The good news, this is the best Royal Rumble pay-per-view in years. The bad, well, it was only a decent/ borderline good pay-per-view. The problem remains the incredibly lazy way Vince & company have been building their rumble pay-per-views for nearly 10 years. They know that the Rumble sells itself, thus they don’t take the time to properly build matches. This affects the matches as the fans weren’t given a reason to emotionally invest in a good majority of them.
Styles/Owens & Zayn was good, but there was never any doubt that Styles was going to lose in the first place due to the silly build. Braun/Kane/Lesnar was better than it had any right to be.
The tag title matches were both disappointing. I liked the story being told in the RAW tag title match, but I just wish it was more entertaining. USOs/Benjamin & Gable wasn’t given a chance to be more than just another Smackdown match. It doesn’t help that Benjamin & Gable have as much character as Charlie Caruso. They need to be developed more. The USOs are in need of development as well. At the moment, they’re faces we should cheer because, you know, “reasons”.
The Men’s Royal Rumble was the match of the night. This is the best Balor has looked since his match with AJ Styles as it seemed like the company was actually trying to make him look good. I wouldn’t be against Balor vs. Cena at WrestleMania, if Taker/Cena doesn’t take place. I’m also not against Mysterio/Balor at Mania either. WWE can easily use the match results as a catalyst to start either of these feuds.
Nakamura winning makes me happy, but I’m worried at the same time. Styles/Nakamura II should no doubt be an excellent match, but I hope WWE has learned to work around Nakamura’s limitations (speaking English). A manager/translator would be great for him. Curious to see what route they take with this match.
Almas and Cole’s appearances were disappointing. A note to Vince and Company, just because someone is in the Rumble for nearly 30 minutes, that doesn’t make it impressive. Almas mostly sat on his ass, instead of being showcased as a special talent. You never cared that Almas was gone because he felt like just another guy on the roster. Cole was there for like, reasons.
The Women’s Rumble match was not particularly good until the second half. Too many botches and sloppy spots. Kairi Sane and Ember Moon both looked good in their appearances. As did Trish Stratus and Beth Phoenix.
WWE needs to finally pull the trigger on a Sasha Banks heel turn. She was regarded as the best women’s wrestler in NXT due to her incredible heel work. The stop and start teases are more so annoying and confusing at this point. If Bayley and Banks go back to smiles and hugging tonight like robots, then I give up on creative doing secondary woman feuds. A heel Sasha Banks vs. Trish Stratus could actually be a great match at WrestleMania. Glad that Asuka pulled the W.
Ronda Rousey being in the WWE full time; cool, I guess. Believe it or not, I’m actually a big fan of Rousey. However, last night didn’t exactly leave me excited for the next chapter. It was fake, maybe real, smile, awkwardly point, smile again to make sure the cameras see your pearly whites, and then handshake, and then point again for the idiots who didn’t get the pointing thing earlier.
In the end, this was an enjoyable Royal Rumble. It’s just too bad I won’t remember much of it months from now.