WWE Royal Rumble

Fairly clumsy rumbles with not great ring management weaker than previous years. A couple of good spots but no big energy moments. We watch the rumble for big returns. Pat took away from this event and spoiled it. R-Truth was the takeaway star he's fun. There were far too many unknown wrestlers and far too much of the Bloodline. You almost wish the Rock had better cousins. LA Knight's momentum was squashed. Watched Fully Loaded from 2000 after this which was way better. Overall some spots but each rumble was too long and a lot of the matches felt too predictable and that's from a casual. We watch the Rumble once a year and that's it, but starting to wonder if next year we might just give it a miss. Who booked Pat? Is social media exposure more important than quality of the product now?

I don't know why I bothered to analyze it, but it was the most predictable storyline I've seen in a long time, causing me to lose sleep last night. If we break down the matches, the Women's Royal Rumble was simply amazing, saving the night with its inclusion of feuds, betrayal attempts, debuts, and strong wrestlers. Everyone who needed to shine did so adequately. Jade Cargill's debut was excellent, and the comebacks of Liv Morgan and Naomi, along with Bayley's victory, were significant and well-placed. There were two title matches, and predicting both accurately suggests the show started much higher than it ended. We knew Roman Reigns would retain his title, but I didn't expect it to be so simple, with just a couple of spears in a 10-minute match. I anticipated a more exciting and dramatic contest. The US title match also fell short of expectations, opting for the simplest method by not having Kevin Owens and Logan Paul lose. Both matches were disappointingly straightforward. However, the most underwhelming match was the Men's Royal Rumble. It felt like the most poorly thought-out match globally. With other paths for Cody to reach Wrestlemania, giving him the Royal Rumble win seemed like taking the easy way out. The lack of surprises, despite most participants being undisclosed, and the prominence of the announced four contestants, felt overly simplistic. No need to drag it out further-hopefully, Wrestlemania XL will be exceptional this year. Women's RR = 9/10 Men's RR = 5.5/10 Undisputed Championship = 6/10 US Championship = 6.5/10.