2023 Royal Rumble

[DavidB6937]

44 minutes ago, Pinc said:

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

Why? Cheesy crap like that is a staple of American advertising. They love it.

[DCW]

Very well done, Sami getting a bit of blood during the beatdown is the only thing I'd have wanted but even that is nitpicking. Hopefully they manage to keep this level of excellence in the story over the next few weeks.

[gmoney]

11 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

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.

Agree with all this. Was scratching my head at the "Sami must win the Rumble" talk as well as it's clearly hadn't moved that far along in the story to be a logical move.

[Murtz]

7 minutes ago, gmoney said:

Agree with all this. Was scratching my head at the "Sami must win the Rumble" talk as well as it's clearly hadn't moved that far along in the story to be a logical move.

Exactly my thoughts. At the point of their story before the Rumble, Sami being in the Rumble in the first place would have been quite daft. Why would he go into a match to face Reigns when he's been trying to prove himself all this time?

Yes they could have accelerated the story sooner and got to a point where Zayn was thrown out of the bloodline weeks ago, and entering the Rumble was his route to revenge. But they didn't, and I'm glad they didn't as we then wouldn't have had the brilliant slow burner until the most perfect payoff last night.

[DavidB6937]

1 minute ago, Murtz said:

Exactly my thoughts. At the point of their story before the Rumble, Sami being in the Rumble in the first place would have been quite daft. Why would he go into a match to face Reigns when he's been trying to prove himself all this time?

Reigns would make him go in to stop everyone else and then expect him to lay down for him. It would've been a really really easy thing to write in a logical fashion.

All worked out in the end though.

[The Gaffer]

Winning the 'Rumble and holding up the belts as the WrestleMania sign combusts in the background of the shot is Cody's gig, and all the more power to him. The general, expected WWE story arc coming to its satisfying conclusion. 

Sami Zayn doesn't need that. Them Daniel Bryan fan expectancy training wheels fell right the fuck off last night. Much like Mick Foley at his absolute height (and the look of quiet reproach Sami harboured last night was so similar to Foley's) this company are never going to make him The Guy. I don't think it harmed Foley one bit. In fact, Zayn probably does still have a Foley winning the title on Raw moment in him. I just don't think it needs to come at WrestleMania to somehow vindicate or validate this whole storyline. 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

I know its blasphemy, but I'm not sure I feel Rumble matches anymore. It just feels kinda formulaic. One rushed hollow sequence after another and let's get the fuck outta here. Everyone has a minute getting their shit in - or a 'hot tag', before being dumped out. It's probably been like this for ages, but this one particularly felt like it lacked any sense of struggle.

Gunther/Brock staredown and Dom Mysterio being a glorious shithead were the highlights of a fairly boring Rumble until the final two.

I'm happy for Cody. He was an annoying mess in AEW but he's found the perfect landing spot in WWE. He just fits. Hopefully his worst instincts are reined in and he doesn't put everyone off him again so soon. It's great to see them get a babyface star again.

Gunther is awesome.

Got to give it to Bray Wyatt. His promos are a load of cryptic bollocks that goes nowhere, but his matches have become truly must see. Honestly, I find it to be the most hilarious wrestlecrap since Dungeon of Doom. All this deep, moody, spooky bollocks for months and the payoff is a neon, corporate synergy comedy match? Gold! Im not invested in any of the male wrestlers enough to care about how they look coming out of a Bray feud, so its a dumb old laugh for me. Old Greg whiffing the dive was the cherry on top. 

On the other hand, I didn't have the heart to watch Bianca Belair get wrapped up in the spooky bollocks, and the freezing cold women's Rumble is a waste of time. So I went to bed. Rhea is awesome and I'm glad they pulled the trigger. But she's only hot at the moment because she's involved in the men's storylines.

Skipped to the Main event post-match angle this morning. (Loved Roman as a babyface worker, but let's be honest. His heel matches are piss boring). Incredible. When people talk wank about how cool it would be if wrestling could tell more sophisticated and complex stories, THIS is it. Like some HBO shit. Its almost to good to be true. The acting, the writing, the positioning . . . Everyone is delivering fucking gold. It's so good they could convince me to buy into Jey vs Roman as much as Sami vs Roman. (Jey's "I don't give a damm about the Tribal Chief!", still hangs in the air).

I'm presuming Heyman is behind a lot of it. Not only has the angle had ECW vibes, but boring, dull, dry Triple Paul doesn't seem to have a creative bone in his body. If only the rest of the show was a fraction as good as this I'd be hooked.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Mr Butternut Squash

[Devon Malcolm]

Men's Rumble - actually enjoyed this more than most rumbles, thought it always had something interesting going on and some great side stories. Lesnar looks better every time he comes back and his entrance was the highpoint. Thought they let the ending go on a bit too long but the right result and Gunther looked superb in defeat.

Bray Wyatt vs LA Shite - Eli Drake has always been and always will be fucking crap. Bray Wyatt is the classic example of someone in whom the interest has always centred on anything but his stuff inside the ring, and the more you shine that up the worse his matches looked in comparison. I actually really liked the aesthetic of it, it did look cool and I think they should do something like that again. Just not with these two. 

Bianca Belair vs Alexa Bliss - thought this was a decent match but the outcome was too obvious to care too much about it.

Women's Rumble - they booked this wrong, Rhea Ripley should have come out later on and just chucked about 20 out. She's brilliant though, isn't she? Still selling Beth Phoenix's crappy spear at the end of the rumble, great stuff. The Chelsea Green and Nia Jax returns were baffling. Xia Li and Roxanne Perez looked superb. Asuka was the highlight.

Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens - the match was very good, as expected, and they nearly had me when Owens hit the Stunner. Great work, that. But the story was the aftermath, the highlight of which was definitely Jey Uso's response, which threw another spanner in the works of the best storyline they've done since the Rhodes brothers had to beat The Shield to keep their jobs. Everything was perfect - Heyman constantly keeping an eye on Sami throughout the match, Sami's responses throughout it, Solo Sikoa finally being able to beat the crap out of the guy he's tolerated for months. It was fantastic. Problem is that they now have to follow that and wrestling history tells us that the follow-up will be a comparative disappointment. But they've kept the possibilities numerous and that's to their advantage.

[Loki]

It's a great story, but I'm in the camp of those who don't feel it needs to be the WM main event.  I'm a traditionalist who likes the final match to be for all the marbles, for the World Championship.  So in that vein it does feel like they're setting up a tag match to close out Night 1 of WM, something like Jey and Sammy v Jimmy and Roman.  Which would be a good conclusion to the storyline which really has been about all the Bloodline, like a soap opera.

That entails a title switch though doesn't it unless Roman is pulling double duty that weekend.  And Rhodes v Reigns seems their obvious marquee match (assuming now no Rock or Austin, boo).  So at the very least they're set up some interesting and not predictable tv between now and April.

Rhea Ripley winning was the other obvious and correct result.  The commentators said "whoever she challenges" at WM which momentarily made me consider Ripley v Reigns, something the WWE would never consider for a second so I'm assuming they were referring to the NXT title?  Probably overthinking it but otherwise we're getting  presumably Ripley v Belair which should be a great match.

----

I was 0% on surprise returns and to be honest it's something that is missing from Rumbles now.  Everyone on the roster has been there for decades and so wheeling out a very, very creaky Booker T is the best they can do.  Poor Book, those knees are killing him now!  No Naomi, which is like... where else is she going to work?  No jumps from AEW, not even an Andrade or Rusev.  On the upside, that could have been the heaviest Royal Rumble ever - so many huge lads!  And big guys smashing each other about is my wrestling so I enjoyed a lot of the Rumble.

[DavidB6937]

@LokiCould be Ripley/Charlotte too no? Theyve got history as well. Obviously the Bianca match is the best choice.

[Retro Red]

From a story perspective Flair makes more sense, since Ripley convinced Charlotte to challenge her 3 years previously for the NxT title and lost. Leaves Bailey and Lynch to go for Belair as a triple threat match on the Raw side.

[JNLister]

Assuming they aren't doing Zayn-Reigns at WrestleMania, I reckon they go:

* Zayn-Reigns at Elimination Chamber in Montreal, winds up with Zayn looking like he can win but Temporarily Good Uso turns against him.

* Night One of Mania ends with Zayn/Owen beating the Usos for the tag belts.

* Night Two of Mania is Rhodes-Reigns with a mid-match section where the Bloodline are doing loads of interference but Zayn and Uso run them off, leaving Rhodes to finish a fair one-on-one match.

[Arch Stanton]

That pop for the chair shot, fucking hell. When was the last time we heard one like that in WWE? Goosebump moment. Amazing performances all round.

The men's Rumble certainly won't go down as one of the better ones in history, but I did enjoy that they had so many big lads in the match from start to finish. Looked like a throwback to the good old days. The action may not have been great, but the visual of a ring full of giants clobbering each other is always impressive.

Really enjoyed McAfee's commentary, he's funny and infectious. Had some great lines during the Rumble.

[Loki]

34 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

@LokiCould be Ripley/Charlotte too no? Theyve got history as well. Obviously the Bianca match is the best choice.

I’ll be honest i had no idea they still had two women’s belts!  Shows how little I watch WWE, I thought the brand split was long dead.

[mim731]

3 hours ago, Pinc said:

is there anything to be said for Solo & The Usos vs Sami, KO and Steve Austin for Mania Night 1?

 

3 hours ago, FUM said:

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