2016 Royal Rumble

[Mike Hunt]

Overall, a decent night. Things I think could have made it better:

-less sloppiness in ADR vs. Kalisto
-Becky going over
-AJ Styles and Chris Jericho essentially swapping spots (in terms of how long they lasted)
-Ambrose winning the Rumble (Authority's second worst case scenario and could lay groundwork for a Roman turn, if necessary. Also could later play into a Rollins feud - i.e., What's more impressive, World/US champ or World/IC champ?)

[skbucks1985]

Reigns has certainly had his moments where the crowd is completely behind him. The two most notable being the back-to-back nights of him destroying HHH and then winning the title the next night. They've basically been in maintenance mode since then and I think tonight was a step back, albeit a small one.

The problem, I see, is that in order to get Reigns over they used a pretty evergreen formula. The story arc he had in the month-and-a-half from the Rollins injury to the Raw win over Sheamus, I think there's at least 3-4 guys you could've given that to and they would've done it as well or better than Reigns did. And I haven't seen much from him as a promo, in his character work, in the way he tries to connect with the crowd that suggests that once he doesn't have the McMahon's to play off of, to do 95% of the talking in a segment that he's capable of still being a compelling character.

[WRau1]

The problem with bringing up Reigns "crowd moments" is who was he facing when it happened? Crowd will cheer no matter what if someone is attacking HHH and everyone hates Sheamus. That's my biggest problem with Reigns, they try to control his crowd reactions and that forces the WWE to put him into **** matches that noone (most people) care about. I'm not pumped to see Reigns against HHH or anyone in LoN. That shouldn't be the mainevent for a WM.

[skbucks1985]

Outside of the main event, I think New Day has pretty much cleared out the main roster tag scene. I hope tomorrow night we finally get a call-up, hopefully Enzo and Cass.

I'm not the biggest fan of Kalisto and I hope he's a transitional champ and they get the title off him pretty quickly. If its Styles-Owens or Owens-Zayn, I think either of those feuds is enhanced greatly if there is a title on the line.

[skbucks1985]

Also, what purpose did it serve to have the camera on Reigns during AJ's entrance. I don't think this was a simple production error as it was on him for several seconds and I think having it on him instead of having the camera on the tron took away a little from the moment.

[Spens1]

You guys are all wrong, that finish was BEST FOR BUSINESS.

Honestly, I didn't hate it. Would I have preferred something totally out of left field like AJ winning, sure. And maybe its because you could see this coming from a mile away as this has clearly been the direction they were probably going to go in. Reigns-HHH isn't my favorite WM main event, in fact I can't think of a WM main event I've been less interested in. But the match was I thought great in setting up at least 3 other likely WM matches. Brock-Wyatt is clearly happening, I'm guessing they'll do Ambrose-Jericho and either Owens-Zayn or Owens-Styles.

Reigns vs HHH in the main event of mania seems pretty bad for business if you ask me, that match wouldn't sell 80k into mania this year

i agree though, they did set up 3 or 4 clear matches, but thats the thing, everything in this company has become so calculated, soulless and predictable, why would the fans invest any energy and emotion in it when it seems they can't be bothered also

Reigns-HHH is a pretty lackluster main event, I think anyone arguing otherwise is fooling themselves. But I think its a match they were forced into because of injuries and of the options they have, I think its one of the better ones.

I fundamentally disagree with the idea that predictable=bad. I'm not excited about HHH-Reigns because I'm not really a fan of either guy and the story they've told hasn't really appealed to me. I'm pretty excited about Ambrose-Jericho even though I figured that was probably the direction they were going after that 6-man tag all those months ago and I can probably give you a basic outline of how the feud will play out and culminate, so I see a high level of predictability there. But I'm a fan of both guys and I'm confident that they can create a story that appeals to me.

gimme brock vs wyatt for the title, as lackluster as that sounds, if you do it even half right, wyatt and heyman could sell the people on it at least. I mean with the family, there is so many variables you could work with also

Roman sure as hell can't right now and it will come down to HHH basically carrying this feud by himself sadly, a 47 year old man will have to carry this on the mic

predictable doesn't always equal bad, i mean New Japan is incredibly predictable at times but they do a damn good job booking stuff and making it exciting, this storyline has been predictable and dull, thats fatal. if it was predictable, but was exciting then that would be great

Ambrose vs Jericho (heel jericho that is) would be amazing, honestly have it co-main event

[Spens1]

bit worried about the US title though, if Del Rio is still involved with that then help us all.

[Butch718]

Reigns doesn't organically connect with the crowd period. The crowd rooted for him against Sheamus because Sheamus has to be one of the dullest heels in the entire company. Sheamus gets terrible heel heat, and mostly it's based off how he looks and how uncharismatic he is on the mic. Hell Reigns got boo'ed tonight. He's going to keep getting a John Cena-light reaction from the crowd and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

By putting Reigns in a scenario in which he has to chase the title again, against the Authority and Vince again no less, you've effectively put him in a position to get boo'ed the hell out of the building again come Wrestlemania. An event full of smarks. He just doesn't play the underdog very well, nor should he be. They should have made him a dominant ass kicking heel, but they botched that at Survivor series. If they put him over as a heel, his eventual turn back to face would have gotten a much better reaction than he's currently getting right now. But they're completely shortsighted.

If they had put over Ambrose tonight, they could have turned him into the biggest face in the company. He's the one of the few guys that consistently connects with the crowd night in and night out. They would have ate it up, and the crowd would be cheering the hell out of him night in and night out. Even if you don't like Dean, you can't deny that the fans really want to root for him, whereas the fans are still mum on Reigns. You can't say he's not marketable, because his merchandise sells. The whole " he doesn't look the part" is a backwards outdated excuse as well. Especially in this day and age.

Hell, even having Wyatt or Owens win it would have been refreshing. Vince is so afraid of taking risks, and wants so much to push Reigns that the product is consistently average(being kind), instead of being great.

[Geddy]

It's too bad Samoa Joe is stuck in NXT otherwise it would have been nice to see him in there tonight.

[MAQ]

Predictable ending really....but damn with Styles here to stay and a huge push for Ambrose I'm excited.

I'm not sure I'm buying the "huge" push for Ambrose. Nor do I think he deserves it. His matches are just too sloppy. He needs to learn story telling in the ring.

Styles is awesome. And the most predictable ending of them all was also awesome IMO. As soon as Trips came out I knew he was going to win. It doesn't bode well for the future, and him being in the main event at WM can't happen, but I loved it in the moment.

[MAQ]

You guys are all wrong, that finish was BEST FOR BUSINESS.

Honestly, I didn't hate it. Would I have preferred something totally out of left field like AJ winning, sure. And maybe its because you could see this coming from a mile away as this has clearly been the direction they were probably going to go in. Reigns-HHH isn't my favorite WM main event, in fact I can't think of a WM main event I've been less interested in. But the match was I thought great in setting up at least 3 other likely WM matches. Brock-Wyatt is clearly happening, I'm guessing they'll do Ambrose-Jericho and either Owens-Zayn or Owens-Styles.

Definitely putting my money on Owen-Styles, however my sister was telling me about Zayn and Owens-Zayn makes a lot of sense too.

[tugs]

How long before WWE cuts AJ's name to Styles?

His debut was close to Y2J's, though the program was less effective because it was Reigns who is not as charismatic as The Rock.

[iMoreland]

Triple H was the best decision because you hate it

Styles vs Owens is beautiful

Brock vs Wyatt's should be interesting

Still don't know what they'll do with The Undertaker. Finn? Would love to see The Bálor Club debut during an Undertaker segment

Ambrose vs (heel) Jericho; Jericho chasing his 10th IC title

Hopefully Enzo & Cass debut soon. I'd pay $9.99 to watch a New Day/Enzo & Cass promo

Anything $A$HA does is money

[Ruzious]

Anyone who wasn't expecting HHH at 30 should be ashamed. It was probably the most predictable thing in the RR. I was surprised that Ambrose made the final 2, but they probably did that so that they could keep "fresh" a match between Reigns and HHH. Great to see Styles and Sami. Those 2 made the RR worth watching, imo.

[DJhitek]

Predictable ending really....but damn with Styles here to stay and a huge push for Ambrose I'm excited.

I'm not sure I'm buying the "huge" push for Ambrose. Nor do I think he deserves it. His matches are just too sloppy. He needs to learn story telling in the ring.

Styles is awesome. And the most predictable ending of them all was also awesome IMO. As soon as Trips came out I knew he was going to win. It doesn't bode well for the future, and him being in the main event at WM can't happen, but I loved it in the moment.

Ambrose has a mean streak that puts him in rare company and makes him unique. I agree he isn't he most technically sound but he plays that role well and I think it works. His match with Owens and his TLC match with Rollins last year were great.

BTW....HHH winning the belt means we are going to drag out the authority story, which is a good and bad thing. WWE has chance to build some storylines and maybe turn Reigns heel but we are going to get the same stale TV until wrestlemania.

[whysoserious]

I think if you really want Reigns to get over now, turning him heel is the key. And not heel by joining the authority but just turning on the fans for booing him. Get him in some solid programs as a heel to build up meanwhile you build Ambrose in to your face champion and that leads to more jealousy from Reigns that his buddy is over and fans are behind Ambrose but not him. Eventually the turn will work but he needs a really good heel run.

[whysoserious]

Also, one of my disappointments in the Rumble was no nostalgia acts this year really. Do we really need Miz in there or Del Rio after a match earlier. One of the fun things about the Rumble is getting some old school acts involved.

[Flames24Rulz]

Also, one of my disappointments in the Rumble was no nostalgia acts this year really. Do we really need Miz in there or Del Rio after a match earlier. One of the fun things about the Rumble is getting some old school acts involved.

Would've liked a couple more NXT guys, to be honest. At least they didn't waste 3 spots on the announcers this year? Progress!

[Dunthreevy]

I thought the whole show was really good. Probably my favorite PPV since Mania 31. Owens/Ambrose was phenomenal. New Day/Usos was really good, outside of the Usos' entire offense consisting of super kicks (which has made them incredibly boring). New Day carried the entire segment but it was so good that I don't really care that one side carried it. Big E's finisher at the end was awesome. Del Rio/Kalisto was pretty good but started getting sloppy towards the end. That botched spot where Kalisto landed on top of his head was completely on Del Rio and I'd hope he apologized after the match because that could have really **** up Kalisto's neck. Charlotte/Becky was really good, other than Ric's involvements. Both times he got involved it just looked weird and poorly executed. There is no charisma left in that old man. Now he's just a weird and extremely creepy old dude. Also, Charlotte doesn't sell for ****. After taking this tortuous submission move from Sasha, she just acts like it didn't even happen once Sasha gave her title back. She showed absolutely zero look of pain or exhaustion from taking an extended version of Sasha's finisher (not to mention she had just had a lengthy match with Becky). She has basically turned into a worse version of pre-US Open Challenge Cena. She starts the match, gets her spots in and can't be bothered with pretending like a match is actually physically taxing or painful.

The Rumble itself was pretty awesome. I didn't like the way they went about eliminating Brock. I was fine with him being eliminated by the Wyatt's but not with the method that they chose to do so. It seemed to drag on a bit for my liking. It almost felt like they screwed it up for the first time, so they restarted and tried again. I also wasn't a fan of when Bray was eliminated. As soon as he went out the ending got incredibly predictable. As long as he was in there, to me, it felt like we might see someone other than HHH win.

Overall, I was very impressed by the PPV and am actually looking forward to watching RAW tonight.

[skbucks1985]

Reigns vs HHH in the main event of mania seems pretty bad for business if you ask me, that match wouldn't sell 80k into mania this year

i agree though, they did set up 3 or 4 clear matches, but thats the thing, everything in this company has become so calculated, soulless and predictable, why would the fans invest any energy and emotion in it when it seems they can't be bothered also

Reigns-HHH is a pretty lackluster main event, I think anyone arguing otherwise is fooling themselves. But I think its a match they were forced into because of injuries and of the options they have, I think its one of the better ones.

I fundamentally disagree with the idea that predictable=bad. I'm not excited about HHH-Reigns because I'm not really a fan of either guy and the story they've told hasn't really appealed to me. I'm pretty excited about Ambrose-Jericho even though I figured that was probably the direction they were going after that 6-man tag all those months ago and I can probably give you a basic outline of how the feud will play out and culminate, so I see a high level of predictability there. But I'm a fan of both guys and I'm confident that they can create a story that appeals to me.

gimme brock vs wyatt for the title, as lackluster as that sounds, if you do it even half right, wyatt and heyman could sell the people on it at least. I mean with the family, there is so many variables you could work with also

Roman sure as hell can't right now and it will come down to HHH basically carrying this feud by himself sadly, a 47 year old man will have to carry this on the mic

predictable doesn't always equal bad, i mean New Japan is incredibly predictable at times but they do a damn good job booking stuff and making it exciting, this storyline has been predictable and dull, thats fatal. if it was predictable, but was exciting then that would be great

Ambrose vs Jericho (heel jericho that is) would be amazing, honestly have it co-main event

I'm with you in that strictly as a personal preference, I would've preferred Wyatt vs Lesnar be for the title. But in terms of the story they've been telling for now close to 3 months, HHH-Reigns should be the title match. I'm not a fan of Reigns, you clearly aren't either, but that's the only problem with the story they've been telling. If they'd been telling this exact same story with Ambrose or a healthy Cesaro or Owens or a few others in the role of protagonist, I'd be excited about it. But it is Reigns in the role and for me and a lot of other people, that makes it a fatal flaw. But if you're a fan of Reigns, then this is great.