Right Hook Catch-up Review

Been slacking on the weekly reviews for the past couple of weeks, so here is a quick little catch up of what has been going on leading up to this week with the go home shows before the Royal Rumble this Saturday.

Monday Night Raw
The men’s Royal Rumble is loading to be one of the bigger and exciting ones in a little bit. The unpredictability of who will win this year makes it feel bigger.

Lyra Valkyria winning the Women’s Intercontinental title is ok, I wish it were Dakota Kai, but I am prepared for a match with a returning Becky Lynch to pass the torch potentially.

Penta’s debut in WWE has been more meaningful than his entire time in AEW across the board already, do not know if he will be thrown into the IC title picture or not but so far, so good.

NXT
Lexis King and Charlie Dempsey continue to have good matches with the heritage cup. Hopefully both stars will be elevated into bigger title pictures.

Oba Femi as the Ruler of the NXT just fits perfectly, he looks like an unbeatable champion. Eddy Thorpe I am still on the fence about but there is a tinge of something with him but not enough to defeat Femi and be a champion.

The NXT Women’s division continues to be the best part of NXT, Guila having multiple challengers where the matches will not disappoint. If we are getting a Bayley vs. Roxanne Perez match or feud, then sign me up!

AEW Dynamite
The Hurt Syndicate winning the tag team titles is a much needed positive for AEW right now, where this goes is the frightening part but Lashley and Shelton with gold are a good look.

MJF moving on from Adam Cole was a great sign that he will be getting back into world title picture soon. The Ricochet experience has not been the best, but this recent heel turn gives a glimmer of hope that he can be a meaningful player in AEW.

Moxley and the death riders as well as Jericho and the learning tree continue to just kill anything or anyone around it, Rated FTR is in the no win situation and the whole “Cope” thing is just lame.

Friday Night Smackdown
DIY vs. MCMG in a two out of three falls match at the rumble hopefully we be the match that reignites tag team wrestling, more specifically this division in WWE that many of us have been waiting for.

Damian Priest transferring to Smackdown was a bit of a shock but hopefully is a clean slate where he can chase the WWE championship. The debut match against Carmelo Hayes was a good match.

Charlotte Flair announced her return to the Royal Rumble was a bit surprising but makes this year’s rumble a little more interesting for who could challenge Tiffany Stratton or Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania.

And lastly the Jacob Fatu experience has started! Him and Tama Tonga as a duo is just a good fit and can stand on their own away from Solo Sikoa if they were to break up that group up, but Fatu’s coming out party happened on Saturday night.

Saturday’s Night Main Event
Overall, the show was ok, Jesse Ventura you can tell is free to say about anything and he loves it. The Intercontinental title match was another solid banger between Bron Breakker and Sheamus, as well as the opening match between Rhea Ripley and Nia Jax.

The contract signing segment with HBK was good, certainly gave some life to the Cody/KO situation, Owens wearing a “Cody eats Eggs” shirt akin to Terry Funk’s “Dusty eats Eggs” shirt was masterful (I hope they produce that shirt on Fanatics) Owens has been on roll where I wouldn’t be mad if he pulls the upset at the royal rumble.

But the highlight of the night was the performance of Jacob Fatu! No disrespect to the main event of Gunther vs. Jey Uso, which was a fine match, but Fatu facing Braun Strowman was exactly the match to established Fatu as the new bad ass monster. The match stopped where Strowman won by DQ, but the complete destruction of Strowman by Jacob Fatu was excellent.

The security, agents, and Nick Aldis could not stop Fatu from doing some of his moonsaults leaving the monster Strowman bloody and beat with the crowd chanting his name, a total star making moment for the Samoan Werewolf and it has been a long time coming.