With the Wrestlemania sign hanging high above the Alamodome it was go time for the women’s roster of WWE looking to start 2023 with a bang.
The thirty-sixth Royal Rumble was in full succession from Texas the world over on January 28th beginning with a confident performance from reigning Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair against a fresh9 Alexa Bliss who has shaken the ring rust off since her most recent return with this feud.
Belair was in full Face mode, shoulder block after shoulder block was her winning formula early on against Bliss who decided to focus on leaving Belair breathless in the ring by focusing on a variety of submission attempts. Belair had the crowd in the palm of her hand getting the audience to count the blows she delivered onto a dazed Bliss in the corner. At this point in her career Belair does not have to do much so she was able to perform her basic moveset and still get love from the crowd. I don’t know if Bliss was supposed to have her knees up during the first gymnastic flip into body slam that she suffered, but Belair’s stamina to deliver that move again in seconds was nothing short of fascinating.
Bliss wasn’t just sitting around and getting mollywopped though. Bliss administered an amazing torture rack on the floor and can now add herself to the list of one of the few wrestler’s to dodge Belair’s braid ! Belair’s chicken wing lock towards the end was as awkward as her missile dropkick spot, but the champ had time to experiment because when it was time to wrap, Belair’s tried and true K.O.D. was far superior to Bliss’ Sister Abigail attempt, scoring Belair her first premium win for 2023 !
A fighting champion, even if Belair did not push the envelope with this matchup the feud between Belair and Bliss had enough moments filled with color and brutality building up to this clean finish that will provide enough playback value to keep wrestling heads hitting the rewind button for some time. At this point Bliss should be shrunk back down to the midcard as there is not a reason any longer to extend this feud. The best parts already happened on Raw and the WWE Universe is ready to see a new challenger for Belair, to see if she breaks when taken to her limit or continues to surpass the bar and set the protagonist role in WWE to new heights, that those before her trusted as the face of WWE just could not manage because they simply got boring. But for Belair, even if she is lazily scripted to do the same moves several times in a row in one match, being boring for her is just an impossibility.
Score : 3/5
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown |
|---|---|
| Date | January 28, 2023 |
| City | San Antonio, Texas |
| Venue | Alamodome |