The Road to WrestleMania kicked off in Phoenix at this year's Royal Rumble. As with all WWE Pay per view each of the ten matches has been rated by members of the Cageside Community in order to a cSs rating. All the votes have been tallied and compared with the scores awarded by Dave Meltzer and ESPN.
Highest Rated match of the night
SDL Women’s title match - Asuka v Becky Lynch - Cageside Rating: 4.22
Votes: 592 |
Meltzer Rating: 3.75 |
ESPN Rating: 3.75 |
2018/19 rank: 5th out of 30 |
- The ladies steal the show again, as this is the third straight PPV, which has seen a women’s match top the rankings.
- This is the fourth time a match involving Becky Lynch has scored at least four, this puts her level with Charlotte Flair.
2nd Place
Raw Women’s title match - Ronda Rousey v Sasha Banks - Cageside Rating: 4.07
Votes: 671 |
Meltzer Rating: 3.75 |
ESPN Rating: 3.5 |
2018/19 rank: 6th |
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The Raw women also wowed voters, meaning the women gain the top two places at a mixed PPV for the first time.
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This is the highest score obtained by Sasha Banks.
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Bayley is now the only member of the WWE four horsewomen yet to record a four plus score.
3rd Place
WWE Cruiserweight title match - Buddy Murphy v Akira Tozawa v Hideo Itami v Kalisto - Cageside Rating: 3.99
Votes: 147 |
Meltzer Rating: 4 |
ESPN Rating: N/A |
2018/19 rank: 9th |
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Meltzer’s highest rated match of the evening, which practically matched Cagesiders' score
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It's strongly rumoured Hideo Itami’s will be leaving WWE soon. If so his valedictory performance in his second main roster PPV brought about a respectable score.
Women’s Royal Rumble - Cageside Rating: 3.86
Votes: 449 |
Meltzer Rating: 3.25 |
ESPN Rating: 3 |
2018/19 rank: 11th |
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A solid score for the second women's Royal Rumble, albeit slighlty down on last year's 3.99
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The Pro judges were less enamored with the match. At 0.61, this has the biggest ‘Meltz Gap’ of the evening.
WWE Universal Title match - Brock Lesnar v Finn Balor - Cageside Rating: 3.76
Votes: 1008 |
Meltzer Rating: 3.75 |
ESPN Rating: 3.75 |
2018/19 rank: 14th |
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This match attracted the most attention as it had the highest vote count. It was awarded more 5 votes (94), than any other match.
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Brock Lesnar's has bounced back from a poorly rated season. This score is considerably higher than his second best effort of 2017/18, a score of 2.95 which came at last year Rumble v Kane and Strowman.
WWE Title match - The New Daniel Bryan v AJ Styles - Cageside Rating: 3.29
Votes: 461 |
Meltzer Rating: 2.75 |
ESPN Rating: 3.75 |
2018/19 rank: 17th |
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Everyone agreed this match didn't reach the heights of their instant classic at TLC, although the ESPN reporter was more taken with the match than Meltzer.
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This is the second lowest cSs score for a AJ Styles match. The only time he scored a worse rating was the 2.99 score his match against Kevin Owens at Battleground in 2017.
Men’s Royal Rumble - Cageside Rating: 3.20
Votes: 867 |
Meltzer Rating: 3.25 |
ESPN Rating: 3.25 |
2018/19 rank: 20th |
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As with the Women's match, the men also didn't reach the heights of last year's match, which scored 4.12
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The professional critics were largely in agreement with Cagesiders, both giving a score of 3.25.
US Title Match - Shinsuke Nakamura v Rusev - Cageside Rating: 2.76
Votes: 123 |
Meltzer Rating: 2.75 |
ESPN Rating: N/A |
2018/19 rank: 25th |
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Shinsuke Nakamura's second US title victory was largely ignored by smarks. With 123 votes, this clash had the least about of votes for the PPV.
Chad Gable & Bobby Roode v Scott Dawson & Rezar - Cageside Rating: 1.88
Votes: 147 |
Meltzer Rating: 2 |
ESPN Rating: N/A |
2018/19 rank: 29th |
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The impromptu tag match brings up the rear, with the second below two score of the season.
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Rezar is the common deminator in these matches, as he also took part in the pissed filled battle between AOP and The Bar at Survivor Series which scored 1.87.