Royal Rumble 2017

[C.S.]

Speaking of wrestling fans on other sites, it makes me sad to see people referring to Jack Gallagher as a midget and joke. In reality, he could wrestle circles around most of the people that were in the Rumble. Then again, it doesn't help that WWE treated him the exact same way by having him be the first wrestler eliminated. He was the only Cruiser in the match though, so that's something, I guess.

[Mrzfn]

Count me in with those who didn't like the Rumble match, though I can see why some did. I actually liked it pretty well for the first 2/3rds or so, but the final stretch seemed to just hammer home the WWE trope that nobody matters except a select few guys, mostly part timers and Reigns himself. Even Orton didn't look that good winning since he got his ass handed to him by the "real" starts for most of the match, and after Lesnar turned him into hamburger meat at Summerslam I'm not sure why anyone would really be excited about him even in a kayfabe sense.

[stro]

On the Roman and dumb marks thing...I mean, I at least like to think I'm not too much of an hysterical Wreddit commenter type fan. I am absolutely not a WWE hater on principle. And I honest to God have nothing against Roman Reigns per se.

 

But when he came out at #30 it completely killed the match for me.

 

My actual reaction was the same as I posted it live: I laughed hysterically for a second and then said "get fucked". Then I left the room to go get snacks or whatever. I had been glued to my seat for a good while because I was so into the match, everything was going great, and then Roman comes out in the end again and it's like "Oh right, this is modern WWE. Back to Roman." He is just so played out, and every subsequent push they give him is more and more groan inducing. Not even in a fun troll way. It just makes me leave the room, check out of the match and reinforces my decision to stop watching Raw.

 

It wasn't just Roman though, by the time they got to the final four I thought "I don't give a shit about any of these guys" and the whole finish was such a letdown after such a generally good Rumble. None of those guys felt like they should be winning it. So it felt pretty flat.

 

And the shame of it is that I did really enjoy the Rumble until then. I thought they kept it really interesting the whole way through, Braun looked outstanding, the little cameos we got were fun (Gallagher, Tye, Enzo), the Brock/Goldberg bit was awesome, and they managed to do big eliminations in a way that surprised me without making me think "that was a stupid swerve". It was probably the best Rumble with the least amount of nearfalls, if that makes sense. There was a dearth of "Woah hey he almost got eliminated but he saved himself!" spots, it was mostly just battle royal hugging in the background of whatever was going on in the middle of the ring, not a lot of tossing and hanging and saving. But that meant that the times they DID go there, they had weight - especially when hosses like Henry or I think Braun had big feet dangling moments, they both made me jump out of my seat.

 

It was a good match, easily the best Rumble since at least 2013. But the finish let it down and totally sucked all my interest out. I don't even hate Roman, he was just a really shitty #30.

 

Just realize you wrote all that for a guy who came out at 30, didn't win (who also lost earlier on the show), and was in the match for 5 minutes to set up a match 3 months from now that won't be the main event or a title match. It was obvious putting him out at 30 was intentionally done to get heel heat, as was his elimination of Taker. It's not like his 5 minutes in the match was one of those "Vince has a hard on for Roman, Roman Roman Roman like Roman everyone Roman Roman Roman" things.

 

That's about as close to hysterical Wredditor as you can get, to be honest.

[Jimmy James]

hey stro, I always enjoy your PPV writeups on your site, so what did you think of the card overall

[Al]

I enjoyed the Rumble in the moment, though i could pick apart some things I didn't like. I hate when guys lay down on the sidelines waiting for their spot. And the "random" numbers seem increasingly contrived. I'm getting a little concerned that the Royal Rumble is becoming to WWE what Wargames was to WCW by the late 90s.

[stro]

hey stro, I always enjoy your PPV writeups on your site, so what did you think of the card overall

I was kind of bored and half paid attention, then got lit and nothing was drawing me back in. A big fat meh. All the singles matches felt too long, Rumble felt like it had nothing going on for the first 40 minutes, but I did lol heartily at Goldberg embarrassing Brock again and Roman being 30. Not interested in seeing Taker on screen ever again. Dude should have hung it up at any of the past 5 WMs. He looked awful in the ring. Reminding me of late stage Andre.

 

I'd have to watch the show again to have any real opinion on it besides a lot of other things were more interesting while I was watching. But I'm not sure I actually want to rewatch it.

[PhilTLL]

Speaking of wrestling fans on other sites, it makes me sad to see people referring to Jack Gallagher as a midget and joke. In reality, he could wrestle circles around most of the people that were in the Rumble. Then again, it doesn't help that WWE treated him the exact same way by having him be the first wrestler eliminated. He was the only Cruiser in the match though, so that's something, I guess.

In reality, he would be beaten half to death by most of the guys in the match.

[goc]

No way, Jack Gallgher trained in the Snake Pit and had two MMA fights so he could probably have beat up anyone in the Rumble not named Brock Lesnar.

[stro]

Two amateur MMA fights. With people his own size. Not dudes that have 100-200 pounds and 6-12 inches on him.

[Matt D]

He had an umbrella too.

[DMJ]

Gallagher was one of the show's highlights to me. He's also, aside from Neville somewhat, the only guy in the CW division who the company seems to have any interest in promoting.

 

Complaints on both sides - "He's a comedy character and there's no room for humor in a 60-minute, 30-man wrestling match!" or "He's a legit shooter so he should be pushed like a no-nonsense ass kicker" - are equally stupid and annoyingly identical to the shit that people said about Santino years back (and I'd take Gallagher's act over anything Santino all day, every day, for the next 50 years).

[KawadaSmile]

I can see Gallagher transcending the Cruiserweight Division, really. Was the only one who got a spot in the Rumble, interacted with New Day a few weeks ago... They might be onto something with him.

[stro]

I did lol hard when he went after Mark Henry. Like...could there be two dudes more polar opposites in that match? And sold him headbutting Mark in the chest as knocking himself loopy.