Royal Rumble 2016

Lord TSC

Said yesterday that I couldn't see past a HHH win so wasn't surprised when he waltzed out at Number 30.

The booking over the last few months had them cornered; they had to do HHH vs Reigns, and with the amount of time they invested into that story as the centerpiece of their show, it had to be for the WWE title. I can understand that they feel they don't have another top (TOP) level heel to stand up to their top babyface, even if thats on them. And I can understand they probably feel they don't have anyone else who might turn the crowd to favour Reigns.

I didn't mind the booking of the match; Ambrose being second last was, I reckon, to get heat back on HHH since the crowd were cheering madly when he bundled Reigns over. When he defeated the crowd's presumptive favorite in the last 3rd, it reestablished HHH as the villain. Of course, if true, they really need to look at why they needed to do that; they've spent over a year building up Reigns, and the crowd still **** all over him. Worse, taking him out of the match for so long doesn't help him at all.

Again, I understand why they did it; not only did they keep him and Brock separate, and let Brock set up his feud with the Wyatts, it kept him out of the ring when Styles, Sami and Owens got eliminated, not tagging Reigns with the crowd's reactions to such eliminations.

They went all in on the HHH/Reigns story months ago, so its no surprise they've kept that going strong here.

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Otherwise, I loved most of the show. The IC title match was great, the US, Tag and Divas matches were very good, and the Rumble, while not a classic, was a smarter-booked and better ran match than the last two.

Couldn't believe that the camera missed AJ Style's entrance though, focusing on Reign's face instead of showing the titantron. Still, that he got to keep his name, got such a massive reaction and that he got a pretty good showing was great.

Sami eliminating Owens was great, but they should have had Owens eliminate Sami to keep the story strong.

Overall, I enjoyed the show.

Moneymaker

Owens

This entire Reigns push continues to baffle me. Second year in a row he did absolutely **** all. Nothing he did made him seem special or stand out in any way. He looked blown up when AJ came out for christs sake. The whole thing is so contrived and lifeless and everyone knows they want him to be the guy. Everything they do is dictated to get him the best reaction and as over as possible. AND IT STILL HASN'T WORKED.

This guy needs to be ****ing Lugered. And quick.

ERG89

The main event of WrestleMania is a match that wouldn't have main evented Summerslam last year had it happened then as planned. Sad that the company remains to rely on part timers so much. Would it have been so bad just to have Ambrose or Owens win & let someone fresh win the Rumble instead of someone pushing 50.
Even let Lesnar win it do a rematch. Reigns vs HHH is like when Orton vs HHH main evented a few years ago. It's flat as a board. They want to push Reigns ok & even though I'm a fan of Reigns he's going to get booed

Agent Coulson

Part of the WWE bio released on AJ

Styles’ first national exposure came in WCW during the company’s waning final weeks, where he chased the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship as one half of a duo called Air Raid. He competed in tryout and dark matches for WWE in 2002, but was never signed by the company. Undeterred, he made a name for himself in every single promotion that wasn’t owned by Mr. McMahon with countless blow-away matches. He battled Sting and Samoa Joe in Florida, challenged CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in Chicago, and fought Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in California.

I found the highlighted funny really naming States instead of companies.

CSF

This was a great show. Really well done and I thought most of the booking was done well, as carefully as possible to put the crowd in as good mood as possible in preparation for the ending setting up what nobody wants.

Wrestlemania looks to be an absolute screwup already though. Nobody cares about Reigns vs HHH, he was booed like crazy last night, and at this point many crowds are never going to like Reigns no matter what WWE do. They've reached the point of no return, and the obvious ending will only turn the fans off even more.

I like the Wyatt Family as a faction. I think as a collective they work well and do a good job of hiding the fact that each member is quite limited in some (or all in the case of Rowan) way. That's what good factions do. But not in a million years am I believing Wyatt beats Lesnar at Mania, and it would be woeful booking if he did. After a year of losing to Roman and fighting in largely meaningless 6man tags, you do not, and should not be beating the one good thing WWE has at Mania.

So what do WWE pull out of the bag? How do they stop this Mania getting shat all over? No Cena, no Rollins, no Bryan. For me, the only way they're escaping this is having Reigns heelturn to join up with HHH (which obviously makes no sense in the world of real life logic but sure neither did Rollins) and do Ambrose v Reigns and Rock v HHH or Ambrose v HHH and Rock v Reigns. That's all they have IMO. Nobody else got anything this year and even Ambrose would have to be built like crazy for 2 months to be a legitimate contender.

Unquestionably we're going to be seeing Reigns vs HHH though because that Reigns push will never end regardless of the fact that nobody wants it.

Mick Murdock

Good show and a good Rumble overall. Delighted to see Reigns booed again. He is terrible, zero charisma or likeability. Sick of his stupid f*cking head.

WinnyThePoo

Del Rio

Enjoyed the show. Aj Styles apart from the screw up with the camera was so cool to see. R-Truths ladder spot was stupidly hilarious. I also thought it was funny as hell how the camera kept going back to reigns looking worried in the corner before another wrestler would come out.

sky88

While im not thrilled trips won the belt as i dont think the match needs the belt but i can see why they went that why. Plus the rock will more then likely be involved and there in need of stars due to injuries and their terrible creative not creating any.

The biggest problem is reigns hes just not over. his pops are never great and its not even like cenas reactions.

Also it was good to see Trips not just come out and destroy everyone and win which i was fearing. People got plenty of offence on him even ziggler

J. Marston

Ah would ya look...

Utopia Parkway

Mick Murdock wrote: »

Good show and a good Rumble overall. Delighted to see Reigns booed again. He is terrible, zero charisma or likeability. Sick of his stupid f*cking head.

I don't think Reigns is terrible to be honest but they are trying to push him down people's throats and the people can see this so are rejecting him. Maybe in a couple of years time they might be ready for a huge babyface Reigns run but they don't want to see it now.

Reigns v HHH is just seriously underwhelming as you know it'll just be them making another massive effort to get Reigns over as a babyface in peril. The WM crowd won't want to see that either.

A Brad Maddox Guy

Owens

Gonna preface this rant by saying that I actually enjoyed the show last night; Ambrose vs Owens was great, New Day were fun & the match had a good finish, Kalisto won decisively, Becky did well & Sasha got a massive reaction (please don't toss Becky aside WWE, it's in your best interest to have multiple popular women at once). The Rumble match had some really cool moments and it was great seeing AJ Styles in WWE. But there's one major problem I have that undermines the entire show - Roman F**king Reigns.

First he does pretty much nothing in the match. Then Vince & the League of Nations are made to look like complete idiots by pulling him out under the ropes & leaving him on the outside. To make things really obvious he gets taken out back by medics, commentary team highlight that he's still in the match multiple times and it makes him look weak since he's getting medical assistance while everybody else has to continue fighting. I assume this was to keep him away from Lesnar but even that is ridiculous given the teasing they did on RAW with them fighting. Plus once he's all rested up he runs back out no-selling the earlier attack.

And finally my biggest problem with the booking: Reigns' elimination. There's no doubt in my mind that Reigns was eliminated before Ambrose because WWE knew a lot of fans would cheer for Triple H beating Reigns and they wanted to get the heat back on HHH because Ambrose is a fan favourite. But this begs the question; why push Reigns so f**king strongly if you know at least 50% of the fans hate him! He's never going to get over to the extent they want him as long as they push him like this and it boggles the mind that after 2 years of it they're still making the same mistake over and over and over again.

Bounty Hunter

Owens

So when Babyface Roman Reigns beats the heel boss and champ HHH in the main event at Wrestlemania will he get boo'd?

SlickRic

Brock

Simply put, especially when it comes to Ronan Reigns, Vince has gone completely nuts.

He quite obviously wants to create his last ever megastar. And he chose Reigns. And now, even if it kills numbers and interest in the product, in his mind, Reigns must be that star. It's an obsession.

He will try every trick in the book to make it happen. He'll keep Reigns away from Lesnar. He'll keep him away from Ambrose. He'll get Bryan to endorse him. He'll get Rock to endorse him. He'll get Heyman to endorse him. He will do everything in his power to force the crowd to cheer him.

He will even make the rest if the roster a load of midcard chumps, leaving Reigns as potentially the only option as a full time star in order to make it happen. Vince doesn't care.

This push is entirely about Vince, and nothing to do with what's best for the fans or company.

Stereomaniac

Triple H

WWE have everyone's money so it's no surprise that they just do whatever they want. People can bitch all they want but people continue to watch WrestleMania every year despite claiming to have issue with where the company is going creatively. The best way to show your displeasure is to just not attend the shows and to cancel the WWE Network. A couple of years ago people are marking out when Roman Reigns is the 2nd last entrant left in the Royal Rumble match, now audiences won't accept him. Wrestling fans are every bit as fickle as Vince McMahon and his confidantes are stubborn. I can see where everyone is coming from here with their concerns but I doubt anyone is going to actually not watch WrestleMania, despite claiming they won't. If I wasn't going to watch the product, I certainly wouldn't waste my time coming online and engaging in conversation about how annoyed I am about it. I don't mean this as a dig at anyone now but I really hope people can see that WWE don't give a **** if we accept Roman Reigns or not, they already have peoples' money as long as they buy tickets and pay $9.99.

sky88

SlickRic wrote: »

Simply put, especially when it comes to Ronan Reigns, Vince has gone completely nuts.

He quite obviously wants to create his last ever megastar. And he chose Reigns. And now, even if it kills numbers and interest in the product, in his mind, Reigns must be that star. It's an obsession.

He will try every trick in the book to make it happen. He'll keep Reigns away from Lesnar. He'll keep him away from Ambrose. He'll get Bryan to endorse him. He'll get Rock to endorse him. He'll get Heyman to endorse him. He will do everything in his power to force the crowd to cheer him.

He will even make the rest if the roster a load of midcard chumps, leaving Reigns as potentially the only option as a full time star in order to make it happen. Vince doesn't care.

This push is entirely about Vince, and nothing to do with what's best for the fans or company.

i think the real problem was that he wasnt allowed develop on his own, he was being forced down our throats since the shields run.

Cena for all his booking faults developed naturally. It was only after he was already a huge star that the he was forced so much.

I honestly dont think roman is as bad as people think their just sick of the way wwe is trying to tell the fans who to like.

CastorTroy

It's been said before but I think one of the biggest problems of the night was the camera work. First we had AJ's entrance, which we should've been able to react to at the same time as the live crowd. It would've been different if it was someone like Sami, whose music we know at least, but clearly the crowd were going by the Titantron.
Then we had Kofi's elimination. After making a big deal of being saved, which was done badly since he didn't even need the save due to landing on the apron, he got eliminated while they were focussing on Reigns' beatdown. This may also have just been bad timing since I'm sure some spots/eliminations are timed so they don't overlap. Usually resulting in people fighting in corners.

Overall, my one word review of the PPV would be: Grand.

Owens/Ambrose did brilliantly.
Becky/Charlotte had a stupid ending. I never understand why when someone has their opponent nearly defeated that they get up to face a person on the apron, who would simply cause a DQ if they interfere. Same goes for the ref addressing them.
US Title and tag matches did their job.

The rumble was good. They were smart to have Owens eliminate AJ because he was one of the few guys the crowd would let away with it. I assume Jericho had it in his contract that he would get to stay in for a long time. The Lesnar elimination was BS. Why is that allowed? Having Ambrose and HHH as the last 2 was smart if they planned on having HHH win, because it gave the fans a chance to hope it could be Ambrose.
Someone said here to strap a rocket to Ambrose, but he doesn't need one because he's getting there by himself.

I've said before but if I remember correctly, after Mania last year they cooled on the Reigns push and it seemed like they were taking things at a slower pace. He even lost matches. He seemed to be winning people over. Then a few months later they suddenly decided he was SuperReigns and pushed him harder than before and this really did him no favours.


And why is Wade always forgotten about? He was in the pre show but not the beatdown or the Rumble.

Also that preshow confused me. I thought Darren Young was injured which is why Titus is on his own, but instead he's teaming with Sandow, who's now back to his old gimmick.

Stereomaniac

Triple H

Yeah what's the story with Wade Barrett, is he injured?

Agent Coulson

Stereomaniac wrote: »

WWE have everyone's money so it's no surprise that they just do whatever they want.

Stereomaniac is right with this.

Vince knows he is the only game in town and can do whatever he wants because of that and he doesn't care about the hardcore internet fan thinks because he also know we won't stop watching.

The WWE make there money from kids who know nothing other than what they see on WWE TV by the time they get to the age where they do know better like the rest of us they are hooked and will end up watching even if it's sh1t.


TNA, ROH, DragonGate, NJPW, Lucha Underground etc etc are not competition for the WWE dollar or ratings.

The WWE will never have a major competitor again so they can give us whatever sh1te they want and it's tought sh1t on fans.

DM_7

To me WWE clearly care. That is shown by how they booked the Rumble. The many ways they have tried to get people to like Roman as the top guy. The general point is the approach is not working in how they are choosing to execute it.

The WWE clearly want people to keep giving them money, it's why NXT exists, why they continually sign fan favourites from Finn and Sami to Joe and AJ.

It's why we get Owens v Ambrose.

They will always provide variety to maximise views, buys etc

The complaints v Reigns are a basic disconnect between what fans want to see and what WWE want them to see in Reigns. Lots of people do want to see Reigns do well but that should be alongside others so they push each other on.

All they have managed to do is force Reigns into a role he is not really ready for while making other people look bad, people fans care about. That will always get backlash.