The Week That Was in Pro Wrestling: The calm before the rumble

The Miz recaptured the WWE Intercontinental Championship. WWE (file photo)

By JP Abcede

A day from now, this year's Royal Rumble will begin. But first, let us review what happened in the previous week.

Imabayashi reclaims PWR championship

Team Sebastian won all but one of their matches at PWR Live: Kingdom Come on Jan. 21 with Ralph Imabayashi grabbing the PWR championship for the second time after beating Chris Panzer.

The outcome might not have been a surprise since MTNH partner Rederick Mahaba was the guest referee of the title bout.

Over at the tag division, The Network retained the PWR tag belts after prevailing against the YOLO Twins in a two-of-three falls fight.

Meanwhile TDTxECX and the team of Zayden Trudeau and Bolt would face each other after defeating their respective opponents in the tag team tournament for the number one contender.

The Miz takes back IC belt in nostalgia night and other things WWE

In one of the few references to current angles in Raw's 25th anniversary episode, The Miz had a successful return as he won the WWE intercontinental championship against Roman Reigns. Meanwhile, Asuka and Braun Strowman looked strong in their respective segments during the show.

Having nothing special to celebrate this week, SmackDown Live had a more proper go-home program before the Royal Rumble as it gave previews on what might happen on Monday morning, Philippine time.

In the main event, despite achieving a somewhat quick win over Kevin Owens, AJ Styles ran out of steam against Sami Zayn as the WWE heavyweight champ was booked in back-to-back matches against the proponents of the Yep Movement.

Over on 205 Live, the atmosphere was quite somber as the cruiserweight division was rocked with the firing of Enzo Amore.

Due to that, the WWE cruiserweight title has been vacated and it has been announced that the show would have its first commissioner, which would be announced in the coming week.

At the Mixed Match Challenge, The Miz and Asuka booked their second wins in as many days as they beat Big E and Carmella to advance to the next round, going up against fellow Raw mates Finn Bálor and Sasha Banks.

Follow him on Twitter: @jpabcede