So,
the road to WrestleMania has begun. The Royal Rumble is in the record books and
what is done is done.
There
were only four matches on the entire card: The Kickoff Match for the World Tag
Team Championship between the Rhodes and the Outlaws, Bryan versus Bray Wyatt,
Lesnar versus Big Show, The World Heavyweight Championship between Orton and
Cena and the Rumble itself.
Not
exactly a stacked card, but it did put the focus squarely on the Rumble.
The Kickoff Match
World
Tag Team Championship Match – Rhodes defended against the New Age Outlaws.
A
lot of people question why the Outlaws were getting a title shot, odds are, we
all know the ‘truth.’
Either
way, they received the title shot and won the titles. Even though they were once
extremely popular, and many people enjoy seeing them, the Outlaws winning
didn’t go over very well.
The
match was a decent Tag Team match that hit all the spots, told the story and
ended in a nice way with Billy using a blind tag to end up getting the pin on
Cody. It showed the experience and intelligence of the Outlaws won out.
Winners
and new Champions, the New Age Outlaws.
The Royal Rumble PPV
Itself.
The Opening Match of
the PPV was Daniel Bryan versus Bray Wyatt.
I
am a fan of Daniel Bryan. I am not a fan of Bray Wyatt; I don’t think he is
very good.
That
said, this was the match of the night and both men delivered. The match was
slow at times, and I kept wanted to see Bray actually do something more vicious
than he did for most of the match. For a guy the WWE tries to put over as
‘Scary Vicious’ he isn’t vicious or dangerous enough.
There
were many good moves by Bryan; he showed a lot of intensity, emotional rage and
thirst for vengeance. However, he would fall short. Nothing he did quite put
away Bray.
At
the end of the match, Bray finally should some viciousness I wanted to see from
him when he gave Bryan the Sister Abigail into the barrier outside the ring.
That led to the first shock of the night, and perhaps set the stage for the
emotions that ran through the live crowd for the entire broadcast.
Bray
pinned Bryan cleanly. Let’s repeat that, Bray pinned Bryan cleanly.
Despite
a chant toward the end of the match of ‘This is Awesome,’ the crowd didn’t like
Bray winning.
The
crowd would continue to voice their displeasure during the rest of the night.
Much
to my own shock, this would be the best match of the night.
Brock Lesnar versus
Big Show.
There
was no match here. There was only a Raw segment on a PPV spot. This non-match
became a vengeance moment for Brock. He would attack Show before the bell would
ring, and then proceed to clobber Show multiple times with a chair.
Big
Show would briefly get the upper hand, only to be pinned after a Brock F-5. But,
it wouldn’t end there,
Brock
would continue to beat the Big Show with a chair until he broke it, then walked
off.
This
was a complete waste of a match and a PPV Spot. As I wrote above, this was a Raw
segment that should have been held tonight on Raw, not at a major event.
It
was a massive let down. It was a moment designed to make Brock look scary and
dominate, but it really just made him look cowardly and desperate.
The World Heavyweight
Championship, Randy Orton Defends against John Cena.
What
can I say here? The match started out slow, then kicked into high gear with
each guy pulling out their finishers and submission moves, but unable to put
the other way. Randy Orton even pulled out an AA on Cena and put Cena into the
STF!
Just
as Cena finally looked as if he might be closing in on the win, the lights went
out and the Wyatts arrived. Orton used the distraction to hit the RKO on Cena
and win the match.
Post-match
the Wyatts did their normal beat down on Cena.
This
match has the chance to be great, with a great few minutes of back and forth
moves that were ruined by the Wyatt’s interference. A match that was building
up to be something, that became a non-finish.
I
guess this beat down will lead to the rumored Bray Wyatt versus John Cena match
at WrestleMania.
Like
with Brock versus Big Show, this seemed like a segment better suited to RAW.
The
crowd never seemed to get into the match, even if at one point they were
cheering for Orton, not Cena. Hell, at one point there was a “We want Angle!”
chant.
The Royal Rumble
Match
30 men entered, one
man stood tall.
There
were some decent things about the Rumble, most notably Punk’s run, Rusev’s
debut (not long but effective to put him over) and Reigns breaking Kane’s
single match elimination record with 13 eliminations.
Unfortunately,
they were overshadowed by the tremendous amount of bad things, which included
El Torito being in the Rumble (another Raw like segment), an inane amount of
commercials, Batista being handed a Rumble victory and no Daniel Bryan in sight.
Towards
the end of the match the live crowd was pissed, chanting, DEMANDING Daniel
Bryan. But, Bryan would never show.
When
Rey Mystero came out at number 30, he received something he isn’t used to: a
huge chorus of boos.
The
chorus of boos would continue for the rest of the night.
The
last two men in the ring were Reigns and Batista, when something odd happened.
The live crowd started cheering for Reigns, turning on Batista. When Batista
eventually won, the crowd’s turn was complete, the boos were so loud that it
seemed someone turned up Batista’s music to drown out the boos.
If
Batista is the mega popular face (or was supposed to be), then the crowd turned
heel.
The
Winner of the Royal Rumble and man who will Main Event WrestleMania, Batista.
This
was a major mistake by the WWE, for two simple reasons. First, the fans. This
showcased what many people believe, the WWE doesn’t care about the fans. The
fans wanted Bryan and booed everyone and everything after it became clear Bryan
would not be in the rumble.
Secondly,
having Batista (who hasn’t had a match in four years) win effectively devalued
the entire locker room. How can we take anyone on the roster serious if someone
can return from four years off and win the Rumble?
My
theory on why Batista won? The WWE wants him as World Champion when he does his
publicity tour for Guardians of the Galaxy.
For
the last three weeks I have ripped TNA for poor shows, poor booking, too many
non-finishes and putting over Magnus in the worst way possible.
I
can’t let WWE off the hook here. This was a disappointing and poorly done PPV
with one good match, one non-match, a non-finish, Raw-like segments and a
Rumble so poorly booked it shouldn’t have even been held.
Everyone
knew Batista was going to win; it was blatant from the beginning when they
announced his return.
I
just have one question, am I the only one who noticed that all of Hunter’s
buddies won last night?
Match of the Night:
Bray Wyatt versus Daniel Bryan
Impact of the Night:
The Live Pittsburg Crowd
Wrestler of the
Night: CM Punk (he was too good in the poor Rumble Match)
Fail of the Night:
Royal Rumble PPV.
In
closing, if you think this is just a rant from a Daniel Bryan fan, read what
Mick Foley had to say: https://www.facebook.com/RealMickFoley
Rating: 4 out of 10