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Royal Rumble XXXVI - 1/28/2022


Dolfan in NYC

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20 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Not exactly...  Jey Uso should probably just leave them but he's also fam....   Tough call. 

That's literally what he did last night. Also, making this a blowoff match between Sami Zayn and The Usos would be utterly disappointing.

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I was hosting people coming over and fun was had by all.  But the actual interest in and energy towards the Rumble show was not that much aside from the men's Rumble match.  Part of it is AEW but also most of them not watching WWE in a long time.  Despite that there were definitely things that were pretty great.  Quick thoughts time!

-For starters those that were down for drinking had Wild Turkey with us for Jay Briscoe.  It was nice and felt so right but still bummed me out a bit.

-Men's Rumble I definitely need to see again to appreciate Gunther.  There were fun moments, scary moments and the finishing stretch was a good way to lead to Cody's win.  I'm not JFC but I do love Cody and it will be interesting to see how things go leading up to WM.  Oh, and Logan got nuclear heat in the house for reasons and we cheered when his punk ass got tossed.  I do wish Gunther chopped the fuck out of him some before that but oh well.

-Pitch Black match is something 10-year-old me would have come up with for sure.  I thought it was visually appealing but as Lawful verified it must have been tough to watch live.

-Alexa/Bianca was complete filler to us and we cared much more about talking about life than that.

-Women's Rumble was not nearly as interesting as the men's but Asuka's mask and face paint was impeccable.  Also, every Rumble I have folks draw numbers but nobody ever won.  Until this year.  My friend (more like a brother to me) thought back to the Bob Barker skit on Raw and picked $1 for both Rumble matches.  He didn't know about Gunther but we all said he made an excellent choice.  Same for Rhea as well.  I always felt if somebody actually won with these picks I would get something for them.  So with him being the first one to win this I'll need to think of something good.  I would need to at least watch the ending of this again since I was kind of paying attention and kind of not.

-The main event I want to see again with my full attention but holy fuckballs the post-match was impeccable.  I'm a bit shy on saying that something is Emmy level and honestly as great as something is on a wrestling show there's no way anybody outside it would see it that way because wrestling.  BUT I will maintain that Jay would make for one helluva actor and should consider at least a TV/movie role to see how much he likes it.  I strongly feel he would be fucking tremendous and would gladly watch whatever he does.  And that's not discounting anybody else in the Bloodline either as everybody brought their A game thoughout all this..  I would even dare say Sami could have a go at acting if he wants and it's wild thinking that when I was so used to him as El Generico (allegedly)  And honestly why isn't Paul acting as a complete slimeball in a show?  All we got was him as a commentator in the "Rollerball" remake but imagine how great be as a villain or even the main villain's advocate.

Anyway, I'm just glad that there's something WWE's doing that makes me feel these type of things with a main event and postmatch like that.  I am not one to fantasy book but like Octopus I have trust in what they're at least doing with this story.  I'm sure they know not to fuck this up but over two years of the Bloodline makes me a bit comfortable knowing the payoff will be grand.

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I think the bigger issues in the theoretical Sami/KO vs Usos feud is that Owens has really been awful to Sami this whole time and if we are honest Jey has had his back more this past couple months than Owens has in their entire relationship. Kevin is always about him first, he without hesitation was willing to wreck all of Sami's relationships just to have a better shot at the title (which is pretty much what he did in NXT when he first showed up). Kevin was proven wrong, Jey actually was his friend and that still got ruined as Sami just couldn't bear to see Kevin basically crippled. Neither man is a saint or evil but it feels hard to ignore just how toxic Kevin has been for Sami's well being.

...So I say fuck it, run Sami/Jey vs Jimmy/KO.

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22 minutes ago, username said:

I think the bigger issues in the theoretical Sami/KO vs Usos feud is that Owens has really been awful to Sami this whole time and if we are honest Jey has had his back more this past couple months than Owens has in their entire relationship. Kevin is always about him first, he without hesitation was willing to wreck all of Sami's relationships just to have a better shot at the title (which is pretty much what he did in NXT when he first showed up). Kevin was proven wrong, Jey actually was his friend and that still got ruined as Sami just couldn't bear to see Kevin basically crippled. Neither man is a saint or evil but it feels hard to ignore just how toxic Kevin has been for Sami's well being.

...So I say fuck it, run Sami/Jey vs Jimmy/KO.

No man is ever truly good. No man is ever truly evil.

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This was the most I've enjoyed a Rumble in some time.

The men's Rumble just felt really fresh because of the focus on next generation stars. Booker had a minute-long cameo, and Edge is there but he's still a weekly active roster guy at least. The final 4 of Cody, Seth, Gunther, and Logan was so refreshing. The standard Rumble tropes were all there, but using them to make new stars instead of trying to give established guys more resume filler really rekindled my love of the match. Gunther's stock skyrocketed and he didn't steal all of Cody's thunder. Also, that Logan/Ricochet spot was beautiful and Kofi's attempt at a new save turning into the nastiest elimination of the night was the rare good kind of botch.

I could still do without the Bray Wyatt stuff. No matter how many times they try to re-invent him, it still feels the same. He's definitely no Taker or even Kane when it comes to adding new wrinkles to the gimmick. I do, however, think there was a lot of untapped potential with evil Alexa, so I don't mind a reboot there.

Women's rumble was solid. I wasn't a huge fan of both #1's making long runs, but Rhea is credible coast-to-coast winner and she deserves it for her work in Judgment Day.

The main event... Now that's the good shit. Best WWE segment since WM 30.

Long-term I'd hate to see them waste Jey's work the past week just having him run back to the bloodline, but Steenerico ending the Usos run would be a nice enough consolation moment for Sami. There are a lot of interesting ways to go from here, and it's easily the most compelling Mania season in 9 years.

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Having a day to digest the events of the rumble, I gotta say that it was an incredible end to the show. Sami has to face Roman for the title. Sami and Kevin going for tag titles seems like it would be such a letdown. Sami is over to the point where he could be a huge new star for them. The reports that Vince and triple h don't see that see just makes no sense. Like he is more than a supporting player. He can be the lead. I'm amazed he pulled that off.

The rest of the show...pitch black match withstanding was really good.

Glad Cody won. 

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8 hours ago, username said:

I think the bigger issues in the theoretical Sami/KO vs Usos feud is that Owens has really been awful to Sami this whole time and if we are honest Jey has had his back more this past couple months than Owens has in their entire relationship. Kevin is always about him first, he without hesitation was willing to wreck all of Sami's relationships just to have a better shot at the title (which is pretty much what he did in NXT when he first showed up). Kevin was proven wrong, Jey actually was his friend and that still got ruined as Sami just couldn't bear to see Kevin basically crippled. Neither man is a saint or evil but it feels hard to ignore just how toxic Kevin has been for Sami's well being.

 

This is really well observed and gets at what I’m talking about when I say that, while I enjoy the hell out of this angle, the writing is actually not that great! Like, it’s fine, it works, but you got people acting like WWE has Jesse Armstrong ghostwriting this stuff, and I can’t help but shake my head. SO MANY muddled motivations, and characters taking actions that seem at cross-purposes with how WWE wants the audience to feel towards them.

90% of the success of this angle is down to these guys just being incredible performers who can squeeze humor and pathos out of anything if you stand back and give them the chance. Letting Sami be likable/sympathetic has been a cheat code for bookers for almost two decades now, and the Bloodline were able to rejuvenate a thoroughly washed act by making an absolute meal out of reacting to what he’s serving.

If we’re looking for a current non-wrestling cultural reference point for this angle, I might suggest we look away from the Emmys and towards America’s foremost populist drama of the moment, YELLOWSTONE—another show with iffy writing but a killer, can’t-miss performance by Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton, who makes all the actors around her better and all the other characters more interesting  in her scenes, because they all just get to react to her chewing up and spitting out every square inch of Big Sky Country.

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I fast forwarded through the singles matches and the Hardy performance and all the other schlock. The pre show should’ve been Mt Dew Match Hardy Concert and the Women’s title match and maybe have given it some time The PPV should’ve been the two rumble and the title match. Time Management isn’t WWE’s strong suit.

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I just want Sami to cut his hair. The long hair looks terrible now. Just my opinion.

As for the story, it's probably the only WWE thing I pay attention to and when it's the only thing you pay attention to in WWE, it makes it much easier to pick apart. Like, there should have been no question about Sami's motivations after his WarGames performance. And then they had to come back to that for...whatever reason. Basically, because Kevin Owens was still annoying Roman, we wound up with Roman and other Bloodline members illogically doubting Sami because there was more juice to squeeze out of Sami looking sympathetic. The story with lesser performers just doesn't work, but because practically everyone involved in this angle is the best WWE has, it makes the angle look like the best thing ever. I'm fine with that. It's nice to be able to look past WWE's illogical booking for once.

Regarding where they go from here, I agree with others that Sami vs Roman at WM doesn't make a ton of sense because Sami wouldn't have a chance. The difference when looking back to WM 30 is that Daniel Bryan was already a World champion. He was already positioned as a top of the card wrestler for awhile and given top or near top feuds. Sami, until now, was booked like a total joke. He fell into the trap of being someone Vince found funny. Somehow, someway, Sami and how annoying he can be backstage when it comes to booking was able to get Vince, the most easily annoyed person in the world, to look past Sami's idiosyncrasies and see Sami as a "that's good shit pal" type of person. Anyway, you've had years of Sami looking like a geek. Going from that to all of a sudden being on Roman's level didn't make sense. The story with Bryan was never that he couldn't hang with Batista or Orton or Cena, it was that a face like Bryan's couldn't be the face of the company. 

For that reason, I'm fine with KO/Sami vs the Usos. It's been two days since the Royal Rumble and people are already questioning the booking. That's kind of crazy. Yeah, Jey walked away, doesn't mean that at the end of the day that family is above all else for Jey and Sami should have known better. That's a story as old as time and in wrestling, you can add in how you can't trust anyone. At the very least, while KO can be a dick to Sami, Sami can at least trust what KO's motivations are and know that at some point they're going to fight again and they've been friends more than they've been foes. So why not team up with KO to take on the Usos. The Usos have been positioned as the top of the top tag team champions in WWE. Beating them would still be a huge accomplishment and closing that match with KO and Sami hugging as champions would be quite the moment.

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I get people wanting to recreate Kofi's Gold Watch moment, but you really can't end this particular reign of Roman's being the 5th longest all time single reign and no direct falls in 3 years for what would end up being a throwaway reign that no one will care about once the night ends.

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18 minutes ago, Raziel said:

I get people wanting to recreate Kofi's Gold Watch moment, but you really can't end this particular reign of Roman's being the 5th longest all time single reign and no direct falls in 3 years for what would end up being a throwaway reign that no one will care about once the night ends.

Meaning having Sami beat Roman? I agree with most of that, but this is far from a gold watch moment for Sami. I think Kofi earned that and had been there for what felt like forever. 

If you mean Cody, then I think I disagree. I can't think of anyone else in WWE positioned stronger to beat Roman than Cody. If you have Cody defend his shot by going up against Gunther or something then I think the Cody vs Roman match is even more compelling. I'm still not 100% convinced Roman is going to lose, but if anyone can beat him and look credible in the process, it's probably Cody. 

However, if they want to drag this out for another year, then I think next in line would be Steiner if they were to strap a rocket to him.

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22 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Meaning having Sami beat Roman? I agree with most of that, but this is far from a gold watch moment for Sami. I think Kofi earned that and had been there for what felt like forever. 

If you mean Cody, then I think I disagree. I can't think of anyone else in WWE positioned stronger to beat Roman than Cody. If you have Cody defend his shot by going up against Gunther or something then I think the Cody vs Roman match is even more compelling. I'm still not 100% convinced Roman is going to lose, but if anyone can beat him and look credible in the process, it's probably Cody. 

However, if they want to drag this out for another year, then I think next in line would be Steiner if they were to strap a rocket to him.

I mean Sami.   Cody/Roman is the story and Sami's is the reign that no one would care about after it happens (like Kofi-mania ended up being).  Mabye Kofi isn't the right comparison for Sami, but no one's thinking past that there's two long term stories going on in this and everyone here decided that they want the title story to be Sami's when it's never been.

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9 minutes ago, Raziel said:

I mean Sami.   Cody/Roman is the story and Sami's is the reign that no one would care about after it happens (like Kofi-mania ended up being).  Mabye Kofi isn't the right comparison for Sami, but no one's thinking past that there's two long term stories going on in this and everyone here decided that they want the title story to be Sami's when it's never been.

No one cared about Kofi's because the booking sucked. Why assume no one would care about Sami's, or even better, why assume more would care about Cody's reign? Right now there is a world of difference in audience interest and reaction between Cody and Sami despite Cody having a story more geared for the title. 

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Holy shit. One has been an ongoing storyline. The other involves a top superstar returning from an injury who just had his first "match" back two fucking days ago.

LET IT BREATHE A LITTLE. Holy shit. When I, one of the most jaded WWE fans there is, is telling someone else to let something in WWE breathe a little bit, then y'all should know something is just a little fucked up.

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6 minutes ago, Eivion said:

No one cared about Kofi's because the booking sucked. Why assume no one would care about Sami's, or even better, why assume more would care about Cody's reign? Right now there is a world of difference in audience interest and reaction between Cody and Sami despite Cody having a story more geared for the title. 

Wait, we really pretending Cody played to crickets at any time in the past year?

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A couple of things:

1) HHH is still in the position where he needs to make an impression on the rest of the pro wrestling world, because when big free agent names come up -- MJF, Okada, Britt Baker, etc. -- they will want to know that the WWE values them as performers and they won't be "just another wrestler."  That's why Cody has to win. 

2) All this talk about Sami not being a credible threat to Roman.  I agree -- 9 months ago when this started.  The goofball is the side of the character that got all the way into the top dog's inner circle. He got the guy who was most suspicious of him to love him, to call him his brother. (With his literal brother standing next to him!) What you've been witnessing for the last 9 months is the build up of Sami. If he wasn't a threat to Roman, if he wasn't in line to break the Bloodline... then none of what you saw on Saturday would have been over with the crowd.  They know Sami's got a shot.  It may be a long shot, but it's a shot nonetheless.  Everything in the story has been pointing to him breaking the Bloodline and having an overconfident Roman take the threat that he poses for granted.  That's why Sami has to win.  

 

This story is a very unique mix of meta and storytelling.  I'm fucking stoked about this whole thing.  There are a hundred different ways to do this, but one thing's absolutely certain... Roman Reigns is facing, far and away, the biggest threat to his position as Head of the Table.  Where they go from here?  We'll see.  But remember this is Hunter's WWE now.  What happened before last summer doesn't matter any more.  

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11 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Holy shit. One has been an ongoing storyline. The other involves a top superstar returning from an injury who just had his first "match" back two fucking days ago.

LET IT BREATHE A LITTLE. Holy shit. When I, one of the most jaded WWE fans there is, is telling someone else to let something in WWE breathe a little bit, then y'all should know something is just a little fucked up.

What exactly am I supposed to be letting breathe? 

7 minutes ago, Raziel said:

Wait, we really pretending Cody played to crickets at any time in the past year?

No, but it does sound like some of you are pretending Cody was getting massive pops regularly beyond his first couple of appearances. He gets good reactions. So does Brock. So has Sheamus, Drew, Lashley, Riddle, and Seth at various moments. Sami has been getting bigger and more sustained reactions than all of them for months now. 

 

Edited by Eivion
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