Dr. Alan Grant’s Royal Rumble Adventures

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Fucking Seth and Charlotte. Okay, Seth didn't win but potentially inserting him into the Punk/Roman feud is just as bad. It was funny when they tried to pretend he was on the same level as Punk/Roman/Cena and the crowd went absolutely mild for the Roman staredown.

It's like Micheal Cole pretending that Charlotte got some Superstar level pop on her return. Fuck off, mate. I just heard with my own ears several entrants get twice the reaction. I was actually starting to like Charlotte again before the injury as it seemed like they'd finally found a way to frame her as an effective, natural, even likable babyface. Flair vs Tiffany sounds awful though. One of those shitty feuds where there's no heel or babyface and it just two unlikeable twats sniping at each other.

Mens Rumble was good! They did a good job of shining up some guys. Bron, Jacob and even Gable got good showings. Cena continues to be an hilarious weirdo. He looks like an actor playing wrestler for the first time and he's just bemused by it all. Winner is deflating. I like Jey and the crowd clearly like him and enjoy playing along to his entrance. Do they like him enough to become World champion? He's already had a thousand title shots and I never sensed that clamour from fans for a title change or disappointment that he didn't achieve it. Sometimes people like you, but just not like that, you know? I wonder if they shake up the title scene further because him vs Gunther is a Raw match. 

[Mr_Danger]

Cena, Roman, Rollins and Punk in the Chamber will be as stacked as it’s been in years. Throw in a couple of Kev, Sami, Paul and a returning gloriously moustachioed Orton and that’s a pretty hot looking match. It’ll be as shit as all other multi-man cage matches but its full of star power.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Hate hate hate the 'Come in, do a few spots and then lie in a corner for five minutes' formula that Rumbles have become over the past ten years but that's a personal thing and just how things are now.

Genuinely surprised at the men's Rumble winner but fair fucks to them for going with someone new and different. 

Roxanne Perez had a great showing and was genuinely surprised at Trish showing up.

An enjoyable watch in my opinion.

[d-d-d-dAz]

What I'm getting from the people moaning about Jey Uso winning is 'GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT.. UNTIL I DON'T WANT IT... THEN GIVE ME WHAT I WANT'.

You're either into creating stars and striking whilst the iron is hot, or you're into just playing it safe and giving big wins to the existing big names. There's no middle ground, and you don't get to police who gets over.

I think Jey is pretty shite, but that doesn't matter. He's super over, has been for quite a while and they're going to establish him as a main eventer. That's literally what most people have been begging them to do with unexpectedly popular acts for years.

I think if you're only in it for the match quality, you're probably watching the wrong company.

[Slapnut]

Hate to say it but I don‘t think Cena had a particularly good night. The stare down with Roman and Punk brought out the absolute worst of him with his hammy over acting and cartoonish facial expressions, only it’s as if he’s forgotten how to do them well. Perhaps it’s not him but I think it would have worked so much better if he’d switched on Serious Cena at that point.

Apart from that, he was fairly anonymous and when he did get involved he looked pretty sloppy.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

And then he's fucked off again until Elimination Chamber to film another movie. Beginning to wonder about the 30-40 dates we were told about... it was WWE that said that, right? Not some dirtsheet?

Seems mad that we're gonna get through the first quarter of the year with only 3 of those Cena dates used.

[DavidB6937]

Right. Caught up with all the madness on socials and on here and decided that it really doesn't matter. There's so many opinions.

I didn't mind the womens Rumble but I think that was more the hype of watching live at a reasonable time.

Objectively it absolutely suffered from the "moves" approach but quite frankly they simply don't have the depth or the character overlap or care to book these womens versions with any real storyline perspective unfortunately.  But they did a fairly good job all things considered.

It was probably worth it for the Alex Bliss pop.

And I like Charlotte as a person from all the things I've seen over the years so I have a lot of respect for her and it was nice to see her really enjoy the moment. Her working with Tiffy could be a strong star making performance if done right.

I watched the tag this morning. About as dead as I assumed it would be and an absolutely daft ending for a big tag PPV match. Pointless. Should've been on Smackdown if they were going that way.

KO/Cody was as brutal as expected. Ending felt a little awkward but I quite liked that. Didn't feel too smooth and over rehearsed which some of the nastier feuds can feel like.

Mens Rumble? About as good as I'd hoped for. The overlapping stories and star power really gave a good few special moments there. Jacob got to look like a beast. Joe Hendry got a great reaction.

And then the end? Cena and his story doesn't end at Mania. That was made clear. There's a lot more mileage there. He put over the most over "new" top guy they have.

The company have got behind a guy who works hard and seems to be really connecting with the audience. And they've often been accused of not doing it. The other guys not winning won't do them any harm but this COULD solidify Jey as a proper main event guy. Maybe. It's a risk worth taking at this point especially when you've got two belts.

Good show overall I thought although the idea of it being 2 nights is overkill.

[LEGIT]

Thought the mens Rumble was thoroughly enjoyable and booked well. I'm not Jey's biggest fan, but I'm glad he won as it reinforces the "anyone can win it" idea. At the same time, he is very over and a deserving winner.

Punk eliminating Roman/Rollins and then getting eliminated by Paul was my spot of the night, good twists and turns and it'll be enjoyable seeing what happens next. 

A bit of criticism I agree with @Snitsky's back acne that the 'come in, hit your big moves, then lie in the corner formula" is a bit tiresome and predictable. It maybe works for the way they film it and let's the important bits take center stage but it's a bit lame when it happens over and over again in every Rumble. 

But yeah, great Rumble, great stories, great wrestlers. Thumbs up from me. Looking forward to seeing where it all goes from now until Mania

[Hannibal Scorch]

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

What I'm getting from the people moaning about Jey Uso winning is 'GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT.. UNTIL I DON'T WANT IT... THEN GIVE ME WHAT I WANT'.

You're either into creating stars and striking whilst the iron is hot, or you're into just playing it safe and giving big wins to the existing big names.

Kofi Mania is a great example where this happened and people wanted it and it was mostly good before the SD debut debacle. But he’s also far better than Jay.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Has there been a less deserving winner of a Royal Rumble?

Vince?

[d-d-d-dAz]

2 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Kofi Mania is a great example where this happened and people wanted it and it was mostly good before the SD debut debacle. But he’s also far better than Jay.

Its a decent comparison, thouhh l still think you're unnecesarily conflating match quality with just being over.

I don't disagree that Kofi is better, but I don't think he was ever quite this over. They're opening ticket sales in house show markets with Jey as the lead talent, he's outselling the rest of the roster on merch. They have something with him.

But broadly speaking I'd say they probably are similar situations yeah. Even to the point that you could even see Jey losing the title in a similar way down the road, with a Fatu or someone squashing him like a bug.

[LEGIT]

Also to add to my post I though the youtuber entering in place of the injured guy was a little silly, never liked they spots where someone is "injured" on entry despite recieving one or 2 hits and replaced by someone else. But the beating he received really was great! The spear was absolutely brutal. So that was a silver lining.

[d-d-d-dAz]

2 minutes ago, LEGIT said:

Also to add to my post I though the youtuber entering in place of the injured guy was a little silly, never liked they spots where someone is "injured" on entry despite recieving one or 2 hits and replaced by someone else. But the beating he received really was great! The spear was absolutely brutal. So that was a silver lining.

I mean the theory behind it wasn't bad, I actually was on board... until they played a perfectly prepared entrance package and song.

Stunning good luck they had that ready, and that he was wearing gym gear.

[DavidB6937]

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

Its a decent comparison, thouhh l still think you're unnecesarily conflating match quality with just being over.

I don't disagree that Kofi is better, but I don't think he was ever quite this over. They're opening ticket sales in house show markets with Jey as the lead talent, he's outselling the rest of the roster on merch. They have something with him.

But broadly speaking I'd say they probably are similar situations yeah. Even to the point that you could even see Jey losing the title in a similar way down the road, with a Fatu or someone squashing him like a bug.

They tried bumping Kofi up the card when he worked with Orton, right? That was the closest he got to breaking out of the mid card but I barely remember ANYONE kicking up a fuss over the years that Kofi was being mistreated and should have been higher.

Kofimania caught on but it was realistically a short period of time. I do believe the result was the right one but I don't think Kofi was ever destined to be a consistent main event player.

Time will tell with Jey. Can't really compare the two while we're in the middle of one. But Jey has been consistently over in one of the top teams ever. He's then been a strong player in one of the most popular storylines ever over multiple years at this point and he's come out of it more over than ever.

I see far more in Jey to give him a chance than I ever saw in Kofi.

[FUM]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

who just had a stinker of a world title match a week ago

I don’t think Jey is the best wrestler overall but I’m surprised this has gone unchallenged the multiple times you’ve mentioned it. It was no Ric Flair v Sting but the match with Gunther was completely fine for a WWE TV main event. There was a story there which worked and he only came out of it stronger. Separately from the match itself the next RAW showed that Jey keeps losing big matches without losing a hint of overness.

I find Jey great at the storytelling aspect even if he’s not so good when the bell rings and that’s more what you need in the fed. I don’t mind a match being average if the story has been good - a lot of fans are in it for the whole package not just the wrestling alone.

Based on the crowds he must be up there in terms of merch sales too. Those YEET tops are everywhere which wasn’t the case with LA Knight despite the strong reactions last year to negate that point.