WWE Royal Rumble 2019: Star Ratings For All 10 Matches

Ahead of the 2019 Royal Rumble, optimism was rampant by main roster pay-per-view standards. The card looked fantastic on paper, and what's more, WWE, faced with a disenfranchised fanbase and locker room - to whom both were promised change - there was rare impetus to deliver something special. Vince McMahon, on "Twitter", promised a home run.

Could WWE's main roster break the embarrassing NXT TakeOver hex?

TakeOver: Phoenix was a very good show, even if it exposed an increasingly predictable formula. Though the match lengths could be predicted to the minute, those matches were mostly excellent. The glorified tornado tag opener almost reached the classic heights set by the division; Matt Riddle and Kassius Ohno put on a physical mini-clinic; Ricochet and Johnny Gargano stole the show with an electrifying classic, one that conformed to a familiar genre but also perfected it; Bianca Belair acquitted herself well to the daunting stage; the main event, slower and more understated than the TakeOver norm, delivered more appreciative nods of the head than it did heat, but the work was masterful, nonetheless.

Royal Rumble 2019 did not break the hex.

Ultimately, it was just like every big WWE Network show ever. Far too long, some of it was great, other great sh*t was obscured through sheer exhaustion, and lots of awful comedy marred it - as did some very questionable booking...

Jesus. What is there to write about?

If this match has one distinction, it's that it might be the most unnecessary professional wrestling match of all time. Seriously: this added absolutely nothing to the show, and in fact actively detracted from it. Though the crowd barely reacted to the TV-at-a-push quality action, the act of concentrating on something still exerts energy. Perhaps WWE should have realised that this crowd might have ended up completely exhausted after seven hours of professional wrestling before booking yet more of it.

Everything Chad Gable does looks amazing. He wrestles with a wit and an ingenuity and an athletic precision that makes you question, constantly, why he is where he is. And then you, complicit in a way, make no noise because when he wrestles, there is invariably six and a half more hours of wrestling to get through after the fact. It's like being force-fed a roast dinner when you're taking your morning piss.

This was notable only for the fact that a cameraman, not used to the curved entrance set-up, fell flat on his a*se when filming Gable and Roode's entrance. Kevin Dunn, who never met a cut he didn't like, failed to cut away. Either the guys in the truck were too busy popping, or they, paid handsomely to pay attention, couldn't be bothered, either.

Star Rating: **