|
Follow @TheDocLOP QUESTION OF THE DAY: What did you think of the Royal Rumble event, overall? On “The Doc Says” podcast a few weeks ago, I stated very clearly that I thought WWE needed this year’s Royal Rumble to be one of the best we’d seen in a long time. For their sake and ours, they delivered. Perhaps for the first time this decade, the January Classic lived up to its stout reputation as the most dynamic PPV on the calendar. It honestly felt like it should, by the way. The build-up to last night’s show was as good as we had seen in years for a Rumble event. Going in, all five matches on the card had intriguing stories to continue or conclude. It had previously seemed as though WWE decided that creative effort was not necessary to sell the show, particularly toward the end of the PPV era but carrying over into the Network era too. Looking back at the numbers, they were actually right; the Rumble has done great business the entire decade despite a spotty record of effectively using Raw and Smackdown to create pre-PPV drama. This year just felt positively different to me. Cheers to WWE, then. They hyped the Rumble well, executed a very good undercard on the PPV, and capped it off with a memorable Battle Royal that could go down as one of the best in the gimmick’s history. To start the PPV, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens was fantastic. Last Man Standing matches have traditionally suffered from the long and drawn out stops in action while the referee counts. Two years ago, John Cena and Bray Wyatt got a big assist from the Usos and the Family and performed what I called the modern blueprint for the stipulation, as the added bodies helped quell the primary issue in an era when sheer brutality - the hallmark of the gimmick's early years - was almost frowned upon. That it took six men to create the new standard was inherently problematic because Last Man Standing is obviously a one-on-one grudge match. Owens and Ambrose re-drew the blueprint by taking the same concept that made Wyatt-Cena work so well, proving it was possible to do it with just two men. The pace was Jericho vs. HHH-like; not too fast to deny the storytelling potential but not too slow to induce boredom. The resultant frenetic aura created a constant sense of escalation. Both wrestlers completely own their characters, and both characters have captivated the audience, so any pauses for counting didn’t really feel like pauses at all because taking your eyes off either combatant could mean missing an important detail. Just an awesome performance. (**** ¼) The New Day vs. The Usos was a really good follow-up to the outstanding opener. After a match like Owens vs. Ambrose, you wonder if the next match can hold the crowd's attention. When you have a trio like the New Day, those concerns prove unfounded. Orlando sure did love them some New Day. And what’s not to love? The Usos came across as a stale act in need of greater character development and a new entrance routine by comparison. I’m convinced that these guys could have good matches together on autopilot, but they continue to stay motivated and make the most of their time with each chance they’re given. Heck of a finish to this one. I, for one, will be awfully disappointed if New Day doesn’t make the WrestleMania main card this year. (*** ¼) If there was a match that underwhelmed, it was Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto. I called their quarterfinal match from the WWE Championship tournament leading to Survivor Series “the worst match I’ve seen in a long time.” They recovered nicely with their recent series of TV matches, one of which offered a trendy pick for Match of the Month. In totality, Del Rio vs. Kalisto has proven a hit or miss combination. Last night was a microcosm of their entire run together. The first 8-minutes were very good, channeling the spirit of the matches that they’d recently wrestled; the last few minutes, however, were extremely sloppy and reminiscent of the God awful match they had in November. Overall, it was an above average outing and memorable for Kalisto actually winning the rubber match in their US Championship Best Of, but you always hope for better when you know better is possible. (** ½) The Divas Championship match had a big fight feel from my viewpoint. I have felt that as soon as Charlotte tweaked her persona to the dark side, the reason why she was made the champion became glaringly clear. It’s not just the pedigree, but it’s the attitude; and while you can argue that Sasha Banks is better all-around and probably win the debate, it is inarguable that Charlotte is quite good in her own right. Charlotte and Becky Lynch had my favorite Divas Championship match since the term “Divas Revolution” was coined for a storyline last summer. This wasn’t about the Divas Revolution, but about the kind of wrestling that created the phrase in the first place. The proof was in the reaction from the crowd; there has not been such heat on a main roster match exclusively involving females since Trish Stratus retired. Bravo. Ric Flair’s antics worked for me this time around and I legitimately got a kick out of him throwing his jacket on Becky’s head. I bet Flair and Charlotte are having a ball together. (***) Sasha Banks making a statement after the match was riveting to me. Her and Finn Balor are the two stars from the NXT-as-we-know-it generation in whose current and future success I’m most emotionally invested. Finally, there was the Royal Rumble Match. It simply had to succeed; and not just succeed but excel. We could not have another year of disappointment. You’ll never please everyone, especially not in the internet wrestling community, but I certainly think that the Rumble at least met lofty expectations and could go down as one of the greatest ever. A bold proclamation, maybe, but I cannot think of a Rumble so layered with various emotional high points. AJ Styles debuting in WWE at #3 and being given such a glowing response by not just the crowd but the commentators...I’m struggling to find the words for that. I sat in my apartment 13 years ago watching my first TNA weekly PPV and Styles absolutely blew me away with his match against Low Ki. To be sitting at my house last night watching him get a hero’s welcome and be treated as such a big deal by WWE really goes to show how far WWE has come in recent years with their recruitment ideals. Phenomenal! Chris Jericho usually does well in Royal Rumbles and 2016 was no exception. He was a steady presence throughout the match. The New Day’s antics provided an early highlight before Kofi was eliminated by Jericho; I wonder if that could go anywhere. Roman Reigns being taken out by the League of Nations was smart booking. The mid-match injury is a tried and true way to build further sympathy for a babyface with odds stacked so heavily against. Remember, the live crowd was full of adult males who could afford the Rumble ticket price; thousands of families sat at home watching Reigns get seemingly screwed and probably popped out of their seats when he came back down later. I liked that touch quite a bit on first watch and I suspect it will only get better on repeat viewings. Straight out of the '99 playbook it may have been, but that makes sense given that McMahon was drawing from his past experiences and attempting to recreate the concept in a more effective way (especially since he knew he had his son-in-law coming in at #30). The Wyatt Family coming in right around the time that Reigns was taken out was a nice touch and set up the next focal point until Brock Lesnar entered. In between, you had Kevin Owens, Neville, and Sami Zayn relishing their first opportunities to compete in a match type that they all surely grew up loving like the rest of us. Owens, in particular, was awesome. What a night he had! When Lesnar got in there and tore down the prospect of Wyatt domination, only to get eliminated by the lot of them at Bray’s demand, the match took another narrative step and potentially teased a WrestleMania match between Bray and Brock. I don’t know about you, but I love that match on paper. I’ve wanted to see that for awhile now. What I liked most about the Rumble was the climax. By the time Triple H showed up at #30, Reigns had come back, Sheamus had entered, Wyatt was still in there after being the catalyst for Brock’s ouster, Jericho was the true Ironman of the match, Ambrose had been in for a while gutting it out, and Dolph Ziggler was fresh and ready to capitalize on his rare chance at ultimate glory. All were then given the chance to shine. That’s usually a style of booking reserved for the final 3-4, but this time was afforded to seven. Once Ziggler was eliminated, the major stories of the both the build and the execution to that point blended together. Wyatt’s combination of desiring to stop Reigns and create total chaos was ended first. Jericho’s attempt to check off that one remaining career to-do was thwarted next (by Ambrose intriguingly). Then Sheamus, never more prominently positioned on the Road to WrestleMania as he had been in the last 8 weeks (even dating back to his rookie year), was eliminated. Roman’s quest to do the seemingly impossible was the next to go, leaving Trips and Ambrose. Smart move. The crowd instantly got behind the Lunatic Fringe’s defiance of tyranny, but they were left disappointed by design. Triple H, the leader of the Authority and principle antagonist of the last three years, is WWE Champion for the first time in 7 years. What a final ten minutes! Great Rumble! (**** ¼)
|
