What did you think of the Royal Rumble?
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Brandon from Oshawa
This company is so disappointing. I was really looking forward to this show and it was just the same old shit. I don’t know why it is so hard for them to do clean finishes. What reason did Rollins need to be protected in that match?
Then after all the talk of possible “forbidden door” appearances, we get hardly any surprises. Not that I expected any, but I was hoping. The best parts of the show were Mickie coming out to her Impact theme and Bad Bunny. Otherwise this was a garbage show.
3 Likes
Jesse from the 6
I enjoyed the first 14 minutes. Then it was all downhill from there.
The DQ finish to Rollins-Reigns was astoundingly lazy and poorly exectued, the Women’s Rumble put me to sleep, the music is all boringly generic, and the Lesnar storyline was painfully obvious and made the Men’s Rumble completely pointless, though Bad Bunny was a fun surprise.
And how about Big E’s elimination? I blinked and I missed it, but I’m sure they’ve got a great story they’re telling with him. Just let it play out, right?
Take Care
4 Likes
Luk from Quebec!
I don’t watch much WWE anymore and mostly listen to your podcasts. I figured the Rumble is always fun so made sure to catch this one and even got one of my old friends who stopped watching wrestling to join me. By the end of the night, I apologized to him for wasting his time. Definitely one of the worst, most boring Rumble matches I’ve seen. Even the Kofi spot was botched. This whole “Reigns is shaken by the Shield breakup” even though the Shield had reunited just 2 years ago is stupid. Whole event was bad, terrible finishes, Women’s Rumble was okay. I can’t believe we’re getting Reigns Lesnar AGAIN for Mania. How many times is enough??
4 Likes
Chris from Baltimore.
I thought the show as a whole had exceeded my expectations, and then the men’s Rumble happened. It was pretty much just a showcase for the poor state of the main roster, as I found myself thinking “Nobody in this ring has a chance” for 95% of the match. Brock winning was logical and I can live with it, but the spots throughout the match were just too lackluster and predictable to keep my interest. It was so bad that even Kofi decided he had enough.
They should have went with Bad Bunny.
Four hours and the only real surprise was the WrestleMania sign catching fire (twice). The show peaked for me with the first match but a well-built story and engaging feud is wasted because Reigns-Lesnar is now the clear end point for Mania.
The rest was very predictable and other than Roman, Lesnar, and Ronda, no one comes out looking particularly strong. (Lashley took a visual pin before winning via interference, which definitely diminishes his standing.) Both Rumble matches felt like a race to get to the inevitable conclusion, so even people who got decent showings (like Rhea) feel inconsequential because they’re so obviously not part of any larger plans.
An emphatic MEH.
3 Likes
Feedback from a live attendee:
Stale booking aside, it’s unreal how much more enjoyable a wwe show is with no bad camera cuts, commentary, or holograms. Other that randy and ronda, bad bunny got the biggest pop.
Onto the booking; I just have no idea why they needed to ruin two title matches and both rumbles to get to the mania result anyone with a pulse can see a mile away anyway.
1 Like
ANTHONY!
WARNING! It’s Lengthily!
Ronda Rousey winning the Rumble was akin to Batista winning in 2014. Someone who hasn’t wrestled in years and WIN it sad. The company has NOT created any other stars that you can believe that can win it is telling that they went with Ronda to (most likely) feud with Charlotte. Ronda didn’t need to win.
Neither did Brock. Poor Kofi. The Never-ending Pain with the New Day (Yes it is)!
I liked Niven vs Lynch, but the crowd felt dead for it because no one believed Niven would win.
Lashley vs Lesner was boring. The finish was meh, Heyman’s turn was obvious and that’s not a bad thing for the Roman/Lesner story so I get that.
The Men’s Rumble was awful. Company can’t create any stars they currently have and the one they have were either unceremoniously eliminated (Big E) or fed to Lesner. Lesner didn’t need to win the Rumble.
Disappointing Rumble.
1 Like
Jay from Colorado
I’ve been watching wrestling since the early 80s, and the Royal Rumble has always been my favorite event. There’s nothing in wrestling that beats the excitement of the royal rumble match, and its also the start of wrestmania season, so it’s the perfect place to jump back into the product. I listen to you guys almost daily and appreciate you trying to stay as optimistic as you can with everything WWE, but I was still going in with low expectations. With that being said I saw nothing tonight that makes me want to tune in on Monday, or stick around for the road to wrestmania. This is the one time of the year WWE casuals usually jump back on, and I just don’t see them doing so. I’m trying to fantasy book wrestmania in my head and there’s just no likely match up that looks anything like something we haven’t already seen. It’s a shame, I really want the WWE to make a better product. I think everyone does.
1 Like
Brian from a snowed-in New Jersey.
I can’t get upset at the results of the Rumbles because I’ve been following the news like nearly everyone else here, so when what was rumored to happen happened, I threw my hands up. What I will take issue with is the work itself, and I felt the Women’s Rumble was quite haphazard, with a lot of sloppy action and 30-second cameos from past stars, when there are a few newer women that could have made the match better. I thought the men’s rumble was slightly better, but with some bad direction that hurt it. My favorite match was Reigns vs. Rollins. Strong match, good story, but a deflating finish.
Mj
In one title match the champion wouldn’t break a hold, lost the match and retained his title.
In the other title match the champion was interfered with after the first Ref was bumped. The second ref sees this as he runs past Roman. The champion loses the match loses the title with a 2nd ref and blatant interference.
These two things on the same show involving some of the same people make absolutely no sense. I’m not trying to nitpick but this is just made up rules to fit a creative direction entirely.
It overshadows that both title matches were two of the best recent wwe title matches for me i
before their respective finishes.
For the Rumble. The Kofi spot felt botched and then Big E subsequently exited. I would have loved a spot where New Day got to face off with Brock who took their titles. Be a shame if this was planned. Match felt rushed and why is Brock all smiles after getting screwed an hour ago? Now I’m nitpicking.
2 Likes
As I told the guys (and gal) in the BDE Tailgate, this was my first WWE PPV in 3 years – and I signed up to Peacock just to watch it.
I liked the show, but the Men’s Rumble was a massive disappointment. It was one of the worst I remember seeing – or even seeing clips of. There was no star power, and I think it’s partly a reflection of WWE’s policy of massive talent cuts.
Really disappointing. I wasn’t planning on watching future events, but I could have been convinced. That main event convinced me not to watch. I did love the Women’s Rumble match, and liked Piper Niven v Becky though. David Meyers
Brett in Vancouver
I didn’t think it was as bad as others. But I think my expectations may have been lower.
The Reigns finish was really weak. Both guys come in as heels though Roman may have been trending towards face. If this finish was any indication they wanna make certain he’s a heel vs Brock and they accomplished that. So good for them I guess, but a bad finish.
The roster is still pretty big but everyone feels like a mid carder. I’d love to think Riddle has ANY chance to win a rumble. But he doesn’t. I though Omos would get some run, he got almost nothing. Big E got nothing. Kofi got nothing but it seemed like a botch. Then look at who’s NOT in the match. Vikings, Lotharios, 24/7 division, Apollo, Aziz, Jinder, Shanky, on and on. You could legit do a 1 minute interval 60 man rumble and have a handful of surprises without omitting a bunch of guys. But then when 90% of them have no chance and are meaningless entries, you might be better off having a 5 man rumble.
Reigns vs Brock is fine but I really thought the rumble win was unnecessary. Lashley was a heel, then seemed like a face for a bit, he’s clearly a heel again, but now you’ve gotta build him a challenger instead of say having Big E win the rumble.
I’m sure the matches at mania will be fine, but boy there’s a lack of star making and creativity.
1 Like
I actually liked the woman’s rumble, the mens…meh. The second Lesnar lost the title, the finish of the rumble became obvious to me.
With the rock/usos/Roman match being reported to have been moved to 2023, Lesnar vs Roman feels like the logical main event. With that said, maybe I would care more if it wasn’t the 3rd time they have faced in a mania main event.
Forbidden door thing wasn’t really a disappointment. I didn’t actually think it would happen, but the intrigue did create a tiny amount of excitement.