Paid Members Statto Posted February 1 Paid Members Posted February 1 Not entirely unrelated... my main take away from the night was that ring announcer Mark Nash quite regularly sounds like he's about to burst into tears at any moment and once you hear it it's really quite funny. Quote
The Gaffer Posted February 1 Posted February 1 16 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: I've seen on Twitter someone refer to it as the Ruthless Depression era which got a laugh out of me. That's fantastic. Taking over from the Self Congrattitude era, which succeeded the enormous goodwill that was the Grattitude Era, which genuinely seems like it's in the distant past now. Quote
CTXRussomark Posted February 1 Posted February 1 The group of us who used to get together to watch Mania each year decided to give this a go given the reasonable start time, but we all came away feeling pretty underwhelmed. Some of that was down to just not being familiar with a lot of the people on the show, but the show as a whole just felt very meh. It certainly didn't make me want to watch Wrestlemania in the slightest. - the women's Rumble was a chore to sit through. Far too many interchangeable women (and themes) but even worse was how awkward and sloppy a lot of the exchanges looked. Bizarrely I thought Charlotte and Becky were two of the worst offenders - multiple instances of them throwing strikes that were nowhere close to landing or just wildly swinging with not even an attempt to look realistic. Embarrassing stuff, and it says a lot when the Bella's are the high point of something. No problem with Liv winning, that was a nice surprise. - Styles/Gunther was good. None of us really have a huge connection to Styles so the retirement stip didn’t add much for us, but the match itself was solid. AJ's post-match was a bit confusing (we thought him putting the gloves back on meant he was deciding not to retire after all, but the announcers didn't really refer to it) but probably the best thing on the show overall. Mcintyre/Zayn was alright but felt a bit flat. I was assuming the heat would be off the charts for this given Sami's popularity over there, but it all felt a bit by the numbers in the end. Drew retaining was probably the right call and I'm not sure Sami gets another look in at a title anytime soon. The men's Rumble was miles better than the women's but still nowhere near one of the best. None of us had seen Oba Femi before and all agreed he looked like a superstar, though after a hot start it felt like he sort of just blended in for a while until his rather anticlimactic elimination. The repeated Brock teases (and elimination) hopefully point towards a Mania match (and win). Powerhouse Hobbs looked the business as well. The rest of the Rumble was a mix of fun spots (La Parka showing up is up there with the likes of Doug Gilbert as a real "what the fuck!?" moment) and guys seemingly just lying around for ages and not actually doing much. None of us could give less of a fuck about another Roman Reigns Mania main event and he felt like one of the least interesting choices out of all the options available, but it is what it is. Still better than Jey Uso - what a bell end. - the pyro at the end was absolutely ridiculous. I think it's still going off right now. Quote
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted February 1 Awards Moderator Posted February 1 A few thoughts from me: - First time properly seeing Sol Ruca and Oba Femi. They were highlights of their respective Rumbles and are both excellent, I hope big things are in their futures because they felt like megastars waiting to happen. - Nice surprise to see Powerhouse Hobbs in there. I know it’s just because I’m used to it but it’s a much better name than his new one. - Is that the most masked men there have been in a single Rumble? - I think I counted 10 guys in the men’s Rumble who hadn’t been in one before. In the past decade it’s been quite common for there only to be three or four, and things feeling quite samey as a result (and that was the case with the women’s match here). It helped make the men’s match feel a bit different with so many ‘new’ participants. - Agree with JLM on the terrible and generic music. 90% of it is very terrible and very generic. I’m so, so glad they have given Gunther his Dvorak back, it just works so well, and Asuka has her classic music still/again. I didn’t dislike the show overall, but there wasn’t a lot to compel me to watch WWE again soon, Oba and Sol aside. Might try Mania if I’m off work that weekend. Quote
DavidB6937 Posted February 1 Posted February 1 It's the laziness. The Rumble match itself could and should be a well booked match with loads of intertwining stories. You got Jey Uso in there knowing you'll have Gunther near the end? That's an easy storyline to play off. But no, we'll have Logan Paul in the final four instead. Just one example of many that they skipped over to default to the run-moves-next person format. I get that it's harder to do with the women because there's not as much depth in terms of storylines so they did try. It's as if they have a few ideas and then just get bored and go for lunch and then forget to come back to it. You really telling me you've got 30 spots and you want to give one to La Parka? Quote
Paid Members FLips Posted February 1 Paid Members Posted February 1 Got my mate round to watch live, our first time watching live since pre-covid and all it did was cement why we stopped watching. The women's rumble in particular, barring Sol Ruca was a clumsy and boring affair. The men's rumble not much better. At one point the thing completely lost our attention and we were sat around looking for the best Mega Drive box art to display in his game's room while my wife labelled her yarns. AJ vs Gunther was the highlight of the show by a very long stretch, but they even messed that up by having AJ put his gloves back on so we're not even sure if they stuck to the retirement gimmick anyway. We won't be watching Raw to find out. Quote
thatvinylgeek Posted February 1 Posted February 1 Thought it was all very "OK", the best I could come up with was it felt like another Saudi Rumble and not THE Rumble, if that make sense. Surprised there was no Kit Wilson or Joe Hendry. After Punks previous protesting, flying out to do a game cover reveal and be on the panel was...something... Watched with the kids again, they love the Rumble and Mania but don't watch for the rest of year...so it's nice to get some fresh perspective now and then. They both loved Sol Rucca and J'Evon but hated Mr Iguana...and both thought it would be "really boring" if Roman won. I still think AJ isn't done, he should have took his gloves off and put on a new set with "AEW" on the palms. Quote
Paid Members air_raid Posted February 1 Paid Members Posted February 1 10 minutes ago, thatvinylgeek said: After Punks previous protesting, flying out to do a game cover reveal and be on the panel was...something... Punksatawney Phil in “leaving his principles at the door again” non-shock. Quote
Paid Members Lenin Posted February 1 Paid Members Posted February 1 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: I've seen on Twitter someone refer to it as the Ruthless Depression era which got a laugh out of me. That's way better! Terrific stuff 😂 Quote
d-d-d-dAz Posted February 1 Posted February 1 (edited) My first show in a long while. It was absolutely fine. I thought the women's match was poor. I think its almost inexcusable how bad women's wrestling is, in the main, on WWE shows. It hasn't particularly progressed in years, either. I've seen exceptional women's wrestling, it's common in other companies even. AEW, despite at one time being laughed at for how bad they booked their womens division, often has the women's roster outperform the men's. There are even great female performers who have joined WWE, but then seemingly regress. Yes, they have some bright spots and have had some good title matches; but I think something structurally, institutionally at WWE must be wrong that they're not able to push this roster beyond matches like last night. Crap, across the board. Sol Ruca is exciting, but even then looked a bit nervous in the final stretch. I thought Ivy Nile looked pretty convincing in her offence, and Jordynne Grace is good enough (though, she looks completely different every time I see her, which is distracting). Lola Vice was the low point for me; those 'Kung Fu Scrappy Doo' kick flurries are horrendous. AJ/Gunther was good, but I don't love a prolonged sleeper finish. I can't imagine AJ is done, though, as he still looks incredible... not even for his age, for any age. He's slick, fluid and super athletic. He's always been one of my favourites, and it was disappointing when he spent years treading water and focusing on flat earth and right wing politics, but it's been good to see over the past year or so that when he's given something meaty he's capable of excellent matches. He's had good, main event quality matches with Cody, Cena, Gunther and looked good with Punk. I hope he goes to AEW and gets a year of showing off what he can do with people like Hangman and Swerve. Drew/Sami was fine. It felt a bit like a ritual sacrifice to rid the build to Mania of any demon's (fans) who might agitate to see Sami in the title match. I can't imagine anyone wants that now. I enjoyed the Men's Rumble, even if it didn't have the high's of those Rumble's where its full of nostalgia and surprises. Prior to the main event, I was doing a bit of cliche obsessing about the age of wrestlers these days; Drew is 40, Sami is 41, Gunther (who's been doing derogatory promo's about 'old timers') is 38 and AJ Styles is 306. I set that against some even more cliche ruminating on how Bob Backlund was 44 when he was doing his 'mad old man' gimmick, and how today he'd be in his prime. Well, against that backdrop, it was quite refreshing watching the main event and seeing how much young(ish) talent they have to get them through. In a way, it might be the first time Triple H's 'new era' schtick actually rings true. Bron Breakker, Oba Femi, Je'Von Evans, Trick Williams and Jacob Fatu have all got star power pissing out of them. It was nice seeing PowerRoyce Keys, too. I've also got no beef with Roman winning, either. On the night, i'd have liked Gunther to win BUT i've spent much of the last two years moaning that they don't just put Punk in with the big lads, so if this means Roman/Punk in a big Mania main event i'll be happy. I watched wondering whether it'd be good enough to get me watching regularly again. It didn't quite get there, but maybe i'll go back to catching up on Instagram and watching the PLE's. Edited February 1 by d-d-d-dAz Quote
Snitsky's back acne Posted February 1 Posted February 1 I actually preferred the women's Rumble to the men's as it had several points where everybody was fighting and/or trying to get someone out of the ring, as opposed to the men's rumble which had the usual "lots of laying around in the corner while two people do stuff in the centre of the ring" that has become the norm over the past decade or so. Roman coming out and then selling like he had been in the rumble forty minutes after five minutes was just stupid. Oba Femi looked like a star. If I never see "two people slowly move towards each other and then stare while doing absolutely nothing" again it will be too soon. It happened so many times I found myself going "Just punch him, for fucks sake!" on more than one occasion. I honestly thought they would have Logan Paul win at one point. I enjoyed Gunther v AJ the most. I bought into it and thought AJ might somehow survive but, alas, no. Overall I liked the first two matches and found the last two pretty dull. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted February 1 Paid Members Posted February 1 Roman Reigns working ten dates a year, declaring via video package, slagging off creative the night before and then still winning The Rumble is top tier politicking. You love to see it. Dwayne must be so proud. I don’t know where Roman gets off slagging off creative. This Rumble saw nothing but new, fresh, interesting ideas from the King of Kings. It’s what they do. Quote
SpykeDudlei1 Posted February 1 Posted February 1 10 hours ago, Retro Red said: A Brian Conley reference was not on my bingo card for this evening but was definitely welcomed. Biggest pop of the night in this house Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted February 1 Posted February 1 At least Jericho didn't show up. That's a silver lining. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted February 1 Paid Members Posted February 1 My youngest woke me up at 4am so I watched the Men's Rumble. First WWE programming I've watched since December 2024. It was awful. 0/10. Genuinely couldn't believe how terrible it was. I'm baffled that anyone could watch that and enjoy it in any way whatsoever. I'll probably do full thoughts later so you have that to look forward to. Quote
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