Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted January 30, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted January 30, 2023 7 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: I always had this fantasy booking idea that a few weeks before the Rumble you would have two guys wrestle, the winner gets the number 30 slot and the loser gets the number 1 slot. Gives you a fun little story before the Rumble and also removes fan expectations for a surprise entrant at 30. I'm sure in the early 2000s they used to do this, I remember earning the #30 spot being a massive deal in 2001 when Rikishi got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 1 hour ago, The Dart said: Cody wasn’t a surprise entry. More fool me for not watching the TV anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 (edited) I think of all the pervasive elements of modern wrestling fandom that have ruined it, expecting a surprise is the worst. I want to rip my own ears off and throw them in a lake whenever I hear someone say something like ‘I didn’t enjoy it, it was too predictable.’ It’s said all the time, every time a story reaches a natural conclusion. But, imagine if everything was written for a ‘surprise’ - it’d be fucking exhausting. The point is to deliver coherent, engaging storylines with logical conclusions and make the journey enjoyable. The occasional ‘surprise’ is just lovely seasoning. *edit* The Sami/Roman narrative seems to have taken hold too. Trending all morning on Twitter. If the fans start rebelling against Cody, chanting Sami or whoever, and the WWE feel they need to do something and they make kneejerk booking decisions regarding Sami/Bloodline, everything could go to shit. Imagine in throwing a tantrum about Sami not being Mania main event, fans manage to torpedo both the excellent Bloodline story so far and Cody’s return. That’d be impressive.  Edited January 30, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 46 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: I always had this fantasy booking idea that a few weeks before the Rumble you would have two guys wrestle, the winner gets the number 30 slot and the loser gets the number 1 slot. Gives you a fun little story before the Rumble and also removes fan expectations for a surprise entrant at 30. They did that at the 96 Free For All between Hunter and Duke The Dumpster. There have been quite a few "win number 30" matches like the Corporate Gauntlet in 99 (Chyna) and X-Pac winning #30 in advance in 2000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 22 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:  *edit* The Sami/Roman narrative seems to have taken hold too. Trending all morning on Twitter. If the fans start rebelling against Cody, chanting Sami or whoever, and the WWE feel they need to do something and they make kneejerk booking decisions regarding Sami/Bloodline, everything could go to shit. Imagine in throwing a tantrum about Sami not being Mania main event, fans manage to torpedo both the excellent Bloodline story so far and Cody’s return. That’d be impressive.  This is one of the few advantages they have with the two-night format. Provided they handle it correctly, they can in theory do both stories, one culminating on each night. If they can find a logical reason to do Cody/Roman on one night and Sami/Roman/possibly Jey on the other they can have their cake and eat it, while splitting the two belts in the process. Then a broken Roman, having been pinned twice in two nights can go have a well deserved break for a few months before coming back later on, probably as massive babyface in his Tribal Chief character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 Masterpiece. Can’t wait for Part 2.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 It's so unlike the WWE to do long-term storytelling like this, not just from the last year but harking back to when Reigns was feuding with his own family during the lockdown era. They're clearly going to play into that, and they should because that's a backstory that's never entirely gone away. People shouldn't be impatient for it to end at WM because you know after that there's going to be nothing as good as that. Just let it run as long as it can and if peters out, so what? At least we got this much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 For those that watched it ; what was the live crowd reaction like to Ripley, a heel, completing such a marathon and winning it from #1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 6 minutes ago, air_raid said: For those that watched it ; what was the live crowd reaction like to Ripley, a heel, completing such a marathon and winning it from #1? Good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 I'd like to see Rhea Ripley kick Finn Balor out of Judgement Day and become its leader as part of her build-up to Wrestlemania. Amazing that in that stable he's become significantly less interesting than Dominik Mysterio. Not that he's ever been interesting, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Royal Rumble was the first WWE event I have watched spoiler free since SummerSlam. I did make the mistake of watching some of the early Royal Rumbles before this one and it showed just how over the product was and how 'all-action' the match used to be. There was always something going on and if someone was in it for a long time they were constantly fighting and not laying down in the corner for minutes on end while others got their stuff in. It was largely 'punch', 'kick' but it worked because it seemed like a fight and a struggle. I always thought Karrion Kross was going to be a big star but as has been said... yeah, he's really just average at best. Mens Royal Rumble at least had a decent majority of people in it that most fans at least give some semblance of a shit about - the women's Royal Rumble (bar the first one) sadly always has had a largely 'Who's this? Oh. Yawn' feel about it, which is a shame. I have to be honest I fast forwarded most of the main event. I saw Owens stupid bumps on the steps and then of course the main angle - wow. What a prick Roman is and what a nice guy Sami is. Simple yet highly complex at the same time, as has been said when WWE gets it right there is no better pro wrestling company in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 Bit late to the party here as these Saturday PPV'S never seem to fall when I'm off the weekend. That closing 45 minutes of the show was fantastic. I haven't seen any of this stuff but this was top notch here. I dare say everything was pretty much note perfect for the closing angle. Kevin Owens, and many of his contemporaries, will not be able to walk upright by the time they are 50. The Rumble's, other than 2020, haven't been good in a long time. This was no different. I wouldn't say it was good, but for the point in time we're in, it was fine. Cody winning got the right response and was the correct decision and they at least set up some matches for Mania during it (Lesnar/Lashley, Edge/Mysterio Vs some combination of Judgment Day, Gunther/Sheamus re-match). Edge looked dreadful. All red and purple like he was about to burst. He didn't move too well either and that short hair is an awful look on him. Dominic Mysterio as jailbird Dom is an inspired idea. That was fun. Gunther and Lesnar had some interaction here which sets them up for something if they want to go that way, but there's still more mileage in both going with Sheamus/Lashley for now. I have to talk about the commentary and the camera cuts. It's fucking abysmal. Pat McAfee is possibly the worst commentator I've ever heard. The most overbearing, cringeworthy, annoying embodiment of a Jock yank that I can imagine. I wanted toute the whole thing. Michael Cole did his usual facts, figures and numbers nonsense which is a pile of wank. Corey Graves was somewhat bearable but that's as best as I would say about him. Cole and Graves were better in the main event though. Some people have said the camera cuts have improved and I didn't really see it that way, personally. It's a hard watch. The comic book graphics also are a real pet hate for me. Quite a while back I decided I'm never, as long as I live, ever watching anything involving Bray Wyatt (He's IRS' son, why do people still think he has the ability to be good, or actually is any good ? An utter chancer.) Nor will I watch a women's Rumble match again, so that's all I watched of the show, the two bookends. Overall, watching only that, it was a thumbs up. WWE have options for a two night 'Mania, which is saying something considering the lack of depth this past few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 2 hours ago, WeeAl said: Michael Cole did his usual facts, figures and numbers nonsense which is a pile of wank. There was one thing that I will say I liked about Cole on this show - there was a point when a surprise entrant came out, and he said something like, "I'm just looking up some notes..." before talking about them. In the past, he's sometimes just blurted out really specific stats (it's their seventh Rumble! They eliminated four people in 2015!) about people he's supposed to not even know were there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 3 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said: I'd like to see Rhea Ripley kick Finn Balor out of Judgement Day and become its leader as part of her build-up to Wrestlemania. Amazing that in that stable he's become significantly less interesting than Dominik Mysterio. Not that he's ever been interesting, really. What are you talking about? What's uninteresting about Finn's brilliant character traits like *checks notes* wearing a leather jacket, sticking his hands in the air in time to his entrance music and putting on makeup when he's really angry but then acting no different whatsoever? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted January 30, 2023 2 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: What are you talking about? What's uninteresting about Finn's brilliant character traits like *checks notes* wearing a leather jacket, sticking his hands in the air in time to his entrance music and putting on makeup when he's really angry but then acting no different whatsoever? You forgot always doing that switchblade move all the time even though it never gets a reaction and it's not at all clear exactly how it hurts a person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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