Royal Rumble aka the most exciting time of the year other than E3. That statement has aged about as well as “WWE Network. 9.99”.
I say this because the build for one of the big 4 was, unfortunately, really forgettable other than the segment with Cody and CM Punk on RAW. Now that’s to quote Carrlito, cool.
Now, did the 37th edition of the Royal Rumble rectify that build with a good show? I would say yes.
In regards to the Royal Rumble matches, while it didn’t have a lot of the usual surprises, that doesn’t have to be THE benchmark of how a Royal Rumble match should be presented.
It’s how you execute it that matters. I mean, Micheal Cole was a “surprise” entrant in a Royal Rumble match 12 years ago, how did that turn out?
All I can say about the women’s Royal Rumble match is TNA! TNA! TNA! TNA! TNA!
Bayley winning is an interesting choice. I would’ve preferred Liv Morgan to win considering that there’s a story to tell with her and Rhea Ripley.
How they’ve been good friends that led to Ripley turning on Liv and then putting her out of action a year later for quite some time until yesterday. I do believe Ripley’s going to face Becky Lynch for the big white gold belt but fingers crossed that I’m wrong.
The real question coming out of the women’s Royal Rumble match is, who’s Michael Cole gonna root for now that Bayley’s going to get backstabbed by Damage CTRL eventually turning her babyface in the process? Also, give me the Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair match right now because that’s money
The fatal four-way match for the WWE title ended with “taking it all” because that’s how Roman Reigns matches have concluded since September 2022.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get to sing, “America, America. America, America *guitar riff*” in the style of Kevin Owens’ theme song (shout out to Wrestling With Wregret) since he just lost via a disqualification.
Now for the men’s Royal Rumble match, did anyone feel a 1000 years old after Corey Graves said “Kofi-mania several years ago”? Because I sure did. Also, sorry Pat McAfee, only CM Punk gets to be the best entrant for an announcer in Royal Rumble history.
Speaking of history, brotha Cody Rhodes added a chapter in the show’s tenured history book where he became the fourth guy to win back-to-back Royal Rumble matches. I honestly thought that Punk was gonna win the whole thing but I was wrong thankfully. Here’s hoping Cody Rhodes gets to finish the story unlike George R. R. Martin.
I’m going to end with this. Triple H’s response at the Royal Rumble 2024 press conference about former WWE employee Janel Grant’s lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis was just tone-deaf.
The fact that he “wanted to focus on the positives” is the textbook definition of the word “complacency”. TKO/Endeavour needs to clean house of anyone who’s involved and loyal to the POS that is Vince immediately. I’m angry and frustrated that exploiting people for someone’s amusement keeps on happening every single time.
A wise man once said, ” Enough is enough and it’s time for a change” and that change needs to happen right away.
