Matt D Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 1 hour ago, For Great Justice said: The Rumble match just doesn’t have the joy in it that it used to and this year’s mens version is the bottom of the barrel. Where are the little side gags, the clever team ups, etc? Patterson is missed. They were all in the women's rumble. I didn't catch everything, but you've got: Sasha's gear, Melina crying, Sasha doing the split after eliminating her, the Liv/Logan reunion, Sonya taking out Cameron, Sonya spoiling the Naomi spot, Bella dissension, Zelina being excited for Carmella to come out only for Carmella to hang out with Graves, Nikki ambushing Molly, Ronda's look on her face when Baszler came out 30, Ivory, Etc. There were tons of little moments like that in the women's Rumble and what felt like 0 in the men's. I haven't seen much WWE in forever or even followed it an it's all pretty dreadful. I'm still going to put together a Mania card based on what I saw though, for both masochistic and sadistic reasons. Reigns vs Brock for the title Charlotte vs Ronda for the title Owens vs Edge Miz vs Sami (Rollins vs Sami kind of works too but Miz is a better program) Becky vs Bayley or Becky vs Asuka for the title (With Sasha up against the other) Alexa/Rhea/Molly Holly vs Zelina/Carmella/Nikki Cross Sonya vs Naomi (hair vs hair) Bad Bunny vs Sheamus (Shame Priest is the US champ instead of the IC champ or else you could loop him and faceguard guy in and put the title on the line in a tag). Riddle vs Orton (BUT since there's no possible challenger for Lashley, which is insane, probably do...) Riddle vs Orton vs Lashley for the title. Rey vs Dominic? That's probably better than whatever they're going to do and it's still pretty rough. I guess that's what happens when you cut 2/3rds of your roster and don't seriously push anyone but two people for a span of years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintedbynumbers Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 1 hour ago, Shartnado said: Any idea where I could get a pair of those Seth Rollins gloves? lowes or home depot probably. I'm being totally serious too. I remember marking out when Home Depot had the Mechanix gloves Sting wore in 1997 WCW 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintedbynumbers Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 So after further thought I'm even more pissed. Look at the list of names not in the Rumble Balor Cesaro Crews Viking Raiders Angel Garza Humberto And they wonder why people want a release from that toxic shithole of a promotion. seriously I don't care anymore about how great they used to be. Vince and company are a shit show now. People changing from face to heel so quick you can't even tell anymore. Is Lashley face/heel, is Brock Face/Heel, Rollins Face/Heel? Do they even know?! Kind of hard to grab a brass ring if you aren't even given the chance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shartnado Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 6 minutes ago, paintedbynumbers said: lowes or home depot probably. I'm being totally serious too. I remember marking out when Home Depot had the Mechanix gloves Sting wore in 1997 WCW Yeah, I finally found Mechanix gloves from a hunting section of a local sporting goods store over here! Sadly, they weren't the padded ones Sting had. But I bought a pair right then and there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Poor Kofi Kingston. Had to happen at some point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 The booking is so asinine. Brock doesn’t need to win the Rumble. Reigns interfered in his title match and his manager just turned on him. He’s already got a title match. He doesn’t need to “earn” a title match. I thought they were gonna have Matt Riddle win it in Randy’s hometown and they could do a celebration and do a “will Randy turn on him” kinda deal. Do the MMA-esque match with Lashley that Brock more or less refused to do last night. We could have fun vignettes with Randy training Riddle for his big match. I mean, they could’ve done anything. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintedbynumbers Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 How do they not have Balor in the Rumble? SO many people had him as the favorite or darkhorse to win. How do they have 0 guys from NXT? How do they have Angelo/Dawkins in but not Cesaro/Garza/Crews?? I pray that next year AEW has their own version of the Rumble and airs it on free TV to combat this shit show. How could any wrestler WWE or otherwise see this show and say "god WWE is where I want to be" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 With the lockup between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley, I thought we getting away from Lesnar's overplayed Suplex City shit. I was wrong. Sigh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I've only had two hours sleep and I'm still pissed at Royal Rumble 2022. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph2112 Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I could see the WWE brain trust sitting around determining that the two biggest stars against each other in the main event of WM is the best idea, which in a vacuum certainly can't be argued. But good grief is that the biggest self-fulfilling prophecy that's ever been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintedbynumbers Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 They should do something different. Announce 1 brand going forward. Have a unification match for the tag belts, IC/.US belts. Announce a tournament for the women's title and the men's title and have it all at Mania. It's a 2 night show. It would be stacked and it would get everyone on the show to get their payday. It's not that hard and I promise it's a better idea than whatever shit WWE will feed us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamal Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I'm also in the camp that enjoyed the women's Rumble this year despite the predictable winner. Great seeing people like The Bellas, RTC Ivory, Alicia Fox, etc. Melina's moment, while short, was still touching because you could see the obvious emotions. Mickie looked exactly like a star. Sonya taking out Cameron and then ruining Naomi's moment was great. And an awesome moment for the Riott Squad, Summer and Nattie giving us the Total Divas slap fest tribute, newly supervillain Nikki taking out Molly, and Brie finally getting one over on her sister. Just a lot of really cool moments. I have no issues with a Ronda win as she honestly was really good during her last run and there is a lot that could be done with her. It would be cool if some of this stuff carried over like Nikki/Molly or Ivory as cult leader (because of course). But I'm sure it's all one and done. I really enjoyed Doudrop Vs Becky too. So glad to see Doudrop get to be a little more Viper/Piper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Why do I get a bad feeling about this? Like, it feels like the return of shooty, treats it like it's real Ronda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 6 hours ago, MoeCristyV.1.6 said: So Lesnar knew that he would lose the title and get screwed by Heyman, entered the Rumble beforehand and drew number 30. Would be easier to just say that Brock jumped whoever drew 30 in the entrance area and made them play his music instead. Sorta like the Nia Jax thing from a few years ago, only not done on screen. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinit Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Seth coming out in the Shield gimmick was clever. The show went downhill from there. Having Mrs Undertaker and the aughts retirees instead of Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzales, Io Shirai or any of the NXT women was classic WWE. If Bobby got a move or 2 after the interference and before the pin on Brock would have made Lashley look less like a bitch by the finish. What a boring, sad, predictable Rumble. Did the establish any new rivalries during the match? No Rey/Dom interaction? No Finn? No Cesaro? The Wrestlemania sign catching fire TWICE totally encapsulated what a dumpster fire this show was and this company is. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorman Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I liked AJ Styles hitting the HBK pose when he drew No. 1 to show that he was going wire to wire for the victory. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriskbrown50 Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Wrestlemania is increasingly more about part time wrestlers and/or one time attractions. Bottom 5 Rumble of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Comedian Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 11 hours ago, sabremike said: The biggest problem is pretty simple: They have a roster that with a few exceptions nobody cares about (and that's almost entirely because there's been no reason given to care about them with how they've been booked and positioned) and for a Rumble match that's pretty much death. I'd say the biggest problem is this: you don't put the belt on Andre. Lesnar is the modern-day Andre. And they put the belt on him constantly. This is what, the second year in a row now that they've done " Lesnar inserts himself into big gimmick match at last minute and easily wins to get a title shot"? It makes the whole roster look like shit. Ironically, the "people person Lesnar" thing is a move in the right direction, but what he needs to be doing at this point is acting as an odd-evener like Andre used to. Say, Ricochet gets on the bad side of AJ and Omos (assuming they never split). They're beating him regularly until he bumps into Lesnar in the back one day, and Brock's like, "hey I remember when you helped eliminate me in the Rumble a couple years ago. You got gumption, I like that. Lemme help you out." Bang, Ricochet gets a rub from teaming with Brock, Omos gets a rub from being enough of a threat to involve Brock. Bottom line, Brock don't need the belt. Neither does Rousey for that matter, nor did Goldberg. They gotta stop putting the belts on special attractions if they ever wanna build up a pool of new main event talent. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James F'n X Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 9 minutes ago, The Comedian said: Bottom line, Brock don't need the belt. Neither does Rousey for that matter, nor did Goldberg. They gotta stop putting the belts on special attractions if they ever wanna build up a pool of new main event talent. That's the rub. They don't want to build up anyone new. A rotating Greatest Hits section is good enough to keep the diehards watching and ratings good enough to keep Fox placated. The Rumble used to be building 2 month programs for folks based on who eliminated who because you have that hour to start and tell stories. What stories were told in either Rumble last night involving people who didn't win and will be on the weekly TV in a month? The only tiny thing I can remember is Gable throwing Damian Priest to the wolves before getting Omos out. Will that lead to something considering Gable and Otis are chasing the tag belts? Probably not. Pat Patterson was the master of taking advantage of this storytelling format to plant seeds that ripened 3, 6, 9 months down the line. The Rumbles this year felt like a dust bowl in comparison. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Comedian Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 You're right James. They're too far gone into the Hollywood mindset of "sequels, remakes, and reboots". It's really scary to think that, if Stone Cold didn't have too much pride in his craft to do it, they would jump at the chance to have him go out there at Mania, not bump, punch and kick Bobby Lashley around a bit, gingerly hit a stunner, and win the title as a half-crippled fifty something. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoFistsJustFlips Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I'm surprised everyone is chalking up Beck vs Doudrop have a quiet crowd due to anything except the building evacuation. The Wrestlemania sign caught on fire. They evacuated the entire side of the audience that sat on the sign side. They lowered the sign to the ground and put it out with fire extinguishers then raised it back it. I mean sure Doudrop isn't a pushed act. But that crowd was paying attention to that weird spectacle. There was even a "the building is on fire chant". Hard to have audience investment in this scenario. Dunn kept to super tight shots from only the 3 non evacuate sides to avoid it being on camera, but Becky even said that sign caught of fire because I'm straight fire, or something to that effect. The mixed tag got the shaft tonight. It was a really solid outing for that type of match. But they gave it the cool down death spot. After the big Brock match and before the "big" men's Rumble match. Bad show layout in my opinion. Men's Rumble was probably the worst Rumble they've ever done. Bottom two or three at least. Just no star power. They also announced 25 people, and just sent those 25 out first. You have to take the audience on a ride. Ups and downs and weaving stuff in and out to have a fun Rumble. You need to pepper those surprises in along the way for maximum effect. Also feel for Kofi. They made the right call calling it as a shoot since his feet hit. But that has to be a bummer to mess up a big spot like that and not get your planned shine in. The Rumble was ESPECIALLY dull during the 3 minutes after Kofi was out. You just know they had some planned stuff with him & Otis, and since he wasn't there they all pretty much stood around doing nothing. Don;t care about Lesnar winning. Their story didn't need the Rumble win. Whatever Lashley's match is gonna be did. But I feel apathy towards it, not annoyance. The sign caught of fire again after the Lesnar pyro too. Pretty fucking unsafe to risk that on a faulty sign setup that already caused an evacuation. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Moose Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, Matt D said: They were all in the women's rumble. I didn't catch everything, but you've got: Sasha's gear, Melina crying, Sasha doing the split after eliminating her, the Liv/Logan reunion, Sonya taking out Cameron, Sonya spoiling the Naomi spot, Bella dissension, Zelina being excited for Carmella to come out only for Carmella to hang out with Graves, Nikki ambushing Molly, Ronda's look on her face when Baszler came out 30, Ivory, Etc. There were tons of little moments like that in the women's Rumble and what felt like 0 in the men's. Liv in particular lost weeks (months?) of her career to errant Bella kicks. In a world with a better Rumble planner, Liv taking out the Bellas after they toss Sarah Logan would have been a thing. Maybe a tag down the line. Rhea's backstories with Shayna and Charlotte didn't really seem to come up, Bianca felt like an afterthought as the match went on (and it's jarring that the EST wouldn't take exception to the BaddEST Woman On The Planet) ... and last year we had Rhea and Bianca much later in the match eliminating Charlotte -- it's a strain to watch them try and fail to eliminate her as they did this time. Anyone - characterwise, it probably works best for Rhea or Bianca - spearing Rousey during her walk down the ramp would have had a star-making moment. 3 hours ago, Matt D said: I haven't seen much WWE in forever or even followed it an it's all pretty dreadful. I'm still going to put together a Mania card based on what I saw though, for both masochistic and sadistic reasons. Charlotte vs Ronda for the title Becky vs Bayley or Becky vs Asuka for the title (With Sasha up against the other) Alexa/Rhea/Molly Holly vs Zelina/Carmella/Nikki Cross Having already turfed Charlotte to win the Rumble, I'm not sure Ronda would have enough incentive to choose her over Becky -- but Ronda-Becky means Bianca gets hung out to on the story that's been building since Summerslam. They can certainly do Ronda-Charlotte / Becky-Bianca, but it feels like they'll be swimming uphill against the crown in both of those situations. And it brings up the spectre of another inane tag skirmish and leaves Sasha and Rhea with nothing to do. Edited January 30, 2022 by Iron Moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoFistsJustFlips Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Also, it was St. Louis. Any reason they only had Orton in the Rumble for 3 minutes or whatever? He should have been somewhere around 8/9/10 and stayed until the end to give the home town audience someone to root for. Orton is big over there, and they really had him out in 3 minutes. Just doesn't make any sense. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 4 minutes ago, Iron Moose said: Having already turfed Charlotte to win the Rumble, I'm not sure Ronda would have enough incentive to choose her over Becky -- but Ronda-Becky means Bianca gets hung out to on the story that's been building since Summerslam. I feel like its Rhonda-Charlotte because there was no finishing stretch to the match, like they were trying to save their interactions. Once it came down to the 2 of them the match was over in 30 seconds. Now Charlotte is pissed at Rhonda because she ruined her big plan and Rhonda can hold it over her that she eliminated her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts