WWE Royal Rumble 2021

[LaGoosh]

The commentary reaction to Christian was hilariously bad. "Speaking of Edge, here's his tag partner Christian." Isn't it his in ring return from retiring years ago? They could have put a bit of energy into it.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I enjoy Christian’s work, but it’s funny how ambivalent WWE has always been to him. It’s like there is an institutional lack of interest in him, yet he’s always somewhat prominent.

”Here’s Christian in the upper midcard... isn’t he dull?”

Edited February 1, 2021 by d-d-d-dAz

[Jazzy G]

23 minutes ago, Mr.Showtime said:

Didn't enjoy it that much, the show was alright. Absolutely fuming that Big E was cheated and the commentators didn't care. "It's no disqualification," one of them said nonchalantly. I immediately imagined Jim Ross yelling "Well that's a damn shame! A damn shame! That big nasty bastard has screwed Big E!"

Good to see Carlito from my boy stable make an appearance, and I love Bianca Belair and was super chuffed for her. In general though I hate people winning Rumbles from the early spots, it happens far too often. The winners worked damn hard but it just makes later huge entries (Strowman for example) look like complete mugs for not doing more.

Who else is in your boy stable? Would there be any traction in a boy stable thread? When Hurricane's music started I immediately messaged my mate "stand back, there's a boy coming through." 

You can just hear JR saying "it's a legal as a headlock" whenever they talk about no DQs in a match. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by jazzygeofferz

[Perry]

They always looked at Christian as the Jannetty of the team

[BomberPat]

Absolutely astonished to see people calling this an all-time great Rumble. I thought, Christian aside, the men's Rumble was dire. That's two straight years where the only genuine moment has come from Edge's emotions.

Women's match was fun - loved seeing Victoria back, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Jillian Hall/Billie Kay stuff, as when Jillian's name appeared on the Tron I thought, "fucking hell, they're picking up dregs now". The dangers of not having a women's division worth mentioning for decades is that when Trish and Lita stop picking up the phone, there's not a lot to choose from in terms of surprise entrants, but they insist on doing a 30 woman Rumble when they've only got about half that on the roster. Absolutely the right choice to win, though, Belair looked like a star throughout. I was irrationally angry at Charlotte just smiling and laughing after being eliminated from the final three of a Royal Rumble - not the slightest effort to sell that she might have wanted to win, or cared about the match at all.

On one hand I'm fine with Edge winning even though he's an oldy - he seems prepared to mix it up with younger talent, and the comeback story combined with having retired without losing the World Title is a good backstory for a Rumble winner. The problem is I don't see that story gelling well with either of the current champions, assuming they're not going to shuffle things around between now and Wrestlemania. If Drew's staying babyface, it's a shitter of a role to be in as a babyface champion against a sentimental favourite babyface challenger. If Edge is challenging Reigns, I don't see him winning, nor do I see it being the best use of either guy - it feels like it'll be a "Battle Of The Spears", like they probably wanted Reigns and Goldberg to be. Reigns' challenger should be an underdog like Daniel Bryan, or a career babyface star like John Cena to put him in his place about how a champion "should" act, I don't see anything else working. 

The thing with Christian being in the match is that I love Edge & Christian as a team, far more than I care about them as singles guys. Edge had some decent matches, but Christian I see as one of wrestling's great over-achievers. So when Christian entered the match, I just really wanted to see Edge & Christian get a big feelgood tag match at Wrestlemania, rather than Edge having a super serious singles title match.

 

Commentary was abysmal throughout, even by their standards. No attempts to sell any kind of shock or surprise whatsoever. It wasn't a huge surprise return, but when Rollins' music hit, Michael Cole just deadpanned "we haven't seen him since the Survivor Series". Not even the stock Michael Cole, "could it be?! It is!!!" between his music starting and his name appearing on-screen. No attempt to replicate the audience reaction of taking a moment to register whose music it is, then being surprised. Just straight from Seth's music hitting to rattling off stats about him, making it abundantly clear that he's just reading copy about every entrant, which means none of it was a surprise.

 

[WyattSheepMask]

13 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

The commentary reaction to Christian was hilariously bad. "Speaking of Edge, here's his tag partner Christian." Isn't it his in ring return from retiring years ago? They could have put a bit of energy into it.

He didn’t even get the accolade of being his former tag team partner, Cole goes “here comes his former buddy”. There supposed to be brothers arn’t they? And if he’s his “former buddy”, that implies he’s his buddy no more, how is that supposed to help Edge? If Ray Rougeau’s still doing the French commentary, I’m listening to that next time.

[WyattSheepMask]

11 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Who else is in your boy stable? Would there be any traction in a boy stable thread? When Hurricane's music started I immediately messaged my mate "stand back, there's a boy coming through." 
 

2016 was when I started a similar topic, although I imagine there would be little interest but feel free to try and resurrect it. 
Id have to redo mine seen as Drew has now become the top babyface

Edited February 1, 2021 by WyattSheepMask

[RedRooster]

1 minute ago, WyattSheepMask said:

He didn’t even get the accolade of being his former tag team partner, Cole goes “here comes his former buddy”. There supposed to be brothers arn’t they? And if he’s his “former buddy”, that implies he’s his buddy no more, how is that supposed to help Edge? If Ray Rougeau’s still doing the French commentary, I’m listening to that next time.

They dropped the 'brothers' relationship back in  2009/10 without any explanation. The commentators started saying "they're like brothers" and "they're as close as brothers" almost as if they were trying to convince you that you'd been mishearing it all of these years and that's what they'd been saying all along. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

A few age related Rumble stats for you:

 - Dominik Mysterio, at 23, is the youngest Rumble competitor in nearly a decade - the youngest since Bo Dallas in 2013.

 - Edge is the second-oldest Rumble winner ever, after Mr McMahon in 1999.

 - The average age of this year's Rumble is 39, the oldest average age of any Rumble. The only reason it doesn't have the highest total age is because the 2011 Rumble had 40 people in it, but with a total combined age of 1168, it beats last year's by 27 years.

 - This might be because five of the guys in this year's match turned 40 in the last year.

 - Kane, at 53, was the oldest person in the match this year. He was also the oldest person in the Rumble back in 2016.

 

And this isn't age-related, but only three people made their Rumble debuts this year - Dominik, Otis and Damian Priest. That ties with 2015's Rumble for the smallest ever number of new faces, which isn't great, but it probably isn't as bad as 2015 because two of the three then were nostalgia surprises (Bubba Ray Dudley and Boogeyman) and this year was all full time members of the roster.

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by HarmonicGenerator

[Jonny Vegas]

This was the first WWE I've watched in probably over a year and I didn't leave feeling like I'd rush back or that I really cared what happened on RAW tonight which I think with a PPV should always be the absolute minimum.

Reigns is head and shoulders above everyone else. His match with Owens was entertaining but the finish was disappointing. The referee counting then stopping and standing awkwardly as they fiddled about with the cuffs for Roman to then get onto one knee then crouch...which he could have done at 1 of the first 10 count wad just utterly depressing.

Edge winning the rumble was just a bit "meh" for me. I stayed away for any spoilers, chat, betting odds but the moment Orton went to the back with his knee I told my brother Edge is last in, Orton with an RKO out of nowhere then Edge reverses to throw Orton out to win. 

With regards to the title matches at Wrestlenania, its in Florida.

It HAS to be Reigns vs The Rock in line with the whole head of the family stuff thats been going on. It would be the biggest Mania match in a long long time for me with Reigns going over strong.

Get the title off McIntyre who I honestly cannot believe anyone has any interest in as I really do think he is the drizzling shits. Goldberg looked old as fuck anf I felt the slightly dragged out win did nothing for McIntrye especially as old man Bill struggled to get out the ring at the end. Not from a beating, just from frailty.

Have Edge challenge whoever they sit fit to put the belt on, even have it as Orton somehow and at least then theres a decent established story around that.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Jonny Vegas

[Tommy!]

2 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I'm up for Edge vs. Reigns or Edge vs. McIntyre

As someone who stopped watching around mania 30 that the apparent go to guy for the rumble and mania in 2021 is Edge, a man who last I heard retired and is pushing 23+ years in the fed now, is fucking mental. 

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Tommy!

[HarmonicGenerator]

2 minutes ago, Tommy! said:

As someone who stopped watching around mania 30 that the apparent go to guy for the rumble and mania in 2021 is Edge, a man who last I heard retired and is pushing 23+ years in the fed now, is fucking mental. 

 

I don't deny it's weird and not very forward-thinking and shouldn't be necessary. But at least those are both matches I haven't seen before - so they've each got something going for them.

[The Cutting Edge]

I could see the build for Drew Vs Edge to be based on Drew is the leader of the current generation, needs to cement his reign against any challengers Vs Edge needs to win to justify his return, sacrifices etc, two different must win scenarios like Rock Vs Austin at 17, that's where face vs face could work for them.

[TomJones233]

Edge's story is why he should have won. He deserved it. Its not like Batista strolling back into the biz after doing a Marvel flick. Edge's career was taken away from him. Let him have this. Keith Lee or Ciampa can win next year.

[GeronimoJacksBeard]

Had a fairly similar experience of the show to @LaGoosh it seems. Except i came in at the Womens title  match, watched the rest from there, not realising i'd missed Andrew vs William.

I'd pretty much checked out since the shows became empty arena. Well, gradually long before then - but before then i'd still watch the youtube clipped versions and check out some shows on the network. I haven't since around 'Mania though, only really checking out the odd Roman bit since he came back, being very interested in that character and seeing how Big E is fairing. Generally tend to always give the Rumble ago, loved last years more than many in a while and opted to check this one out from morbid curiosity of how such a match might play out in the current setting and because i wanted to watch the Yoko doc.

But...yeah, think i'm too far gone and not keen to go back in a hurry. May give 'Mania a go considering fans might be back and depending on how the card shapes up. Not sure if the Thunderdome setting is too much of a factor, or just much of the presentation as a whole. My wrestling tastes didn't fit with a lot of this, yet seems to have been quite enjoyed by many others. Usually like to keep as positive a spin as possible when it comes to this stuff, but dipping back here just left a depressing aftertaste.

Stunned many are calling the Womens Rumble decent and better than the Mens. I thought that was an absolute shambles and embarrassing. Except for the closing stretch with Rhea and Bianca, who tbf seem absolutely class. Happy to see Bianca won, loved what i've seen of her and thought she put in an absolutely phenomenal showing in last years. Overall though, points throughout the match had me wondering if they can keep it up having both Rumble matches each year. Seemed like there was so many fluffed spots, miscommunications of girls bumping into each other, walking into and accidentally disrupting a spot/elimination spot and then camera missing spots as a result also. Just messy and all over the place and not in a good way that compliments a Rumble. But also so much of the main thing that takes me out of wrestling these days, that feeling that we're so far gone on everyone knowing it's a work that nobody even bothers to try and make it seem otherwise. Obvious feeding, working together, just so hokey that it's impossible to suspend any disbelief of what you're really watching people (not even) pretending to fight. Couple of positives though - thought Nikki Cross looked great and one of the very few that really had something about her and some energy. And to my previous point, she came in showed out and nobody fed for her give her some shine, which i imagine they were meant to and she was expecting and rather than waiting awkwardly with time standing still she went round and battered everyone herself and it looked great. And i'm absolutely here all day long for Liv Morgan channelling 2002 Xtina 'Dirrrty' vibes.

That LMS match was just ridiculous. Roman just has superstar oozing from every pore in his body though and has a presence like nobody else there. Kevin Owens though, fucking hell. Usually like the bloke but i'd be intrigued if all those that always hated the Cena Superman stuff were bothered by his lack of selling here. Gets launched off a scaffolding through a table, minutes later absolutely SPANKED by a speeding golf cart, minutes after that launches himself off that forklift. And at no point between or after any of this is he really selling any of it. Back up in moments because 10 count...but back up and stays up showing no real ill effects. Roman was doing a much better job with this, only he'd received much less punishment. Graves, fairplay to him i guess, briefly attempted to cover this with the adrenaline explanation but quickly gave up himself it seemed when more big hits came immediately after. Mental they opted to actually use the key for that end spot rather than just cutting the chain link.

Nothing much to say on the Mens Rumble. It certainly makes it apparent that surprise entry spots don't really work in this environment and just serve as a stark reminder of the situation. I've fancied Carlito popping up in one for years, so it was mightily depressing he rocks up in this one, for the first time in ages without an actual reaction. But Hurricane showing up again, to that spot again is the other end of the scale and representative of the lack of anything fresh or creative from this lot. Was nice to see Christian...and this felt so very Christian in the yeah, he's Edge (the real superstars partner) in that he makes his grand return here with no audience, where Edge made his last year to that incredible moment and reaction. And then Edge wins and takes the glory this night too. LOLZ. Orton buggering off early on, to obviously return later led me to believe we'd be getting Fiend silly bollocks by the end of this. So didn't expect things to end as they did. Both Rumbles having the going the distance story is a bit "damn it D'Lo". That really should have been reserved for being a big talking about the young, upcoming amazing athlete Bianca Belair performance though and being the first woman to do as such, rather than a similar story for banged up hall of famer Edge. As it went, Biancas shine is immediately undermined as she came in at number 3 and the final 2 in the Mens were 1 and 2. Such simple, obvious stuff to avoid.

This show was the first time i've really felt the camera cuts thing and utterly ruined potential enjoyment. The 2nd half of the Mens that shit was mental. Literally verging on unwatchable. I really can't understand it. Much of the presentation of the product today makes me feel old and out of touch and i don't know if this is something that works with a younger audience and their viewing habits or something but it's absurd and only exaggerated when trying to follow a Rumble.

Edited February 1, 2021 by GeronimoJacksBeard