For the first time in five weeks this year, the match of the week came from WWE. All it took was the main event of what is traditionally the second biggest PLE of the year to do it. In what was a massive surprise to many (he was a 20-1 betting underdog), Jey Uso won the annual men's Royal Rumble match to secure a shot at either the WWE Universal title or the WWE World title. In a star studded field that even included the TNA World champion, former multi-time tag champion Uso secured his biggest career win in what I thought was one of the best Rumble matches in the 38 year history of the event.
It wasn't the only match from the show on the list as Cody Rhodes' latest title defence against Kevin Owens finished just behind. And, for the first time, independent promotion House of Glory appears on the weekly list with several matches on an outstanding show I watched this past week which included Ricky Starks' first match in almost a year.
It was a slightly less busy week than usual but I still managed to watch 64 matches, which is just over 9 a day. This included bouts from the following shows that I watched between January 27th and February 2nd. There were a few that took place before January 27th but I watched this past week and those cases are noted - WWE RAW, Women of Wrestling (aired January 25), WWE NXT, HOG Watch the Throne (aired January 17), AEW Dynamite, NJPW Road to the New Beginning Night 3, TNA Impact, ROH on Honor Club, WWE Smackdown, WWE Royal Rumble and AEW Collision.
Listed below are my top 10 matches of the week. Each entry starts with my personal star rating with the Cagematch rating and Dave Meltzer star rating, where applicable, at the end.
1. 4.75* Jey Uso won the men's Royal Rumble match at WWE Royal Rumble on February 1. 5.63/10 on Cagematch.
2. 4.5* Cody Rhodes retained his WWE Universal title at WWE Royal Rumble. 7.84/10 on Cagematch.
3. 4.25* FTR (Dax Harwood/Cash Wheeler) beat Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta in a Mid-South street fight at AEW Collision on February 1. 7.35/10 on Cagematch
4. 4.25* Naomi and Bianca Belair retained their WWE Women's tag team titles over the MetaGirls (Jakara Jackson/Lash Legend) at WWE NXT on January 28. 7.22/10 on Cagematch; 4* from Dave Meltzer.
5. 4.25* Charlotte Flair won the women's Royal Rumble match at WWE Royal Rumble. 5.84/10 on Cagematch.
6. 4* Charles Mason beat Amazing Red at HOG Watch the Throne on January 17.
7. 4* Drew McIntyre beat Sami Zayn at WWE RAW on January 27. 6.89/10 on Cagematch; 3.75* from Dave Meltzer.
8. 4* Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles and Zack Sabre Jr beat Bishimon (Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi) and El Desperado) at NJPW Road to the New Beginning on January 30.
9. 4* The Cold Blooded Killers (Jay Armani/Raheem Royal) retained their HOG tag team titles over Los Desperados (Arez/Gringo Loco) and The Mane Event (Jay Lyon/Midas Black) at HOG Watch the Throne
10. 3.75* Will Ospreay beat Brian Cage at AEW Dynamite on January 29. 6.85/10 on Cagematch; 4.25* from Dave Meltzer.
The following matches also received scores of 3.75* but didn't crack the top 10:
The War Raiders (Erik/Ivar) retained their WWE World tag team titles over JD McDonagh and Dominick Mysterio at WWE RAW. 7.01/10 on Cagematch
Mustafa Ali beat Matt Cardona at HOG Watch the Throne.
Mike Santana retained his HOG Heavyweight titel over Ricky Starks at HOG Watch the Throne.
Mercedes Mone retained her AEW TBS title against Yuka Sakazaki at AEW Dynamite. 6.49/10 on Cagematch.
Damian Priest and LA Knight beat Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga at WWE Smackdown on January 31. 6.54/10 on Cagematch
Daniel Garcia retained his AEW TNT title against Kyle O'Reilly and Lee Moriarty at AEW Collision. 6.96/10 on Cagematch.
DIY (Johnny Gargano/Tomasso Ciampa) retained their WWE Tag team titles over Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley/Chris Sabin) in a 2/3 falls match at WWE Royal Rumble. 5.85/10 on Cagematch.
