This past week was one of the WWE's biggest pay-per-views, the Royal Rumble. Like most pay-per-views ,I watched this one. Like most wrestling fans I had issues with it and here's why.
To start off the first match was Bray Wyatt versus Daniel Bryan and it was good. Great actually. These two put it all out there. It was a very physical match that had all the elements. There was physicality. A great story, although the build up was rushed. Finally a great ending. The match ended up being won by Bray Wyatt, and even though I'm a big Bryan fan, I was okay with it. Bray is a great villain that deserves a big win. Bryan is probably the most over guy in WWE right now and a loss to a great wrestler like Wyatt doesn't hurt him. The crowd was behind the match the whole time with chants of "This is awesome!" which made it easy to get into it. All in all this was my favorite match of the night and deserves to be voted a match of the year candidate.
The second match up was Brock Lesnar versus Big Show. From my previous Wrestler Retrospect: Brock Lesnar you'll remember that I'm not a Brock fan. The build up to this match had me excited though. They'd built Big Show into a threat to the beast incarnate. For weeks Brock and Show clashed with Big Show showing his strength and sending Brock running for the hills. The payoff was nothing special. The match began and ended with Brock destroying Big Show with a chair. There was barely any match time and what there was saw little offense from the 7-foot Big Show. It was a horrible match in my opinion. All it showcased was Brock's dominance even though that was was contradicted in the previous weeks. All that build up to Big Show being a monster that could take Brock down was flushed down the toilet. I couldn't get involved and was bored throughout.
Next up was the WWE World Championship match. This was much like the last. I couldn't get into it. We've seen Randy Orton versus John Cena for the title before. They didn't even try to change the formula to the build up. Orton attacked Cena's father, who was in the crowd, which was done before too. The changing of finishers during the match, which was about the only thing it had going for it, did nothing to bolster my excitement either. I could have cared less and it was a predictable ending. Randy Orton beat Cena. The only was surprise was how. The Wyatt family interfered causing the distraction for Orton to hit the RKO and pin Cena.
Finally came the Rumble itself. This match doesn't have any technique to it. It's fun to watch to see the returns or the surprise entries. This had them, but not the same as previous years. I think the biggest surprise return was by Sheamus. It was cool to see him back, but nothing to great.
One of the issues was some of the surprise entrants. It seemed that WWE was okay with wasting entries on guys that you knew weren't going to win. Guys like JBL (Yes the announcer) and El Torito, the mascot of the Los Matadores. The mascot! One of Los Matadores would have been more acceptable!
The biggest high spot for me was to watch Roman Reigns of the Shield work. He looked great! He ended up destroying the record for most eliminations in a Rumble match and did in a way that showed his dominance and power without shoving it in your face. Great work by the Shield's heavy artillery! In my opinion he was the MVP of the Rumble. He ended up being one of the last two men in and I was rooting for him to win at that point.
The match also showcased the return of Batista. Batista had been gone for four years doing movies and dabbling in MMA. It was great to see him return, but his ring rust was on show. His moves weren't crisp as they should have been and it was nothing special to see. It was sad really knowing beforehand that he was WWE's favorite to win the Rumble and that's just what happened. It's sad too because his first match back has him winning the Rumble and going on to main event Wrestlemania, WWE's biggest pay-per-view. As much as I like Batista it bothers me. He's just a part time guy, he won't be there the whole time, and to have him return and gain the opportunity to be in the biggest match at Wrestlemania just has me shaking my head. I don't understand why WWE wouldn't push the guys that are there working their tails off year round.
The biggest travesty of the Rumble though was who wasn't in it. That's actually what most fans are up in arms about too. Even though he'd wrestled earlier, and stole the show, Daniel Bryan was left out of the Rumble. It made everyone, and I mean EVERYONE furious. The crowd boo'd the last guy out, Rey Mysterio, normally a fan favorite, out of the building. They even roared when he got eliminated. It was quite a shock, but I can't say I disagreed.
The reason?
Like I said Bryan is probably the WWE's most over guy. When I say over I mean OVER! He's Stone Cold over. If you don't know what that means go back and watch some of Steve Austin's stuff in about '98-'99. The crowd would explode when Austin arrived. That's the way it is for Bryan right now.
I would have loved to see him be a surprise entrant in the Rumble and then throw everyone for a loop and win the thing. That was not the case though.
It seems that his being left out is all part of the plan. That WWE is going to push him (hopefully to the title) by leaving him out and having it be that the powers that be are trying to hold him down. I hope that something comes of it, because leaving your biggest star out of one of the biggest matches of the year is bad. Not having him win is just a travesty that is hard to handle.
The backlash of the Royal Rumble may be the worst thing for me. The next night saw my favorite wrestler, CM Punk, walk out of the company over the results. This wasn't storyline either. It wasn't mentioned the next night on Raw, which is usually a good clue that it's real. Reports are saying that he told Vince McMahon, the owner of the company, that he was going home. It's reportedly due to the fact that, as I stated earlier, they have a part-timer in Batista main eventing Wrestlemania and that they won't push their full time guys. My earlier opinion shows that I can't blame him for what he did. Sure I'll miss him and WWE is supposedly pushing to get him back, but I'm not sure I see that happening. Reports suggest that he's been frustrated with this situation for awhile now. He wants to be at the top, but keeps getting pushed down by guys returning, like the Rock, who are only there for a short stint and gone again.
I know my frustration with the company mirrors that of Punk. It actually made it hard to want to watch the following nights Raw, because the reaction at the Rumble and Punk's actions won't really change anything. The WWE is a juggernaut that won't be stopped by fan outrage or wrestler's leaving. I think the WWE has a philosophy that the old owner of McDonald's that I worked for had. Everyone is replaceable. I think that's fans included.
To start off the first match was Bray Wyatt versus Daniel Bryan and it was good. Great actually. These two put it all out there. It was a very physical match that had all the elements. There was physicality. A great story, although the build up was rushed. Finally a great ending. The match ended up being won by Bray Wyatt, and even though I'm a big Bryan fan, I was okay with it. Bray is a great villain that deserves a big win. Bryan is probably the most over guy in WWE right now and a loss to a great wrestler like Wyatt doesn't hurt him. The crowd was behind the match the whole time with chants of "This is awesome!" which made it easy to get into it. All in all this was my favorite match of the night and deserves to be voted a match of the year candidate.
The second match up was Brock Lesnar versus Big Show. From my previous Wrestler Retrospect: Brock Lesnar you'll remember that I'm not a Brock fan. The build up to this match had me excited though. They'd built Big Show into a threat to the beast incarnate. For weeks Brock and Show clashed with Big Show showing his strength and sending Brock running for the hills. The payoff was nothing special. The match began and ended with Brock destroying Big Show with a chair. There was barely any match time and what there was saw little offense from the 7-foot Big Show. It was a horrible match in my opinion. All it showcased was Brock's dominance even though that was was contradicted in the previous weeks. All that build up to Big Show being a monster that could take Brock down was flushed down the toilet. I couldn't get involved and was bored throughout.
Next up was the WWE World Championship match. This was much like the last. I couldn't get into it. We've seen Randy Orton versus John Cena for the title before. They didn't even try to change the formula to the build up. Orton attacked Cena's father, who was in the crowd, which was done before too. The changing of finishers during the match, which was about the only thing it had going for it, did nothing to bolster my excitement either. I could have cared less and it was a predictable ending. Randy Orton beat Cena. The only was surprise was how. The Wyatt family interfered causing the distraction for Orton to hit the RKO and pin Cena.
Finally came the Rumble itself. This match doesn't have any technique to it. It's fun to watch to see the returns or the surprise entries. This had them, but not the same as previous years. I think the biggest surprise return was by Sheamus. It was cool to see him back, but nothing to great.
One of the issues was some of the surprise entrants. It seemed that WWE was okay with wasting entries on guys that you knew weren't going to win. Guys like JBL (Yes the announcer) and El Torito, the mascot of the Los Matadores. The mascot! One of Los Matadores would have been more acceptable!
The biggest high spot for me was to watch Roman Reigns of the Shield work. He looked great! He ended up destroying the record for most eliminations in a Rumble match and did in a way that showed his dominance and power without shoving it in your face. Great work by the Shield's heavy artillery! In my opinion he was the MVP of the Rumble. He ended up being one of the last two men in and I was rooting for him to win at that point.
The match also showcased the return of Batista. Batista had been gone for four years doing movies and dabbling in MMA. It was great to see him return, but his ring rust was on show. His moves weren't crisp as they should have been and it was nothing special to see. It was sad really knowing beforehand that he was WWE's favorite to win the Rumble and that's just what happened. It's sad too because his first match back has him winning the Rumble and going on to main event Wrestlemania, WWE's biggest pay-per-view. As much as I like Batista it bothers me. He's just a part time guy, he won't be there the whole time, and to have him return and gain the opportunity to be in the biggest match at Wrestlemania just has me shaking my head. I don't understand why WWE wouldn't push the guys that are there working their tails off year round.
The biggest travesty of the Rumble though was who wasn't in it. That's actually what most fans are up in arms about too. Even though he'd wrestled earlier, and stole the show, Daniel Bryan was left out of the Rumble. It made everyone, and I mean EVERYONE furious. The crowd boo'd the last guy out, Rey Mysterio, normally a fan favorite, out of the building. They even roared when he got eliminated. It was quite a shock, but I can't say I disagreed.
The reason?
Like I said Bryan is probably the WWE's most over guy. When I say over I mean OVER! He's Stone Cold over. If you don't know what that means go back and watch some of Steve Austin's stuff in about '98-'99. The crowd would explode when Austin arrived. That's the way it is for Bryan right now.
I would have loved to see him be a surprise entrant in the Rumble and then throw everyone for a loop and win the thing. That was not the case though.
It seems that his being left out is all part of the plan. That WWE is going to push him (hopefully to the title) by leaving him out and having it be that the powers that be are trying to hold him down. I hope that something comes of it, because leaving your biggest star out of one of the biggest matches of the year is bad. Not having him win is just a travesty that is hard to handle.
The backlash of the Royal Rumble may be the worst thing for me. The next night saw my favorite wrestler, CM Punk, walk out of the company over the results. This wasn't storyline either. It wasn't mentioned the next night on Raw, which is usually a good clue that it's real. Reports are saying that he told Vince McMahon, the owner of the company, that he was going home. It's reportedly due to the fact that, as I stated earlier, they have a part-timer in Batista main eventing Wrestlemania and that they won't push their full time guys. My earlier opinion shows that I can't blame him for what he did. Sure I'll miss him and WWE is supposedly pushing to get him back, but I'm not sure I see that happening. Reports suggest that he's been frustrated with this situation for awhile now. He wants to be at the top, but keeps getting pushed down by guys returning, like the Rock, who are only there for a short stint and gone again.
I know my frustration with the company mirrors that of Punk. It actually made it hard to want to watch the following nights Raw, because the reaction at the Rumble and Punk's actions won't really change anything. The WWE is a juggernaut that won't be stopped by fan outrage or wrestler's leaving. I think the WWE has a philosophy that the old owner of McDonald's that I worked for had. Everyone is replaceable. I think that's fans included.
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