2015 Royal Rumble aftermath *results inside*

Utopia Parkway

That might have been the worst rumble I've ever seen. Devoid of any tension or drama. When the last three in the ring were Kane, The Big Slow and Reigns you just groaned. Loudly.

Even The Rock looked embarrassed being out there. The look on his face when he tried to sell Reigns to the crowd to zero if not outright hostile reaction was one of "why did I agree to do this again"?

On the plus side the triple threat match was fantastic.

The WWE are shoving Reigns down the throat of the fans and they are clearly rejecting him. One day he might be ready but it's not now. Reminds me of when they tried to push Lex Luger as the next big thing. Luger's career never really recovered from it.

Sin Eater

The Triple Threat and the surprise entrants (especially Bubba Ray) make this a seven for me.

While I think it was a poor choice to have Daniel Bryan be eliminated so early, the rest of the rumble itself would have been grand if it wasn't for the audience.

Stereomaniac

Loughc wrote: »

Does this not make the Main Event of WM a harder pill to swallow though. After all of that buildup for Lesnar he's going to get put away in the ring by someone who's very limited in the ring and probably has a shorter move setlist than Cena.

To see Lesnar get beaten by a superman punch and a lazy spear after that performance last night will be a very bitter pill to swallow.

For me, no it doesn't. If Roman Reigns wins the championship from Brock Lesnar, it's just going to make it all that better when Seth Rollins cashes in his contract.

Rock Lesnar

Stereomaniac wrote: »

For me, no it doesn't. If Roman Reigns wins the championship from Brock Lesnar, it's just going to make it all that better when Seth Rollins cashes in his contract.

which he should do immediately if Reigns beats Lesnar.

Bounty Hunter

Title match was great but...


A full year of Rusev & Lana running down the stupid fat Americans and their puny country and pointing out how terrible it is in comparison to Mother Russia and the great Vladamir Putin and then when the WWE announcers are saying Roman Reigns is going to Wrestlemania what are the crowd chanting "We want Rusev, We want Rusev"

It was done that poorly that even with the Rock endorsing him (not sure if the announcers ever even pointed out their cousins which woulda been logical in my mind to explain why hes making the save) didn't stop the crowd from chanting for an American hating heel.


on a side note most of the eliminations Kane was involved in seemed like Show was the main one doing it. Did any of them count as Kane's i.e towards the record number of eliminations?

da gamer

Now before I pose this question I have to admit I am not a regular viewer of wwe and haven't been for quite some time, but I have to ask, am I the only one that doesn't get the whole Daniel Bryan thing? Everyone on social media going mad that he didn't win. I just don't get it! ...(Preparing for backlash)

ricero

Best thing they could do to save their blushes would be a fake injury angle to Reigns and put bryan in the title match at Mania

Bounty Hunter

da gamer wrote: »

Now before I pose this question I have to admit I am not a regular viewer of wwe and haven't been for quite some time, but I have to ask, am I the only one that doesn't get the whole Daniel Bryan thing? Everyone on social media going mad that he didn't win. I just don't get it! ...(Preparing for backlash)

He's the most popular wrestler in the WWE at the moment. He is the best technically in the ring too even though obviously that does not do it for everyone (like the people booking the show for instance) and one of only around 3 guys the fans would have actually wanted to see win (Him, Ambrose & Ziggler).

He is also the poster boy for what isn't being pushed down the fans throat (Reigns), the underdog and the guy who has paid his dues and worked his way up from the indies, Japan, NXT etc.

The more and more the WWE choose what they want the fans to want and not what the fans are blatantly telling them they want the more they gravitate towards people like Bryan.

SlickRic

Sin Eater wrote: »

While I think it was a poor choice to have Daniel Bryan be eliminated so early, the rest of the rumble itself would have been grand if it wasn't for the audience.

it's not the audience's fault.

they are entitled to reject shíte.

Bryan is the most over guy right now. He is liked, and he never got his run. WWE didn't just take the chance of another run for Bryan away, but they treated him like a mid-carder, while also pushing a guy who they've started pushing as Cena Mk II.

it's lazy, it's predictable and it's shíte.

Reigns had not been booed until this night. the fans wanted to get behind him, but haven't really been given a reason since the breakup of the Shield. he is everything that you want to represent your company if you're Vince McMahon, but you can't push prematurely. He hasn't had one decent fúcking singles feud yet FFS. it's pathetic.

for example, Steve Austin was pushed over a period of time as an upper-mid card heel. he feuded with Bret, lost repeatedly, paid his dues in the company, then when he got the reaction needed, he was pushed to the moon. Reigns has done none of those things, and is being pushed like he is because Vince is utterly desperate for someone to take on the Cena mantle so that the same shít we've seen for 10 years can continue on.

Reigns is fine, and I am absolutely sure that given a couple of major feuds and a couple of years under his belt he would be ready to be 'the man'. but it's not now.

I honestly believe last night might have been a watershed moment for the company.

Palo Alto

Rock Lesnar wrote: »

which he should do immediately if Reigns beats Lesnar.

They'll have him cash in and job, given the current booking.

JP Liz V1

I haven't watch but was Rock in the rumble or just came in to help Reigns win it?

Bounty Hunter

At this moment if Rollins were to cash in on Reigns to take the title from him he would get a massive babyface pop

Mokuba

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I haven't watch but was Rock in the rumble or just came in to help Reigns win it?

Rock wasn't in the Rumble and didn't even come out to help him win. He came out to clear out Big Show and Kane with Roman (after Roman was believed to have won), and try and "endorse" Roman.

Bounty Hunter

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I haven't watch but was Rock in the rumble or just came in to help Reigns win it?

Reigns eliminated Kane & Show but they got back in and double teamed him only for the Rock to show up to back up his Cuz and give him his seal of approval which apparently wasn't good enough to cover up how badly they booked the rumble.



Also where the F was Randy Orton?

Mokuba

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Reigns eliminated Kane & Show but they got back in and double teamed him only for the Rock to show up to back up his Cuz and give him his seal of approval which apparently wasn't good enough to cover up how badly they booked the rumble.



Also where the F was Randy Orton?

Fúck you Titus needed his spot.

JP Liz V1

ricero wrote: »

Best thing they could do to save their blushes would be a fake injury angle to Reigns and put bryan in the title match at Mania

Or Rock to take his place against Brock

Bounty Hunter

Mokuba wrote: »

Fúck you Titus needed his spot.

I can understand them holding off on Randy as I think they will use him vs Rollins to keep Rollins out of the ME picture at Mania but still in a big match while having the MITB contract so the possibility of cashing in too.

That said the booking of the rumble was so bad they could have used him just to make people think something other than a Reigns win was going down after Bryan was eliminated.

Rock Lesnar

Did anyone else hear Cole teasing Cena equaling Flairs 16 world titles.

It's close Lads, then he will be the greatest of all time. Imagine the tributes then...good Jaysus

Mokuba

Best thing they could do is have some face ownership figure challenge the Authority - like Linda back in the day.

So NewLinda comes to Bryan and informs him that because he was stripped due to injury and never lost he is entitled to a match for the title, which he was never informed of cos the Authority hate him.

So he joins the match due to some random contract thing. Either that or find a way to get Seth and Dean into the match and have anybody but Roman go over.

Thepoet85

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced it was a giant middle finger to the fans. there's just no way that they could intentionally put on a rumble so bad and not know that it's gonna be sh1t on. Are they really that out of touch? It's actually sad in a way. I stopped watching after Mania last year as I didn't think they had enough top talent and storyline to keep me justifiably tuning in each week. last night confirmed that for me. Just had no interest in the majority of the wrestlers participating. Hope they can turn a corner soon but I doubt it.

Sin Eater

SlickRic wrote: »

it's not the audience's fault.

they are entitled to reject shíte.

Bryan is the most over guy right now. He is liked, and he never got his run. WWE didn't just take the chance of another run for Bryan away, but they treated him like a mid-carder, while also pushing a guy who they've started pushing as Cena Mk II.

it's lazy, it's predictable and it's shíte.

Reigns had not been booed until this night. the fans wanted to get behind him, but haven't really been given a reason since the breakup of the Shield. he is everything that you want to represent your company if you're Vince McMahon, but you can't push prematurely. He hasn't had one decent fúcking singles feud yet FFS. it's pathetic.

for example, Steve Austin was pushed over a period of time as an upper-mid card heel. he feuded with Bret, lost repeatedly, paid his dues in the company, then when he got the reaction needed, he was pushed to the moon. Reigns has done none of those things, and is being pushed like he is because Vince is utterly desperate for someone to take on the Cena mantle so that the same shít we've seen for 10 years can continue on.

Reigns is fine, and I am absolutely sure that given a couple of major feuds and a couple of years under his belt he would be ready to be 'the man'. but it's not now.

I honestly believe last night might have been a watershed moment for the company.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why the boos were there and why the audience reacted the way they did. If Daniel Bryan had managed to win the Rumble I'm sure it would have resulted in a pop the size of which we haven't seen in a decade or so.

But the fact of the matter is that the audience completely spoiled the atmosphere of the rumble.

The only way I see this being a watershed moment for WWE is if a lot of people follow through on their threats to quit the network.

John Cena has been booed out of every other arena available he has wrestled in to no avail.

I do suspect we'll see Daniel Bryan in the main event at mania all the same

CSF

Mokuba wrote: »

Fúck you Titus needed his spot.

Randy Orton would have just been one more person to figure out a way to eliminate without looking weak on their return, not that they tried too hard to make people look strong.

Imagine how amazing an end to the Rumble it would have been if Rusev had dumped Reigns out from behind after the Rock's intervention.

But Rusev v Cena and Lesnar v Reigns. Why are they actively creating a situation where their heels get the cheers at their showpiece event?

den87

Rock Lesnar wrote: »

Did anyone else hear Cole teasing Cena equaling Flairs 16 world titles.

It's close Lads, then he will be the greatest of all time. Imagine the tributes then...good Jaysus

Cena might be able to fly under the radar for a while (in terms of "heat" from fans) with the flak that Reigns is gonna get.

Professional Griefer

Mokuba wrote: »

Best thing they could do is have some face ownership figure challenge the Authority - like Linda back in the day.

So NewLinda comes to Bryan and informs him that because he was stripped due to injury and never lost he is entitled to a match for the title, which he was never informed of cos the Authority hate him.

So he joins the match due to some random contract thing. Either that or find a way to get Seth and Dean into the match and have anybody but Roman go over.

Shane omac returns to fight for DBry, imagine that!

drugstore cowboy

The America hating heel getting huge chants over the chosen one Roman Reigns would be funny if it wasn't so tragic!

DM_7

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

At this moment if Rollins were to cash in on Reigns to take the title from him he would get a massive babyface pop

Double turn, Rollins has fought with all the faces anyway.

CSF

Thepoet85 wrote: »

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced it was a giant middle finger to the fans. there's just no way that they could intentionally put on a rumble so bad and not know that it's gonna be sh1t on. Are they really that out of touch? It's actually sad in a way. I stopped watching after Mania last year as I didn't think they had enough top talent and storyline to keep me justifiably tuning in each week. last night confirmed that for me. Just had no interest in the majority of the wrestlers participating. Hope they can turn a corner soon but I doubt it.

The standard of wrestlers is actually really high. You mightnt have guessed from the way it was booked but that Rumble had Bryan, Ambrose, Rusev, Ziggler and Ryback in it with Randy Orton waiting in the wings and the 2 biggest heels and the biggest face in the title match.

So much potential in the roster and still it ends up with 3 of the most limited guys in the mid to upper card as the final 3.

Mokuba

Sin Eater wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, I understand why the boos were there and why the audience reacted the way they did. If Daniel Bryan had managed to win the Rumble I'm sure it would have resulted in a pop the size of which we haven't seen in a decade or so.

But the fact of the matter is that the audience completely spoiled the atmosphere of the rumble.

The only way I see this being a watershed moment for WWE is if a lot of people follow through on their threats to quit the network.
John Cena has been booed out of every other arena available he has wrestled in to no avail.

I do suspect we'll see Daniel Bryan in the main event at mania all the same

No, Vince completely spoiled the atmosphere of the Rumble. That is the fact of the matter. The audience is entitled to react with disdain to dogshít. And it's not like they were booing everything, they popped for Sandow, Ziggler and Ambrose. Sandow got 30 seconds. Ziggler got 3 minutes. Ambrose was nonchalantly tossed aside by two guys whose combined age is close to 90.

And considering #CancelWWENetwork was the number one trend in the entire world, with hundreds of pictures to back up the cancellations - it's as close to a watershed as you'll get in the modern era.

CSF

DM_7 wrote: »

Double turn, Rollins has fought with all the faces anyway.

Still hasn't had a PPV singles match with Cena, nor Ziggler, nor Ryback, nor ahem Reigns. Plenty of longevity still for Rollins as a heel.

Mokuba

Professional Griefer wrote: »

Shane omac returns to fight for DBry, imagine that!

That's who I had in mind :pac:

If only.

Pinkman

The Rumble was such an absolute disaster. We all knew Reigns was going to win but the way they booked it couldn't have been worse. To have Bryan eliminated so early on was obviously going to piss the crowd off for the rest of the match. Why not have him as one of the last three or four at the end? At least the crowd would've only got pissed right at the end. The amusing thing about it all is that last year the crowd were totally behind Reigns to win the Rumble at the end agaist Batista.

I am not a DB fan and see him winning the title at WM being very repetitive but he should have won the Rumble. Reigns is simply too green and can't even cut a decent promo (not totally his fault but the writers for terrible material). He also has a very limited move set. He would have been better off turning heel and joining the Authority for a while and then next year have him win the Rumble/Mania. I actually feel sorry for Reigns - he is the victim of a totally incompetent creative team led by Vince and Kevin Dunn.

The Rock is bound to be pissed and rightly so. In the after show interview he even messed up his lines. I doubt he follows WWE that closely so I am sure he expected Reigns to get cheered. Expected some boos given it was in Philly but I doubt he expected anything that bad. He came out to a huge pop and once he hugged Roman the boos were deafening. It was like WM29 all over again with him raising Cena's hand. I hope he tears into Vince and gives him a wake up call. He should refuse to appear again until the booking is sorted out. When you have the biggest name in wrestling history in the ring next to the supposed next big thing and the boos are THAT bad something had gone terribly wrong.

What can they do now though? Stick Bryan in and make it a triple threat again like last year? It wouldn't work and would still result in huge boos when Reigns does win the title. Perhaps make it a fatal four way elimination with both Bryan and Rollins involved? It didn't work too well at WM16 but who knows? The only logical thing to do is have Reigns turn heel, get Heyman turn on Lesnar and join with Reigns.

Where was Randy Orton btw?

Angron

Have Reigns join the Authority. At least then they could justify the boos he's going to get.

CastorTroy

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

on a side note most of the eliminations Kane was involved in seemed like Show was the main one doing it. Did any of them count as Kane's i.e towards the record number of eliminations?

Cole said it counted.


Before I get to the Rumble, I'll just say the Triple Threat was excellent and think Rollins rightly deserves a top spot.
And it seemed to me the Usos genuinely find Mizdow entertaining.

As for the Rumble, leaving aside Roman winning and Bryan being eliminated, I'll say it was bad in other ways. First they have Miz and Truth as 1 and 2. The first 2 are sometimes great wrestlers and last a long time, so I was thinking it was the company showing confidence in them. But bringing Wyatt out and just killing any momentum the show had by eliminating everyone with too much dead air was stupid. I know they did it with Punk and Austin on previous occasions, but they can talk and/or are entertaining on their own.
Then skip forward and they have this guy who was cleaning house and in for a long time just dumped over the top rope like he was insignificant.

Then you had guys coming out who were clearly popular with fans only to have them get eliminated pointlessly or like they didn't matter, such as Sandow. Ziggler or Ambrose.

As for Reigns, why didn't Show and Kane knock him out like the rest. And who busted him open? Think was Swagger because when Show came in and everyone ganged up on him, saw Reigns grab his face.

All in all, the rumble was booked badly with too many pointless eliminations.

Oh and did kinda laugh when Reigns entered and JBL pointed out only one other person won at that number, and it was Cena.

Thepoet85

I know what you mean about the standard, but they're being wasted being booked so poorly. I love Ziggler, really thought he was the next big push

Bounty Hunter

The WWE must have known of the strong possibility that Reigns would get severely booed if he won and yet they did it anyway. If anything bringing in Rocky in the way they did would 100% suggest they feared this.

I don't think it will be as easy to fix this year either and could actually take some sort of convoluted angle like the Linda one mentioned above to get it done.

If Lesnar wasn't expected to be leaving right after Mania and if Rollins wasn't the no.1 heel atm and actually expected to perhaps cash in MITB after mania i'd be saying they will have to turn Reigns heel as a result of all this but in this situation I dont think that will work.

Mokuba

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

The WWE must have known of the strong possibility that Reigns would get severely booed if he won and yet they did it anyway. If anything bringing in Rocky in the way they did would 100% suggest they feared this.

I don't think it will be as easy to fix this year either and could actually take some sort of convoluted angle like the Linda one mentioned above to get it done.

If Lesnar wasn't expected to be leaving right after Mania and if Rollins wasn't the no.1 heel atm and actually expected to perhaps cash in MITB after mania i'd be saying they will have to turn Reigns heel as a result of all this but in this situation I dont think that will work.

Agreed. Anything to get him in now is convoluted.

They could get away with Bryan/Taker as a compromise if they were smart - easily booked match. Probably the best thing they could do without putting Bryan in the Main Event.

Rock Lesnar

Thepoet85 wrote: »

I know what you mean about the standard, but they're being wasted being booked so poorly. I love Ziggler, really thought he was the next big push

He doesnt have the Height or the Muscles, he is not what Vince thinks is best, i believe, due to the crowd reaction been so vocal, they were forced to push Bryan last year and are not going down that road again.

JP Liz V1

Is Brock not defending the title before WM at the next ppv Fast Lane?

QikBax

DM_7

CSF wrote: »

Still hasn't had a PPV singles match with Cena, nor Ziggler, nor Ryback, nor ahem Reigns. Plenty of longevity still for Rollins as a heel.

He still faced all of them, Ziggler and Cena on many occasions.

Throwaway comment I don't actually think the best heel they have should be turned 9 months in.

It's an option though if they want to save this mess as they are turning Reigns into a heel going into maina.

briany

It's not that they booked it bad, it's that they seemingly unlearned good booking. Don't Rumbles traditionally finish hot? Isn't it supposed to be uncertain up 'til the bell? They threw away the most basic psychology of the match.

I think last night is going to cause a big schism at the top.

TheChosenOne_

The Title match was the best I have seen in a long time. It had everything, and even though Lesnar won, Rollins stole the show! I was disappointed at the end cause I was hoping Rollins would win.

The Rumble match was the worst I have ever seen. It started off well and I was expecting big things, but once Bryan was eliminated everything went downhill. The atmosphere from the crowd was awful (and rightly so), a lot of the eliminations were awful as well. And then when Kane and the Big Show came in near the end and were in the last 4, that just summed it all up for me. When are them 2 lads going to go away?

The WWE will do well to recover after this shambles. RAW should be interesting tonight...

Sirsok

We didn't get to see a reigns and Rollins fued yet. Reigns beats Lesner at mania in a good battle and Rollins immediately cashes in after. Making both guys in the process

Lord TSC

Round Fatal Four Way last year, I argued pretty strongly that Reigns should have won the title then. I argued that he would never be that hot again, and that the crowd would have made him an absolute star if WWE had put the title on him, even if only for a short run. Instead, they opted not to, presumably to wait and build him now. And I can't say I don't feel vindicated, cause it's obvious now that the crowd don't want him to win. They missed the best moment there.

The two main matches last night were both very predictable. The triple threat, especially when the hype for the Rumble was to find "the one" (which echoes the fact Brock is "the one who...."), was pretty easy to guess. And the thing was, I didn't care, cause three guys went out and put on a fantastic match. Predictable =/= bad.

But the Rumble didn't even try to fight the predictability. It was obvious 4 months ago Reigns was winning, and the crowd tried desperately to voice their opinions about the fact there are guys they want to get behind. We constantly hear that they won't turn Cena heel because there's no one to take his place, and that's BS (Worse, when Reigns bombs, they'll reassert this and we'll be getting a lengthy Cena run again...). If Bryan had won, if Ziggler had won, if Ambrose had won, the crowds would have been buying their subscriptions for Mania today, and the match would be far better too. But for whatever reason, they stick two fingers up at the crowd and basically make the guys that the crowd want to like, want to pay to see, look like idiots and jobbers.

I would imagine we're looking at Rock/Reigns vs Show/Kane at Fastlane. If they've any sense, they'll have Reigns turn on Rock, and let him be the heel going into Mania. Because one way or another, Brock is going to be the biggest babyface going into that match.

Bounty Hunter

Sirsok wrote: »

We didn't get to see a reigns and Rollins fued yet. Reigns beats Lesner at mania in a good battle and Rollins immediately cashes in after. Making both guys in the process

I think thats what everyone is expecting but heres a question for you. When that happens who is the face and who is the heel?

skeleton_boy

Title match was great. Was worth staying up for that alone. As with everyone eles I was very disappointed with the rumble itself.

When I saw Daniel Bryan coming out so early I was worried. Just back from injury I was doubtful they'd let him in 40+ min but they should of worked it so he would of been in the final 4 at least. No problem with him not winning it as it would of meant the same ending to Wrestlmania as last year but the booking was just all wrong.

Everything has already been said about Ambrose, Ziggler and Wyatt. Awful exits.

Even Kofi's spot was terrible this year.

Two highlights were Bubba Ray returning and the Mizdow segment. Yes he didn't last long but it was a very entertaining bit and can't say I was upset with it overall.

Again like last year, it was so bad and created such a talking point, it will keep me watching over the next few week.

Mokuba

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Is Brock not defending the title before WM at the next ppv Fast Lane?

Very unlikely.

martyos121

Last thing I'm going to say on the matter, but I 100% expect changes to be made to the Wrestlemania main event. Either they'll make it a Fatal 4 Way (can't do a TT twice in a row) or push it down the card. I'm fine with either option, and how great would it be to see Sting stand over a defeated Triple H to end the night?

Sirsok

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

I think thats what everyone is expecting but heres a question for you. When that happens who is the face and who is the heel?

On paper reigns is face Rollins heel but in reality I think we know which was it's gonna go.

I heard a lot of people bemoaning the lack of star power in the rumble last night but it's worth mentioning that wwe have a fantastic roster, but it's a roster that creative don't know how to handle

Lord TSC

Sirsok wrote: »

I heard a lot of people bemoaning the lack of star power in the rumble last night but it's worth mentioning that wwe have a fantastic roster, but it's a roster that creative don't know how to handle

100% agree. Especially when you consider the talent in NXT, the roster hasn't had as much potential in years, but they don't have a clue what to do with it.