost kills him during the match, so it’s worth watching for that one moment alone.
Moving on to the main championship titles, WWE Champion “The New” Daniel Bryan will face off against AJ Styles with the gold on the line.
Bryan and Styles are two of the most gifted performers of all time. In 2018, the two had our favorite main roster match of the year, so saying we have high hopes would be an understatement.
Bryan has been the key player in some of our favorite WWE segments as of late. His current character work has officially made it into the main stream and out of the wrestling bubble, which doesn’t happen often anymore.
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is defending his championship against Finn Bálor in what may be the most intriguing match of the night. Bálor seems like a lock to lose, but if WWE was going to surprise the fans on Sunday night, this would be the match in which to do it.
If you’ve been watching WWE for the past few months, you’re aware
Ronda Rousey is defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks in what could be the match of the night. Banks and Rousey have good chemistry together and Banks has been begging for a match of this magnitude for months now.
If Banks and Rousey don’t have the best match on the card, Asuka and Becky Lynch probably will.
They’ll meet in the ring for Asuka’s SmackDown Live Women’s Championship. Both are two of the most popular stars in the company, regardless of gender, so the crowd is going to be hot for this one.
Obviously the Royal Rumble pay-per-view has the classic Royal Rumble match. If you missed last year’s event, there’s two Rumbles now, one for the men and one for the women. Both winners will receive a title shot at WrestleMania, so stakes are high.
Seth Rollins and Charlotte Flair seem to be the favorites to win their respective Rumble matches, but nothing would surprise us at this point.
Although the show may end up being a bit long, if paced properly, it could turn out to be an all-time classic event. WWE hasn’t had this many hot storylines going at once since last year’s WrestleMania.
Throw in the annual Royal Rumble matches and you’ve got everything you need to send the WWE Universe home happy.
Are you excited for Sunday’s show? Send us your thoughts on Twitter, @TheRumbleRamble.
