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WWE Royal Rumble


Jace, Extat

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Eh, not impressed. Not just because my beloved Y2J didn't get it either. I mean, of course I knew he wouldn't.

But Triple H? Now we know Reigns is gonna get denied a rematch and is gonna have to win Hell in a Cell to get #1 contender privilege for Wrestlemania, and my Chris is (hopefully) gonna be a notch in his belt. 

Like others, I think it was a great rumble with a poor champion.

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Man, It was a great, if not entirely predictable PPV. I think the only match that I didn't call from a mile away was the US title match.

Ambrose vs Owens: I think this was a great match, that didn't feel like a really choreographed spotfest, as a lot of these weapon tend to boil down to. I felt that both guys got their stuff in and Owens was the real star of this match. Hopefully this is the last match of this feud for a while, because I like these guys, but I want to see them wrestle other people.

Kalisto vs Del Rio: Not much to say much beyond I liked it and didn't expect Kalisto to win. The one thing that stood out to me was the mask spots they used. Holy shit I've been waiting for something like that between Del Rio and Kalisto since Del Rio botched in a match a few moths ago and almost ripped kalistos mask off.

Diva's match: Certainly wasn't the piss break match that a lot of Divas matches have been in the past. I like Becky a lot, though she was great Charlotte is just ok. The real highlight was the end with Sasha Banks.

Rumble: I loved basically everything about this match except for the end. My favorite guy(s) is Bray Wyatt and the rest of the Wyatt Family, and loved what they did, and can't wait to see them feud with Brock, hopefully culminating with a match at Mania. Seeing AJ was cool, and I thought that Owens was the perfect guy to do it (hope those two are gonna clash if Owens is done with Ambrose). I don't hate the fact that HHH won, more so that it was so painfully obvious what was gonna happen, from Roman "getting hurt" and coming back mid match, and then that HHH came out at 30. It was just all so predictable.

 

EDIT: Can't believe I forgot the Tag Team match, because the New Day is the best. Over all, it's the weakest match of the night, largely because the Usos kind of suck. Sure, they are pretty competent in the ring, but man, are they the blandest team in the division outside of... well... the rest of the tag team division. Overall, we need Kid and Cesaro :( back so the New Day have someone to have enjoyable matches with.

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19 hours ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

HHH still stealing spotlights lmao. What's the point of him winning? What a joke.

The point is obvious.  Vince is going to push Roman Reigns down our throat until we finally accept him.  He's been pulling out all the stops to try to get the crowd to love Reigns.  Reigns demolished Triple H and sent him to the (kayfabe) hospital.  Then Vince himself showed up and took a few bumps.  Then they rehashed the entire Austin/McMahon storyline with Reigns having to enter the Rumble at number one with a target on his back, only without realizing that Reigns has about 1/100th of the charisma that Austin had.  Finally, they'll have him beat Triple H for the title in the main event of Wrestlemania.

It's all horribly misguided, but you can at least see the thought process.  See, people don't like Triple H.  They never have, by and large.  There were stories about him burying guys for years to his own benefit, and while he's largely changed as he's gotten older and more involved in the business end than the wrestling end (he is, after all, the guy who brings us NXT and is almost certainly responsible for Styles and the other Bullet Club guys signing with the WWE, not to mention most of the other prominent indie guys that are currently on the roster), he still has that reputation as the prick who will do anything for another title run.

The problem with this, in my mind, is that it won't work in front of smark crowds.  Royal Rumble last night was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a smark crowd.  That audience was filled with NXT fans, who are generally more in the know when it comes to indie wrestling than your average WWE fan.  That's why Owens and Ambrose received the biggest ovations to start the show, and why the entire place went ape shit when AJ Styles debuted.  It's also why Roman Reigns got booed out of the building when he entered and every time he threw a punch.  It's also why the crowd cheered for Triple H of all people, and he's one of the most hated heels of all-time.

To further that point, Wrestlemania is always a smark crowd.  The type of people who care enough to pay Wrestlemania ticket prices are the type of people who probably follow wrestling happenings online and are, thus, more in the know than average.  If the WWE thinks that Reigns will get cheered simply because he's going up against Triple H, I think they're in for a surprise.  It's going to turn into Lesnar/Reigns all over again, with the storyline heel being cheered and the face hearing boos.

So again, it's a totally misguided angle, but the thought process makes a certain amount of sense.  I think it would work in front of your average Texas crowd, which by and large are pretty much willing to cheer for who they're told to cheer for.  It just won't work in front of a smarter Wrestlemania crowd.

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4 hours ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Is Daniel Bryan ever coming back?

If I had to guess, no.  He's had numerous concussions and I don't think he'll ever be cleared due to liability reasons.  It's a shame because he was lightening in a bottle as far as popularity goes, but the WWE gave him two belts and he couldn't hold either for more than a couple of months due to serious injuries.  I don't think he's coming back.

At least we got AJ Styles, though!

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6 minutes ago, briantw said:

If I had to guess, no.  He's had numerous concussions and I don't think he'll ever be cleared due to liability reasons.  It's a shame because he was lightening in a bottle as far as popularity goes, but the WWE gave him two belts and he couldn't hold either for more than a couple of months due to serious injuries.  I don't think he's coming back.

At least we got AJ Styles, though!

How well do you think they'll use AJ though? Will he ever get a serious World title run?

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5 hours ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

How well do you think they'll use AJ though? Will he ever get a serious World title run?

In a perfect world, he'd be put into the world title picture immediately.  Most guys would kill to get the pop that AJ got during his debut.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world.  We live in the world where Vince McMahon makes all the final decisions.  I'm relatively sure that Vince had no idea who AJ Styles was prior to Hunter signing him (it's widely speculated that Vince doesn't watch any non-WWE wrestling), so I honestly have no idea if he'll get a push or not.  

Our best bet for guys who actually deserve a push (aka not Roman Reigns) getting one is Vince either dying or retiring.  Triple H actually seems to understand what the company needs going forward (see NXT, which he runs without Vince's meddling hands).  I know people will point to him winning the Rumble as counter evidence, but I honestly don't think that was his call.  I think that was all Vince.  I don't think Hunter has any interest in passing Ric Flair's title count (and let's be real...if he wanted to he could), and I think he would have been totally content with never winning another world title given that he seemed totally fine with only wrestling once a year at 'Mania until two nights ago.  His title win was an orchestration by Vince to get Roman Reigns over at 'Mania.  It won't work, but that's the intent.

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11 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Does WWE Network not have vintage programming? The App only has current stuff.

It has a ton of old stuff. I've never used the app but the website has pretty much anything you need. It wasn't the best at the beginning but they have added a ton of content and it's well worth ten bucks a month.

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7 minutes ago, Joe Pesci said:

It has a ton of old stuff. I've never used the app but the website has pretty much anything you need. It wasn't the best at the beginning but they have added a ton of content and it's well worth ten bucks a month.

Yeah I just found it on the App. Wow there is a ton of stuff on there. Anyone know if they edit the old ECW footage or is it all uncut and when do they add RAW episodes? There's none for January.

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26 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Yeah I just found it on the App. Wow there is a ton of stuff on there. Anyone know if they edit the old ECW footage or is it all uncut and when do they add RAW episodes? There's none for January.

I think Raw episodes are usually three to four weeks behind.  Don't quote me on that though.

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11 hours ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Yeah I just found it on the App. Wow there is a ton of stuff on there. Anyone know if they edit the old ECW footage or is it all uncut and when do they add RAW episodes? There's none for January.

Pretty sure the only thing edited on ECW is the original music is gone. I've watched a decent amount of it on there and I haven't noticed anything, seems like even the chants are unedited for the most part.

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4 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I haven't watched wrestling in 10+ years, but was curious enough to read the thread. I cannot believe HHH and Chris Jericho are still at it. Are they fighting with canes?

Chris hasn't done much this year, but last year he had a great feud with the new freakshows and actually dived off the top of a cage in his last match of the year. I think he looks great, just not sure if they're gonna let him actually compete.

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4 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I haven't watched wrestling in 10+ years, but was curious enough to read the thread. I cannot believe HHH and Chris Jericho are still at it. Are they fighting with canes?

I'm in exactly the same spot... but I still figure they have to be younger than Flair was when I was watching in the late 90's early 00's.

Aren't they?!!?  :stunned: 

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