WWE Unreal Review – “Episode 2: Push”

Welcome back. If you’d like to read reviews of the other Unreal episodes, here’s your spot.

Episode description: At the Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes seeks to defend his Championship title – at any cost. Former Tag Team champion Jey Uso savors the solo spotlight.”

We start with Jey Uso driving and reminiscing on his family. How can he separate himself from all of them? “They know me now, Use.” The parking guard does not know who he is and gives him a hassle.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Chief Content Officer, says it isn’t always about what you feel but making the biggest stars possible. One of the biggest ways to do that is the road to WrestleMania. Bruce Prichard, WWE Executive Director reminds the reivewers that it starts at the Royal Rumble, where two people will be named top contender. Cody Rhodes, WWE Superstar says there isn’t much real estate but it punches you a spot for WrestleMania.

Cody wishes he could say WrestleMania XL was everything he hoped for, but his father wasn’t there. You can fill some voids and there are some you shouldn’t fill, he explains. We get a quick history of Dusty Rhodes, CM Punk, WWE Superstar says his dad is responsible for a lot of our childhood memories. We flash back to Triple H buying Dusty Rhodes’ watch and giving it to Cody. Punk knows what an uphill battle Cody has had and says that Cody has filled his own boots.

WWE Headquarters, Writer’s Room. Ed Koskey, WWE SVP Creative Writing talk about giving Kevin Owens and Cody something to do at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Bobby Roode questions if they’ll let Kevin hit the piledriver on Cody – and we explain the ban – and Triple H says yes. They debate doing it after the show.

Saturday Night’s Main Event. Pat McAfee, Michael Cole, Jesse Ventura and Joe Tessitore hype the show as Cody shows us the throwback Winged Eagle Title he’s using for the night. He says this verrsion of the title itself is treated as a WWE legend and it’s the first time it has been on WWE TV in a decade.

Cody and Kevin have their SNME match and it’s very good because of course it is. Cody does a Cross Rhodes onto a chair and gets the pin. The credits roll and Kevin attacks Cody, dropping him with the package piledriver and taking the title. The whole segment is shown as they play a Bob Dylan song over it, which is not a choice I expected but I respect it. Bob’s no Def Rebel or anything, but he’s okay.

Triple H goes and shakes Kevin’s hand, telling him how awesome it was. We move to the Wednesday before the Rumble in Tyrone, Georgia. I’ve been there! Joshua Samuel Fatu, WWE Superstar, is bowling with his family. Jimmy Uso, WWE Superstar is with them. Jimmy says he doesn’t even know what Use means but they call everyone Use. Michael Hayes tells us what a big change it is to step out of a tag team. Jey explains that his entrance came in steps, hopping on the entrance theme himself and then the yeeting through the crowd. It clicks and becomes the biggest thing on the show. He tells us how blown he is after the entrance and he misses tagging his partner so he can breathe.

Jey talks about how all the active Bloodline members are in the Rumble this year. He’s proud to be from the family. His son thinks Uncle Jacob is winning, and Jimmy tells us that no matter who wins, they aren’t hating because it shows you’ve earned the trust of the company. Jey calls it a push.

WWE Headquarters. Triple H asks the writers who they see winning the Rumble. The consensus picks are Punk and Cena, one suggesting playing the hits with John Cena in his last year. Hayes suggests Jey because “when somebody catches fire, you have to alternate all your plans.” At the arena, HHH talks to Jey about his newfound fame and excitement and tells him he wants to put a rocket on his ass between now and Mania, but he can’t let the rocket crash-land. Jey says to put it on him.

Cody is at a signing in a neck brace at his wife’s yoga studio. He says his signings are always the slowest because he vibes with all the fans. I’d bet Rhea’s are the same. Fans cry as they meet him, and he reads a note from a young fan. “This is what we call ‘the good stuff.'” A little fan tells him he is better than John Cena.

Royal Rumble, Indianapolis. Roman Reigns, WWE Superstar asks Jey if he’s good. Punk talks about the Rumble match being a genius idea. HHH says this time period is like the playoffs. Bobby Roode says winning basically immortablizes you as a main eventer for the rest of your career, which is true if you aren’t Alberto Del Rio. Jey says he’ll go from #1 to the end if he has to and doesn’t know his number yet. Punk talks about the difficulty of having up to thirty men in and how a lot can go wrong and we take a look at his injury in 2024. He tells us he is haunted by the injury and it’s the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up – “lightning can’t possibly strike twice, right?” He wonders what happens if he does main event Mania because it might extinguish a flame he has.

Cena grants a room full of Make-A-Wishes. One tells him to enter at #31 to win and John says he’ll rethink his plan. He’s kind and generous to everyone because of course he is, he’s Make-A-Wish Legend John Cena. Triple H greets Stephanie McMahon and tells her to open it as only she can.

Cody vs Kevin, ladder match. Another good match and Owens gives Cody a Fisherman’s Buster off the top into a ladder that worries Trips. Cody climbs and wins as Owens is bloody. Back in Gorilla, Cody limps back to claps. KO follows and apologizes about the bomb and says he had to adjust it, and Cody says it was crazy, and he was blown away when he landed. Kevin’s a good dude. Cody tells us he feels terrible but no complaints from him.

Ed Koskey mentions you sometimes get special attraction involvement, and this year that’s iShowSpeed. We see Triple H going over bringing Speed back and how he will bring Tozawa back and put Speed in the Rumble.

Alicia Taylor introduces our men’s Royal Rumble as various superstars warm up backstage. They do some wild camera cutting through the match which is really cool and confused the hell out of me at first. Tozawa is out at #8 but is attacked by Carmelo Hayes. We get the footage we’ve seen of him being taken to the back and Speed being placed in the match and almost being broken by Bron’s spear. Logan Paul, WWE Superstar looks at the chunk of skin taken out of Speed’s leg backstage and offers him some Prime.

We go on through to Roman Reigns entering the match and tossing people, again with the really cool camera editing. I’d watch it just for this editing, really. It’s badass. Cena reminds Jey backstage, “it’s supposed to be fun.” Jey yeets out at #20 and his son yeets with the rest of the crowd. Triple H calls a wide shot of the wild crowd yeeting, saying he is in no rush to move off camera shots when they’re reacting like that.

Cena comes out at #23. We do more fancy editing and get down to six and then down to Jey, Cena and Logan. Cena eliminates Paul and we’re down to Jey and Cena. Jey eliminates Cena and his son goes wild as we have the winner nobody predicted (except for me, who predicted botb Rumble winners on Twitter, but nobody takes me to Vegas for some reason). Jacob and Jimmy are nothing but smiles backstage. Jey wishes people could see what he sees and says you feel the energy of every single person in the arena. “I love wrestling because my whole family helped build this. It’s a family thing. All I can do is give back. You keep grinding Use, you’ll get your time.” Triple H calls it “badass shit.” Jimmy is the first to greet his brother and it’s all hugs from others backstage, Punk telling him he was glad it was him. Triple H tells him that he’s proud of him and Jey walks out of Gorilla and into backstage to a round of applause and hugs.

Cody: “When you do get yours, you hold onto it and shouldn’t take it for granted, because it can go away like that.” This takes us to the Royal Rumble press conference with Cena announcing that he’s going to enter the Elimination Chamber and win, finding his way to the Mania main event. Cody tells us he is hoping to face Cena at WrestleMania.

Roll credits.

A phenomenal episode. The first one was a bit spotty for me, but this one nailed it. If you’re still on the Yeet hate train, maybe this one will change your mind a bit (or you’re just stubborn). There’s some really cool editing and Bob Dylan too, so I recommend this one.