I was a bit worried it was going to be Vince-ed up considering he’s lingering in the shadows again, but it was a surprisingly solid night from wire-to-wire capped off with probably the best angle they’ve ever done. Predictable is fine for me if it makes sense and there’s over 2 months to iron out any loose ends either way.
Shocked Hardy didn’t get booed out of the place, though. Country nu-metal was devised in the hell.
If you ever need a show to prove that “execution“ trumps “unpredictable”, this would be the one. Personally, I would like to see a little more unpredictability if I’m going to invest four hours in a show (which I rarely do these days), but it’s very refreshing to see WWE draw logical storylines and then follow them through.
I’m only referring to the two rumbles in the main event, obviously. The soda commercial was an abomination, and the women’s title match was filler. And if you’re going to force a musical act on us, please don’t do it 3 1/2 hours into the proceedings.
After rewatching the show this morning, I’m ready to say that this was one of the worst Royal Rumble events in recent memory, maybe ever.
The Pitch Black match and Alexa/Bianca were terrible.
Owens/Reigns while good, was not even close to one of their best matches.
The mens Rumble was lame and boring. Starting with Gunther & Sheamus was great. Gunther going end to end was great. Sheamus & Drew sticking together the whole way was nice. It was incredibly slow until Brock entered. Got slow again when he was eliminated. Picked up again when Edge entered. Booker was a useless surprise. Logan Paul was alright. Announcing Cody and then having him enter at 30 was terrible booking.
I would have thrown in Grayson Waller and Bron Breaker, instead of some of the wastes they put in like the Street Profits, Alpha Academy etc. Waller & Breaker could have eliminated each other and had a good story and showcase leading to their title match next week. I would have had Cody enter in the early 20’s. I would have had some geek not on the main roster show up and take Rey’s spot, which was never addressed.
The Womens Rumble was kinda boring as well. They should not have had Rhea and Liv go all the way, it felt too similar to the mens match. I am glad Rhea won and they did get me at first, because I didnt expect her to go all the way, but once Becky & Bayley were gone, you knew no one else had a shot. I would have kept Damage Ctrl and Becky in longer and have that play out closer to the end. Roxanne looked great and deserved to be in there way longer. They could have put a good spotlight on her as the champ, but they had Zoey Stark sticking around longer, which was a mistake.
The sole redeeming parts of this show were Pat McAfee and the closing show angle, even though I think it makes Kevin Owens look like an idiot to help Sami at all after everything.
I thought there was gonna be Sami chants throughtout the rumble?? I assume a mania crowd is different though
I can’t disagree with anything you have said.
Yes the winners were telegraphed. Cody winning at 30 and Rhea coming out at 1 made it obvious some idiot thought it was cute to have number 30 and number 1 win.
The biggest issue I had was there was no one else who could have won. In Cody’s case they got rid of Lesnar early and Edge and effectively there was no surprises that could have won. At the end you have Logan Paul (clearly not winning) and Gunther (also not winning) so it, while a fun ending, didn’t have another credible threat.
Women’s was a bit better with Asuka and Liv being decent options and end was creative but again Becky went out too early and Nia at 30 sucked.
Here is what I would have done
Men - have Brock come out at 29 and run rough shot - then have Cody and Gunther and Brock be final 3. Suddenly it’s drama. Then have Lashley cost Brock the match and Cody wins. Also sets up Cody Vs Brock as Brock was screwed.
For women have Becky come out at 30 and (with damage CTRL still in) run rough shot as well. Final five is liv, Asuka and Bexky and Rhea and Bayley after DC is out and have DC somehow help get Becky out with Rhea winning as same.
It just adds more drama to have bigger, credible names around at the end. This didn’t have that.
Theres lots of people that want to see Cody. Its a good life long story.
Everyone on this site thought thered be Sami chants and booing in the rumble if he wasnt in it. What happened to that?
Dont be so quick to write off cody and put in Sami until you see the next chapters in the story
That’s because of how it was booked.
If you had the Roman reigns match before the rumble, they would’ve hundred percent have been ongoing Sami chants the entire match.
However, in the story line at the time this rumble is going on sami and Roman are a unit. There’s no reason for him to be in the Rumble yet.
Unless they have a genius idea, the fans will turn on this Cody idea. Right now the money program is Sani versus Roman. How can you come out of the Royal rumble with anything else?
So unless you somehow deliver, that in a satisfying manner, they are going to not accept Cody Rhodes as the main event alternative.
Cody’s had a history of fans turning on him as little as 18 months ago. He’s a very good talker and talent, but he sometimes tries to do too much to pander to the fans and it’s off putting.
Also, you’re not really building up him in Roman yet other than Cody wants the title for his dad. And to this audience, Dusty Rhodes, and his legacy mean shit next to Sami Zayn getting revenge for what was done
The ending was brilliant though. It literally makes up for the whole pay-per-view I think.
Just imagine what happens if sami Zayn enters the elimination chamber and wins because Jey Uso helps him win.
I think people are underestimating the reaction, Sami, Zayn, and Kevin Owens will get in Montreal. Like they’re gonna come out of that pay-per-view as the two biggest stars in the company and if you can somehow keep that going until wrestlemania, nothing is going to be hotter than Roman versus Sami.
It’s sad because it seems like Cody is going to get lost, but there are creative ways with two nights to do two matches or you triple threat or something.
The biggest thing is if you’re having two rumbles - tell two different stories. Numbers one and two lasted till the end in both matches. That story has been done to death in general.
Just give us more surprises in the rumbles. More NXT talent too especially for the men.
My prediction for the Road to Wrestlemania… Bloodline story.
• Jey Uso will still be hurt and betrayed by their beating of Zayn, unsure about what to do going forward.
• Sami Zayn and Roman have a match at Elimination Chamber.
• Jey will rejoin the Bloodline and turn on Zayn, more heartbreak and ruin.
• Zayn and Owens will close the night reuniting and hugging it out. Two sets of “brothers” re-uniting, both protagonists and antagonists.
• Reigns moves on to the program with Cody Rhodes.
• KO & Sami get the re-united Usos for a mania program.
You are probably right
But similar to DB and the match with HHH it doesn’t feel like enough.
His beef isn’t with Jey. It’s with Roman. That’s who he hit with the chair.
So I feel like the ultimate vindication has to be against Roman.
I just feel like fans will care way more about Roman Vs Sami than Cody Vs Roman
It seems like there’s a lot of people expecting Sami vs Roman in Montreal.
But it’s elimination chamber. Which is usually used to determine the Champion who will face the Rumble winner.
So it could be Roman vs Sami vs Owens vs Jey vs Jimmy vs Solo in the Chamber if they want to make it an all bloodline event.
Or Roman vs Sami vs Owens vs 3 random guys from Raw.
I was very happy with the show, a bit too long but overall a good show. Surprised that some hated it due to it being predictable. Ill take predictable but good over Vince changing stories on a dime any day.
Mens Rumble was very good. My only complaint was the Booker T surprise has literally been done before and I would have preferred the “surprise” to have been another older wrestler we haven’t seen in a long time (ie. a Val Venis type) or an NXT performer. Gunther became a star in WWE tonight, I loved the way they booked him, and while I wanted Sami to win Cody was the only other choice and the crowd was definitely into it. I wish he didn’t come out 30, but I imagine that was because they wanted him to go long with Gunther and didn’t want him in there too long in his first match back.
Lights out match sucked, wasn’t expecting much. Spot at the end was cool, but that could have been saved for a Raw or SD to cut down on show length.
Biana vs Bliss felt like a 5min Raw match, didn’t need to be on the show. I felt like I was going to fall asleep during this match.
Women’s Rumble was good, not great. My biggest complaint is that if you look at the “final 2” in both the men’s and woman’s rumble’s, 3 out of the 4 started their respective match which makes it feel like its not a big deal to start the Rumble and get to the end which has become a WWE trope. If you were going to tell that story with the Men, don’t tell it again with the Woman as Rhea doesn’t look special, and Liv barely looks special. he surprises were meh, I liked the NXT inclusion, but I don’t need to see Michelle McCool every single year. Green was a surprise, but it was really just an entrance. Loved seeing Piper Nevin get her name back, loved the new Asuka which the fans went nuts for. She feels completely refreshed.
Main event started slow as they had the impossible task of investing your interest even though it was obvious that no finish was going to take place until Sami somehow got involved via some sort of “dilemma”. With that said, once he did get involved WOW was that amazing TV. Sami’s acting, Roman’s acting, Owens, Heyman, Jey, Jimmy, Solo etc. all played their roles perfectly.
I loved that Jey walked away as the story is playing out full circle from HIAC 2020. The beatdown and humiliation of the Sami forced Jey to re-live the trauma he felt in the early days of the Roman title run. This is the best story that has been told in wrestling in years.
I wonder if Roman drops the belt twice. He does have two championships, so can see him defending the Raw title in Feb against Sami in Montreal, and then dropping the SD title (the one with he record) at Mania to Cody. I can see the argument that loosing to Sami may devalue a Cody win, but if done correctly, I think it can be done. Personally I’d rather see Sami win the world title in Montreal then at Mania.
I agree, and that’s what they’re going to have to work on trying to untie going forward. I think they’re going to have to do some solid work to make Sami and Jey feel closer and closer, in order to push Roman away from the feud.
And predictability aside, the story, if well told and compelling will completely turn things for us wanting to see Jimmy and Jey get beat by Sami and Kevin… I trust what Sami, KO and the Usos can do with it 
To me, you can’t just say “too predictable” like being unpredictable is a sure-fire way to have a good show. WCW 2000 was about as unpredictable as mainstream wrestling has ever been, and we know how that turned up. Both Rumbles could have had more wrestlers set up as realistic possibilities to win, but honestly, I don’t know more than a few where that’s ever been true. As far as executing the stories they wanted to tell, last night was a success and we’ll see if it still looks like a success when Mania is done and dusted.
Group A liked it. Group B didn’t. Next month, is equally as likely that Group B will like it and Group A won’t. That’s WWE these days.
If we look at what I think the two best Rumbles are it’s for this reason.
1992 - so many people that could win. They brought in Flair early to make it seem like he wouldn’t but you had Hogan and Sid right there. Also the Undertaker. Any of the final three could have won. They didn’t eliminate Hogan in the first 10 mins
1997 - again so many people. Austin, Undertaker, Vader and Bret all could have won and all were there at the end. Sure it’s a screwball ending of sorts but the drama was there going into the end.
The issue here is the second Cody came out 30 I knew he would win - no one left had any shot. So what drama is there ?
Even other lesser Rumbles had HHH and Cena or Cena mad Edge until the end.
Here Brock and Lashley and Edge are all gone before 30 even comes out
But seth was there. He couldve won. So its not like it was only cody
Yes that’s fair. But Logan wasnt winning and Gunther wasn’t. Seth could have but probably a level below Brock or Edge some other surprise. He’s on the level of Drew I would think
I think you should be able to start or build a few big matches for Mania from the Rumble. 2004 did that really well with Taker/Kane, Goldberg/Lesnar, teased Foley/Orton and had the Benoit stuff.
Just not sure what the match accomplished for the men or the women outside of a challenger for Mania. It helped Walter a ton, but Brock/Lashley and Edge/Judgment Day have both been done to death.
I don’t think the women’s match built to anything for Mania. The only thing it managed to do was make me interested in seeing Roxanne Perez on the main roster.
You say that. But I was watching thinking “oh god they could have Logan win and have the Paul brothers a part of the main event of WrestleMania Hollywood. That would be such a WWE move.”
Thankfully they went with Cody.