2023 Royal Rumble

[Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz]

I thought I would give it a watch this morning, probably.The first time I have probably watched a recent event for about 5 years I ended up turning it off after about 5 minutes as The commentary had two people talking over it, possibly in Arabic making it unwatchable, for me at least.

 Has anyone else tried to watch it back on the Network and had the same issue? I have ensured all my settings were set to English so can no reason why the Rumble would do this but other events I tried afterwards were fine.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

43 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I don’t know what a Greebo is other than Nanny Ogg’s cat.

That is what @Merzbowis saying. Half of the women look like Nanny Ogg's cat. 

I like how the Wyatt v Knight match was actually worse than I thought it  would be but still not as bad as the Firefly Funhouse Malarkey. 

The main event angle was brilliant. Let's hope they don't fuck the dog with it from here. 

3 minutes ago, Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz said:

The commentary had two people talking over it, possibly in Arabic

The Saudi's are taking over brother. 

[TildeGuy~!]

Ahhhh That Cody, overcoming the odds of coming out at Number 30 being dominated by Number 1 Gunther but making a massive comeback to win.

Never change Cody.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I enjoyed the show, to a point.

The Men’s Rumble was good.

Kofi botching his fake exit for a second year running probably means it’s time to reign it in.

AEW has murdered the Rumble the last few years as the pool of surprise entrants has narrowed, but it’s the first year in a while where it didn’t feel like they had to stuff it full of jobbers who don’t even make TV. There were few surprises, few huge stars but pretty much everyone was mid to main, which was quite nice.

I loved the Brock/Gunther face off and would rather they went that route than big Bobby.

Cody looked good. He was the right winner. He just was. And they booked it in such a way that no one was disappointed, no Bryan/Batista moment, and him eliminating Dominik solidified his face reaction. Good stuff.

The Neon Nightmare match was shite and they both want sacking. LA Knight didn’t really do anything wrong but think people associated with Bray should go down with the ship just to display to future generations how malignantly shit Bray is.

Alexa Bliss/Bianca, meh.

Women’s Rumble was pretty messy and no one seemed that over.

Rhea Ripley scares me stiff…

The main event was perfect. I agree with @Supremo completely. They landed the thing. Even the tease of Roman showing his back was great, as it just made you keep guessing.

Even at the very end Sami wanted to be accepted by the Bloodline, but they just found his red line. Beautiful. Because at his core, the reason he’s not part of the Bloodline isn’t because he’s not Samoan, or part of the family, or because of the way he looks… it’s because he’s, at his core, ‘good’. Absolutely brilliant. I think we’re in best angle of all time territory.

I know it’s not the point right now, but I don’t want The Rock anywhere near this Wrestlemania. Bringing Sami/Bloodline to a conclusion and then headlining Mania with a proper baby (Cody) and a proper evil (Roman)? Yes please. That’s all I want. Proper pro-wrestling.

Fuck you WWE, you’ve got me for the next few months you beautiful bastards.

 

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I love @Supremo’s write up, even if I don’t think it was half as good as you did (Sami looked like he was hitting Roman at least 3 times before he did. Once this match was the main event you knew a turn was coming on Sami, just who). The pop though, amazing.

Sorry but no. You could've assumed a turn was coming on Sami but it wasn't obvious. It could've easily been The Rock coming in or something else. There was no guarantee they'd pull the trigger on the Sami stuff at that point at all. It's the fact that they've always kept us guessing, right up until that point. No one knew how it was going to happen or when. Sami on them? Them on Sami? The Rock getting involved? Where would the other guys sit in all of it? And the multiple chair teases with the anticipation from the crowd just made it even better because each one had you doubting it'd even happen.

And then it fucking did and the crowd reacted in one of the most goosebump giving moments I've ever seen to be honest. I didn't know whether to punch the air or cry or what. It was just perfectly done. Far beyond anything we had any right to expect from them.

[Hannibal Scorch]

6 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Sorry but no. You could've assumed a turn was coming on Sami but it wasn't obvious. It could've easily been The Rock coming in or something else. There was no guarantee they'd pull the trigger on the Sami stuff at that point at all. It's the fact that they've always kept us guessing, right up until that point. No one knew how it was going to happen or when. Sami on them? Them on Sami? The Rock getting involved? Where would the other guys sit in all of it? And the multiple chair teases with the anticipation from the crowd just made it even better because each one had you doubting it'd even happen.

And then it fucking did and the crowd reacted in one of the most goosebump giving moments I've ever seen to be honest. I didn't know whether to punch the air or cry or what. It was just perfectly done. Far beyond anything we had any right to expect from them.

You’ve misunderstood I’m talking specifically at the end of the match. Once the chair was given it was clear who he was hitting.
 

But this is the difference between casually watching and drinking all the Kool Aid. I didn’t punch the air or cry, I thought it was done well, I’m glad we’re next seeing the change and the start of a decline of The Bloodline. The foundation is cracked, but I’d rather Sami was involved for a world title than tag team action. 
 

But for all those that had a visceral reaction, I’m pleased for you. We watch wrestling to enjoy and be entertained and the WWE has failed so much over the last decade at doing it, and it’s good to see they have done at least one thing right like that.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I’ll put my name down right away as someone who didn’t know who he was hitting, or rather I didn’t know what was going to happen.

I was 99% sure he wasn’t hitting KO.

I was maybe 50/50 on him just getting out of the ring or twatting Roman.

At one point I thought someone’s music was going to hit to release the pressure on the situation and have it as something they would return to on Raw.

Like, I knew it was a possibility he was hitting Roman but I didn’t know for sure.  

 

[Pinc]

I haven't been watching WWE weekly since AEW started and this is the first time I've thought about coming back. Not because I thought the Sami angle was great (I actually thought it was overlong and made Sami look like a tit for not stepping in sooner), but because the people who do watch every week clearly got a lot more out of it than I did.

Given that they probably need to keep Sami away from Cody's title shot lest they turn the latter into Batista '14... is there anything to be said for Solo & The Usos vs Sami, KO and Steve Austin for Mania Night 1?

Have Austin guest host a SmackDown and do a begrudging respect angle with KO to plant the seed. Elimination Chamber is about to go off the air with The Bloodline beating down Sami and KO again, and then the glass smashes? Yes please.

 

[FUM]

Is there anything to be said for the man who made The Tribal Chief ending him in Jey Uso? 

[BigJag]

I enjoyed the Women's Rumble over everything else. Impressed with the way that Ripley seemed to manage the match. She was also very good in the press conference. Finding a happy balance between kayfabe and the weirdness of a WWE press conference.

They definitely drew me into the Sami story. I'm slightly disappointed that it will know be a clear break for Sami from the Bloodline. In that he won't have one foot on the inside anymore. Those stair bumps by KO were disgusting.

The men's Rumble was disappointing.It had it's high points. I'm not buying into Cody. I find him quite boring and drags other talent down with him. He was quite good at holding sway during the press conference. He also looked absolutely wrecked. He may be trying to hide an injury.

The Pitch Black match was just weird.

They didn't need the women's title match.

Overall a fun show. With a couple of must watch portions.

[JLM]

Yeah if you’ve been watching the saga unfold the segment absolutely needed to be that long and Sami needed to milk it for as long as possible. Totally agreed on the brilliance of them going forehead to forehead and Sami still backing down one more time. He didn’t want a fist fight with Reigns but he couldn’t let him finish his best friend. Fucking masterful segment I adored it. 
 

Women’s rumble had a great finishing stretch but yeah was pretty damning how cold so many of the acts are. I’m a huge fan of Asuka so that was good, Ripley is tremendous, but Michin, Nox and quite a few others got zero reaction. We got a lot of quite long video profile type things on wrestlers but someone like a Tegan Nox needs that waaaay more than the guys who are already over. Instead we just got the announcers taking the piss out of her silly nickname for a few minutes while the crowd sat on their hands. If you think her nickname is shit and nobody knows what it means, then either explain it or change it. You have the power! 
 

Men’s rumble was unspectacular  but very sensible to keep Sami out of it. Making sure the people didn’t turn on Cody because they’re so behind Sami was a tricky obstacle to navigate but they did it very well. Predictable is fine when the correct direction is so obvious and the people are behind it. It’s a tough situation as I like many others need to see Sami vs Roman, but Cody not winning this Rumble would have completely squandered the story they have with him. Going to be fascinating to see how they handle this. Loved the booking of Gunther so much, and got chills for the reaction to him and Brock squaring up.

Bel Air vs Bliss was a mediocre TV match. Bel Air deserves better than this. 

Pitch Black match was predictably crap. 

Almost feels moot commenting on the rest of the show when they nailed the ending even harder than I could have hoped for though.

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by JLM

[AndyUK]

That ending was pitch perfect. I’m not even as invested as some are in this whole thing because to be honest I’ve not been watching every week and if you’d have asked me last week what I wanted the main event to be at Mania without The Rock it would have been Reigns v Cody but I’ve been drawn in now to be fair. You’ve got to do Reigns v Zayn at Mania haven’t you?

There’s two titles and two nights so they can easily have Reigns do both or have him drop the WWE title and someone else face Cody. I’d prefer him pulling double duty I think but then you’ve just got the problem of whether you have him lose twice and whether that cheapens the moment of him being dethroned. It’s a tough one. 

Cody and Rhea were extremely predictable winners but the correct ones. Only thing is I don’t think there was ever any believability in anyone else even potentially winning.

Oh and Bray Wyatt matches are still as shit as ever, the only saving grace is they’re usually short. That match and the Bloodline segment being on the same show is WWE in a nutshell, can be brilliant and terrible in equal measure. 

Edited January 29, 2023 by AndyUK

[Pinc]

Oh that Becky Lynch/Seth Rollins Applebees promo. Can’t believe that was allowed to air.

[Slapnut]

Anybody who is still up for Roman vs Cody at Wrestlemania after that needs their head checked. Anything other than Sami vs Roman will be a massive letdown.

Sami & KO vs the Usos? Behave.

[d-d-d-dAz]

34 minutes ago, Slapnut said:

Anybody who is still up for Roman vs Cody at Wrestlemania after that needs their head checked. Anything other than Sami vs Roman will be a massive letdown.

Sami & KO vs the Usos? Behave.

I struggle with this.

I’m enjoying the Sami Zayn story more than anything I can remember really, but I don’t think it needs Mania as it’s arbitrary end point. It doesn’t elevate it, and I don’t think the WWE owe us a Sami title win at Mania if they don’t see him as a main event option. I just want them to continue telling the story well.

Cody whilst not as hot as Sami right now, has a prestige back story that will lend itself to peaking at Mania. I’ve got no beef with both things interacting.