Royal Rumble 2014

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