[2014-01-26-WWE-Royal Rumble] Royal Rumble

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Timbo Slice]

Didn't like it that much and not just because there was no Bryan, although I didn't have much faith for it to happen in the first place.

 

My major issue came with the fact that they didn't know how to pace everything out. Punk in as the ironman at #1 doesn't really lead anywhere. Reigns comes in and starts ruling ass, but it was a lot of peaks/valleys-type stuff, but with not enough peaks. The other problem was that outside of Punk and Batista, there wasn't anyone else in the Rumble except Bryan (if they put him there) that were seen as threats to win it. Reigns as a wild card was a nice touch, but at the same time, once it was him and Batista, it was more about wanting him to win than thinking he'd actually win it. I guess that's what WWE wanted in the first place, though. If you bought into Bryan being in the match, then the suspense helped, but it also made the match seem worse.

[supersonic]

While coming nowhere near the MOTYC of the previous Royal Rumble match, this one was sure quite interesting. For someone who started the match and got to the final four, CM Punk did very little and seemed like a second-rate background character in this match. I actually wonder if that was intentional on his part and even the company's part. Just seemed too convenient to see him take a backseat and let numerous other participants shine.

There were some definite fun moments in this match. Kofi Kingston had TWO dramatic escapes from near-elimination. JBL was a surprise entrant and was immediately eliminated by Roman Reigns. Sheamus returned from injury to the surprise of nobody. C'mon, Sheamus is a fucking worker like everyone else, so there was no reason to believe him when he said he wouldn't be ready for this show.

I'm gonna take a separate paragraph to mention Kevin Nash's nostalgic appearance. Sure, he did nothing, but that's not my focus. WHY THE FUCK WAS HE ELIMINATED RIGHT BEFORE THE GREAT KHALI WAS THE NEXT ENTRANT SECONDS LATER? They BETTER fucking collide in the WrestleMania XXX battle royale, I want to see them lock horns in a true Showcase of the Immortals. NOLA OR BUST GOD FUCKING DAMMIT.

The most featured act in the match was the Shield, with Seth Rollins starting the match, Dean Ambrose coming in several spots later, and Reigns entering in the middle of the match. They worked together as promised, but the unpredictable, egomaniacal, and hot-tempered Ambrose attempted to eliminate Reigns, which Rollins stopped and questioned. Just fed up for the moment, Reigns eliminated both as well as Cesaro. Speaking of Cesaro, he shined in this match also with numerous giant swings (that's ultimately why he's connecting with the crowd btw), particularly on Rollins. Man Cesaro vs. Rollins is gonna steal a show at some point for WWE.

The last participants of note were Batista and Rey Mysterio. Batista was booed mercilessly, as the crowd sensed he was gonna be in the top spot of the year, which they viewed as belonging to D-Bry. Mysterio was #30 and the crowd became severely agitated, idiotically assuming D-Bry would somehow be in this match. Newsflash: NONE of the six individuals in the singles matches earlier on the card were advertised for this match, nor were any of them gonna participate in it.

The final four came down to Batista, Reigns, Sheamus, and Punk. Punk was taken out by Kane and choke-slammed through a table. Sheamus was eliminated, leaving the Batista vs. Reigns dream collision in a battle of past vs. present. Pretty interesting little preview of what could be a $$$ match in the future, and the crowd got behind Reigns, which is a good sign for his future. There was one disjointed spot, but as Reigns improves (which he has done so well at since TLC 2012 btw) and Batista works off his ring rust, I believe these two could have quite a spectacle. Batista of course won to one of the harshest crowd reactions to close out a PPV in WWE history. ***1/4