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History I watched the Royal Rumble at a bar this year with my wife and a few friends. We had a lot of fun, as the Road to Wrestlemania began right before our eyes. I had pretty lofty expectations going into the event. I wanted to see how Ziggler would react on a big stage with the World title on the line; I wanted to see just how good Orton vs. Miz could be and how'd they get around having Orton lose clean; and I wanted to see who would win the Royal Rumble. Frankly, I thought Ziggler stepped up big and had a great match with Edge; I thought that Miz and Orton did a nice job of following that match with a really good match of their own; and I thought the Royal Rumble was a helluva lot of fun. One extra thing that I noticed was how well the WWE did at starting to build up some of the matches for Wrestlemania at the Royal Rumble. Since the rumored card featuring mostly veterans vs. relative newcomers (to the Mania top matches, at least), I thought it was very astute of the WWE to recognize that many of their potential Mania buyers were also Rumble buyers, so it would be smart to show off some of their newer talents like Miz, Punk, Barrett, and Alberto Del Rio - even the bit where Todd Grisham read the statement from Cody Rhodes about Rey Mysterio was a nice touch. Examination Complain - to express feelings of disdain, pain, or resentment All in all, I thought the event was very good and gave us some nice feuds moving toward Wrestlemania. As I usually do after a PPV, I got home and jumped on the internet to see what the general consensus seemed to be. And what did I see? COMPLAINING. I saw people complaining about how boring Orton vs. Miz was and how awful the Miz has been booked as champion. Well, excuse me, but there was only one era in history when normal sized (that is to say not gigantic) heel champion didn't repeatedly win by nefarious means and that was the beloved Attitude era. Miz is a classic heel; a throwback to a different era. Call me crazy, but what many are calling terrible booking, I would call smart booking. Miz is very over; people want to see this guy lose. Having him do guest commentary only to throw the #1 guy in the company out of the Royal Rumble held in his hometown after having already beaten the #2 guy in the company? That was a brilliant move. That one match that the “experts” called boring effectively set in motion two of what will likely be the top Wrestlemania matches. The other things that I’ve seen numerous complaints about were Alberto Del Rio winning the Rumble and Hornswoggle being involved at all. You know, I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of the Little Bastard, but to say that Hornswoggle in some way undercut the credibility of the Rumble match is ridiculous and short sighted. The little guy came in and got a great crowd reaction and proceeded to maximize his time in the match by fun-lovingly mimicking the top babyfaces he was in the ring with. Yes, he’s a leprechaun. But he’s also very over. As for Alberto Del Rio…all I’ve read since the middle of 2009 was how everyone wanted new stars to be pushed. Well, beggars can’t be choosers. ADR is a new star and he just won the Royal Rumble, effectively gaining the credibility to main-event Wrestlemania in one night what it would’ve taken a year to do otherwise. Analysis So, last night effectively pointed us in a direction for Wrestlemania that will be heavy on fresh talent in the top matches at Wrestlemania. It’s going to be a challenge for the WWE to maintain the buyrates (or even get close) that they are accustomed to for the top show of the year. Two years ago, they were disappointed when they didn’t go above a million buys for a third straight year. Last year, they were disappointed when the total fell below 900,000. Well, how are they going to feel this year when the number drops below 800,000…or even 700,000. I think that’s going to be the key…and I think they realized that by showing their hand so early on the Road to Mania. Unless they call an audible, it seems as if we’ll go to Wrestlemania in two months with a card that looks like this: -WWE Champion Miz vs. John Cena -Randy Orton vs. CM Punk -Wade Barrett vs. Undertaker -World Champion Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio -Triple H vs. Sheamus -Corre vs. Nexus -Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes Doctor’s Orders A poster in the WWE forums today echoed a theory that will be put to the test this year and that’s Wrestlemania has become a brand and it won’t much matter what the card is, it will always draw a strong buyrate. I personally would be very happy to sit in attendance and watch the youth movement. Of those matches listed above, I can see four of them tearing the house down. Miz, Punk, Sheamus, and Del Rio all are capable of making the most of their opportunities and producing great matches on the grand stage. Last night, the WWE did a very nice job of presenting a PPV full of young and old, with something for both the youngest of fans and the oldest of fans. Stop complaining…sit back and enjoy…this is the best time of the year…
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