2015 Royal Rumble aftermath *results inside*

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

gimmick wrote: »

Also why did The Rock do a run in? Made little sense to me. Especially as the Rumble was not yet over.

Guessing they needed a way to save Reigns from what they knew would be a very vocal crowd after the DBry elimination.
Didnt work I dont think.

Gerry Rio

A new live report suggests that Daniel Bryan may have been frustrated immediately following his Royal Rumble elimination. Shaheen, who co-hosts the The Hot Tag Podcast, shared his observation of Bryan and said the superstar seemed very frustrated as he headed to the back:


“Not exactly sure what happened, but we were near backstage and he walked right by all of us. We said hello and he paused, looked at us with a blank stare and then walked off. He looked super pissed and completely ignored all of is.


It was very awkward to say the least…It was really weird. I know people will want to believe that he was just ‘selling’ it, but it was strange. I’d like to think that I have a pretty good understanding of kayfabe and this seemed legit.


He wasn’t selling anything. There were 10 of us there and he really came off like an a—hole, which is really unusual for Bryan.”

spiritcrusher

The major flaw with that rumble? It just wasn't entertaining. At all. Nothing particularly interesting happened. There was no segment of actual wrestling, which there usually is either at the end or somewhere around the start. It was just a couple of old timers coming back, doing a few of their signature moves, then once they finish those whoever was left in the ring just paired off and went into rest holds. I know that tends to make up a decent portion of most rumbles but this year's just seemed even more lifeless than usual. Whatever about the crappy ending and treatment of the younger guys, a dull and boring rumble is a much greater crime.

Gerry Rio

What a cheesy bástard

WWE has posted a new video to their YouTuve account looking at Roman Reigns’ Royal Rumble experience. The video includes comments from Reigns about the fans booing his win during the Rumble match.

Reigns notes that he went out there and did his thing, then smiles and says that it was “one hell of a crowd.” He says that fans can react however they want because they paid good money attend the shows, and that he just likes being a part of it.

Embedding not working. Video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcFQlOOyux8&x-yt-ts=1421914688&x-yt-cl=84503534

BMMachine

Damage Control.

in just over 2 months he will be the champion

brianregan09

Already begining to sound like Cena for christ sake

Cheese Wagstaff

Gerry Rio wrote: »

What a cheesy bástard



Embedding not working. Video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcFQlOOyux8&x-yt-ts=1421914688&x-yt-cl=84503534

Nicely done, only annoys them even more.

Let the Reign of Terror begin!

Gerry Rio

Jim Ross has posted his latest blog online and talks about Roman Reigns’ Royal Rumble win.

JR said:

Roman Reigns is now in touchy situation and how he comes out of all this is going to be provocative to follow. The Rock had some of the same issues back in the day when he debuted as in the infamous :’Die Rocky Die’ chants and signs we used to see.


Seen Reigns as a big star in the future and I’m curious to see it Sunday night’s experiences will help him in the long haul.

What if Reigns shockingly aligned himself with Paul Heyman and the two of them conspired to beat Lesnar at WM31? Stranger things have happened.

riffmongous

Gerry Rio wrote: »

What a cheesy bástard



Embedding not working. Video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcFQlOOyux8&x-yt-ts=1421914688&x-yt-cl=84503534

It sounds cheesy, but I think when you watch the video it's pretty sad how downcast Reigns is after what is the biggest moment of his career so far, it gotta be hard to talk with all those ashes in his mouth

brianregan09

I think theres two things that can save the Wrestlemania Main Event 1: Rollins aided by Heyman cashs in on Reigns/Lesnar, 2: Reigns defeats Lesnar with Heymans Help and becomes a corporate champion..Just like his cousin

As for Bryan , Ambrose, Ziggler who knows what there going to do with the 3 of them

Triple H vs Sting
Cena Vs Rusev
Wyatt vs Taker
All of those seem to be set in stone now

Angron

riffmongous wrote: »

It sounds cheesy, but I think when you watch the video it's pretty sad how downcast Reigns is after what is the biggest moment of his career so far, it gotta be hard to talk with all those ashes in his mouth

I'd probably feel sorry for him if he hadn't made those sh*tty "haters" comments a few days ago.

Hashtag_HEEL

Angron wrote: »

I'd probably feel sorry for him if he hadn't made those sh*tty "haters" comments a few days ago.

Certainly didn't do him any favours going into the match!

Gerry Rio

https://twitter.com/wweromanreigns/status/559871148142641153





ZZZzzzzzz!

Scavenger XIII

When the field got to the last handful I knew the Shield buddies vs Show & Kane was coming but I really expected them to clear the ring easily, fist bump in the center of the ring and have a good old fashioned best-man-wins that hopefully went on for at least a good few minutes.

Nope.

We all expected Reigns to win but bloody hell you could have made it so much more palatable.

Gerry Rio

https://twitter.com/DaveBautista/status/559839949101727747

GobBass

I can just imagine what this would have been like if this were done in the mid-90s, say a nWo/ECW crowd.

In fact, they would be throwing what the main event was.

Rubbish.

gerrybbadd

I dont get this cancel the Network shyte that's being hashtagged. Fair enough, WWE have screwed the fans again big time. But would everyone prefer to go back to paying $55 per PPV or €26 to Sky once a month, or $9.99 for everything? Makes no sense

mrkiscool2

If the Royal Rumble did anything it was that it showed WWE for what it is. When it's good, it's absolutely amazing. The triple threat showed that. They can pull off great matches that make fans care.

Then you have the usual "they'll like what we want them to like" mentality in the Rumble by not giving fans what they want (having surprise entrants being dumped out after a few minutes, treating the guys the fans like with contempt, shoving Reings down our throats etc) and Vince thinks the fans will get behind it besides showing them otherwise. It's ridiculous!

spiralism

WWE jumped the shark last night.

...and shat out a better Royal Rumble.

I haven't regularly watched WWE programming in a long time having been a diehard fan from 1991 through to the early 2000s, although I still would watch WM and the odd PPV and lurk on forums from time to time like this one. Last night had to have been an all-time booking f*ck-up, and there have been many to chose from over the years.

That Reigns propoganda/damage control video that WWE released is just so dejecting. As fans I'm sure many of us at one stage in our lives dreamed about lifting the belt at Mania and/or clothslining the last opponent over the top rope to win the Royal Rumble. I imagine that the guys who actually do this for a living were no different at one point in their lives. So to see somebody get to live their dream, but then in that backstage footage bear the demeanor of someone who was just told that their dog had died, my mind really goes W.T.F. is going on here? For me there are two possibilities; Either the WWE creative really have lost touch with the fans, or they simply don't give a toss and will proceed as they want. Both are more than a bit worrying.

Pro Wrestling is driven by and survives on supplying what the fans want, within reason and ability of course. The fans know this fact, have widely known it since early-internet days, and at one point the WWF/WWE knew this too. Vince McMahon forced Hulk Hogan 'down our throats' in the 80s, so what happened is nothing new. However, the fans loved Hogan and 30 years later he is still a household name (for one reason or another). Not everyone turns out like Hogan though, or the Rock, or even Cena. WWE moved too soon on Reigns and there could be consequences for WWE never mind Reigns.

For good or for bad whatever your opinion is, I get a feeling it'll be a while before The Rock shows up again on WWE TV. My absence from actively watching and following WWE does leave me out of the loop I know. He could be giving an interview via satellite on Raw as I write this or already be booked for the Feb PPV for all I know, but he looked totally dumfounded raising RR's hand in the ring last night, shades of embarrasment there as well. This very much reminded me of he raising Cena's hand after losing in the first of their WM matches a few years back.

The post-Rumble interview with he and Reigns was very awkward. Dwayne Johnson/The Rock is one of the most comfortable men I've seen on camera, but not in that interview. He looked like he didn't know what just happened and what to do now. He was not finishing sentences, tripping over words, deflecting the attention to the interviewer and the surrounding crew whenever he got the chance, and I don't blame him. WWE didn't make one smart decision last night, not least of all putting those 2 guys on camera immediately after what went down. No doubt Dwayne Johnson has a team of PR specialists and agents employed as any movie superstar has, I would imagine every one of them telling him to give WWE a wide birth for the foreseeable future.

What happened to him last night was not his fault though, same goes for Roman Reigns, same goes for Daniel Bryan and other what I'd call casualties of WWE creative's ineptitude or stubborness. Vince and co. get to hide in the back, while these performers have to actually go out and perform this shít in public and just go with it probably knowing it reeks.

Seeing fan favourites, wrestlers who sell thousands to millions in units and dollars of t-shirts and other merchandise products for WWE, so mistreated last night screams of a "Fúck you, we're doing what we want and you'll take it" from Vince to the fans, i.e. the people who along with performers made him a billionaire. Daniel Bryan - jobber exit, Bray Wyatt - jobber exit. Dolph Ziggler - jobber exit. Literally every person the current WWE fans have been screaming for management to get behind, tossed out of the Rumble like garbage by 2 men who I first saw perform in some guise or another 20+ years ago. Is this a loud message from Vince 'Monty Burns' McMahon to the fans? Or the clearest evidence that WWE have never been further out of touch with their fanbase.

As well as all that though, the Rumble and mostly everything else except the genuinely magnificent Triple Threat match was as dull as ditch-water. They've been doing the Rumble for 25 or so years now, they should have perfected the formula at this stage considering some of the early 90's Rumbles were genuine greats. Never mind the crazy, detrimental booking, or insulting fans, or mistreating and misusuing talent - producing a dull Rumble is just as baffling and frustrating. Sheamus and Orton were badly missed for 'star power' I.M.O., but there are numerous other ways they could have booked that Rumble with the same competitors and same winner, yet made it so much better and the winner more acceptable.

It was shocking.

RobbingBandit

WWE really knows how to troll fans, live this Thursday on Smackdown Daniel Bryan vs Kane in a casket match, oh lordy lordy theys gonna burry him twice in a week.

rovert

The internet being all arse no trousers re:cancelling according to PWInsider:

With all the buzz about the negative social media about the WWE Network since the WWE Royal Rumble ended, I was curious how much of that buzz was equal to actual viewers cancelling their subscriptions to the streaming service.
While this is hardly scientific hard research, after speaking with several sources, I was told that while there were some who canceled the service, it was not such a grand amount that WWE is considering it a significant number internally. So, while they lost some subscribers, it wasn't like they lost such a massive amount that the company was going into emergency meetings or anything of the such.

The belief internally that much of the buzz online was simply fans voicing their anger over the way the Rumble PPV, specifically The Rumble match and how Daniel Bryan was used, played out. In that regard, WWE is probably right and if they have the fans that upset, they really should be thinking about how is he is used and portrayed going forward. The company needs to realize this is not about whether Bryan won the Rumble or not, but how he was portrayed during the show. He came in like a homecoming hero and was gone, just a few minutes later, like a freshman nerd. He's earned far better. Beyond that, the lion's share of the WWE audience wants him to be a top guy - and are willing to pay for that. For WWE to not use him at that level, is basically throwing money out the window in my opinon.

Sources also indicate that while there were some issues with buffering during the Royal Rumble's live stream, those issues were not widespread and there was no outage on WWE's end. The belief is that it was something more localized that caused issues that was outside of the Network's sphere of influence.

Looper007

RobbingBandit wrote: »

WWE really knows how to troll fans, live this Thursday on Smackdown Daniel Bryan vs Kane in a casket match, oh lordy lordy theys gonna burry him twice in a week.

The more burying they do the more over he gets, they need to accept they need to treat the guy as a star . I wouldn't be shocked to be honest if they take him out of action for a few weeks so his presence doesn't get in the way of their golden boy Reigns. I find it sad to be honest, a talented guy who actually the fans pay to see gets ****ted on cause he isn't a bodybuilder that Vince can't **** over.

Rjd2

Moneymaker wrote: »

Let's be clear. Reigns is NOT to blame for this. I feel sorry for him, and for his young daughter who watched her dad be crapped on like that. I think most sensible fans know he's not to blame and actually like the guy.

It's the senile old fossil; "You want DB, Ambrose or Ziggler?" Too bad. Cesaro? Hell no.

It's not even that DB didn't win. It's HOW it went down. They were totally shameless in using his "big comeback" to boost buys for the Network and create interest in the match. And then he's thrown out with no drama. No story, no screwjob. Nothing. Like he's an irrelevant mid carder. It's disgusting.

Ambrose? Thrown out like a geek. Ziggler? Nothing. Ryback? Nothing. Even a decent showing from Wyatt was crapped on. We had to watch two mid 40s geriatrics who NO ONE care about bury all the young talent on the roster.

Even the way Reigns won was embarrassing. Was it him looking super strong and overcoming odds? Nope. It was because Big Show and Kane turned on each other and Rusev even looked like a geek.

The booking, and the BLATANT ****ting on of fan favourites by McMahon is so self-sabotaging and incomprehensible. Share prices falling, bad ratings, poor Network subscribers numbers and he does THIS?

I feel bad for Reigns and the Rock. I don't feel bad for the brass, they got exactly what they deserved.

Deplorable.

Yeah that is fair enough. I wasn't to bothered about Reigns winning as I knew he was going to and while he has been booked awfully recently he does have more than enough upside to be savable.Its also no secret they need more star power ASAP, Punk is gone and we can't to to sure about Bryan yet, he is only back after a long lay off. Cena won't be around forever.

I was just annoyed that apart from Reigns, Show and Kane in 2015 came out of this looking the strongest, even if they had Rusev and Wyatt team up and kill everyone and we were left with those 2 v Reigns and Ambrose at the end that would have been cool to see 4 young guys square off.

Loughc

gerrybbadd wrote: »

I dont get this cancel the Network shyte that's being hashtagged. Fair enough, WWE have screwed the fans again big time. But would everyone prefer to go back to paying $55 per PPV or €26 to Sky once a month, or $9.99 for everything? Makes no sense

I think the idea is to not pay for the WWE at all. The only thing Vince understands is money. If Reigns stops drawing in terms of network subs and attendances, then Vince has to listen.... Right...right?!?

deisedude

Haven't watched WWE since Mania but watched the rumble. I think I'll stop watching completely now. Big Show and Kane were a jobbing tag team on smackdown not so long ago and then they are in the final 3 of the rumble now even though they are both well in their 40's if not 50's. Fcuk you Vince

Bounty Hunter

Once again I and a lot of others gave the WWE too much credit present rumble.

This and last year in the prediction thread I went for D Bryan to win the rumble. This is despite the fact that Batista and Reigns were the favourites both years. Why?

Well I guess its the best for business image I have of Vince. I never expect him to leave money on the table and this year for me (just like last year) Bryan was part of the money match for me.

Dunno if Brock will be about next year but Itl be a shame if we don't get Brock vs Bryan at some point

CSF

deisedude wrote: »

Haven't watched WWE since Mania but watched the rumble. I think I'll stop watching completely now. Big Show and Kane were a jobbing tag team on smackdown not so long ago and then they are in the final 3 of the rumble now even though they are both well in their 40's if not 50's. Fcuk you Vince

They're still jobbing most weeks to be fair. It was a bad idea to have them go that far but the idea was to make Reigns look strong rather than to push them. I had assumed Big Show would be the last eliminated myself due to the way they built it. Was actually surprised when it wasn't.

Thought Bryan would have been screwed out of it by Kane with maybe 4 or 5 people left.

Professional Griefer

Loughc wrote: »

I think the idea is to not pay for the WWE at all. The only thing Vince understands is money. If Reigns stops drawing in terms of network subs and attendances, then Vince has to listen.... Right...right?!?

You'd hope so, didnt he blame Punk for poor draws when he was champion? Imagine how bad it would be with Reigns as champion.

Looper007

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Once again I and a lot of others gave the WWE too much credit present rumble.

This and last year in the prediction thread I went for D Bryan to win the rumble. This is despite the fact that Batista and Reigns were the favourites both years. Why?

Well I guess its the best for business image I have of Vince. I never expect him to leave money on the table and this year for me (just like last year) Bryan was part of the money match for me.

Dunno if Brock will be about next year but Itl be a shame if we don't get Brock vs Bryan at some point

I Knew Reigns was winning but the Way Bryan was just discarded was disgraceful though.

The way they treated Bryan at the RR shows you what Vince thinks of him. I think if he gets a decent match 10 minute match at Mania and doesn't get buried by the time he gets to WM 31 I think he be doing well. Don't be surprised if he's made to put over Rusev's and Wyatt's and other heels for Vince's choice's on the road to WM either. At this moment in time I'm going for Wyatt, Sheamus or Jericho for a 15 minute match maybe 3rd or 2nd match on, right now. I don't see him getting anywhere near a Main Event this year.

It's a double edge sword for Vince, he knows that he needs Bryan cause he does make them money, he did bring in viewers on his return match at Smackdown and the fact the fans will **** on his Main Events if he's not used properly but you can tell he would take a hit if he could just to bury him and get rid of him. I say someone behind the scenes must be a Bryan fan, maybe HHH or Steph.

I think its Fair to say Bryan vs Lesnar has passed by us now and will go down as one of the missed great matches. sad really.