Posted in: Mr. Tito
TITO DAILY - Royal Rumble Sells... But Who is Buying?
By Mr. Tito
Jan 29, 2012 - 11:24:08 AM

CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread

--------------------

Today is the Royal Rumble... I'm not going to declare tonight's show as a "make or break" moment for the WWE, as Wrestlemania 28 is FAR more important. But the hype heading into this show is indicative of an ongoing problem the WWE has had for the past 2-3 years: poor Pay Per View performance.

I believe that the WWE has taken the hype and build-up for the Royal Rumble for granted. The WWE is assuming that you, the wrestling fan, will automatically get excited for a 30 person, over-the-top Rumble match. Absolutely, that match is ALWAYS exciting! During the 1990's, when the WWE was in decline, the undercard always sucked but that 30 man Rumble was always exciting. The 2000's, for the most part, has followed this pattern.

It's the UNDERCARD that we, as wrestling fans, are struggling to care about. 2 Weeks heading into the Royal Rumble, the WWE only had ONE match booked: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler, and it was one of those "special guest referee" matches with John Laurinaitis. Last time I checked, when the WWE previously tried the "special guest referee", it was Triple H for the SummerSlam 2012 WWE Title vs. WWE Title match between CM Punk and John Cena. How did that buyrate do again? Ohhhhhh, it was down!

Daniel Bryan(c) vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry in a Cage... Who cares? The WWE had to throw the match in a cage in attempts to make you care. Why would you? Bryan is a phony champion, thanks to his Money in the Bank cash-in, and the WWE isn't giving you anything to believe that a 5'10", 200 pound Bryan (someone conveniently edited out Bryan's height on Wikipedia, by the way, and also added 10 pounds) could even hurt a 7 foot, 400+ pounder. Bryan has a great match (a cage match, no less) against Mark Henry from that Tuesday Smackdown, but the issue remains the Big Show. WWE has to make their champion look strong against the Big Show tonight.

Kane vs. John Cena... Just feels to me like Kane is just there to put Cena over strong as Cena heads into his one-year hyped match with the Rock at Wrestlemania 28. Now, if the WWE wanted to roll the dice, they'd put Kane over strong AND clean to allow for a nice rematch at Elimination Chamber 2012... But I don't see that kind of favor ever going Kane's way.

Just seems like it's just going to be a typical WWE Pay Per View with zero excitement to cause anyone to want to buy the replay. And if I were a WWE Shareholder or Board Member (granted, the biggest shareholder and Board Chairman are the same guy - Vince), I would demand to know why the WWE's 2nd Biggest Pay Per View, Royal Rumble, has lost viewers for the 2nd straight year in a row. Watch the numbers, folks... If the Rumble does below 2011's number of 446,000 viewers, it's a total failure of the WWE Management to grow interest of their product any longer. The members of WWE Management will have proven that they DO NOT have what it takes to make the WWE brand grow again.

That's why I've been preaching that the WWE should sneak the Rock in and have him win the 2012 Royal Rumble. Many of you, the LoP readers, have been suggesting Chris Jericho to be the Rumble winner. Both my choice and your choices are unique, but the WWE establishment wants Randy Orton to win the Rumble and push him down your throats for Wrestlemania 28. I like Orton, but there's something lacking in his character and ability to draw that I wouldn't quite give him the Wrestlemania push without earning it. After all, just count up how dominant Orton has been for the past 2 years as well as # of World Titles afforded to him... He's had 3 total World Title reigns... Did you care?

WWE has a stacked roster right now that with innovative ideas, could be used to grow the WWE business once again. Instead, the WWE Management has its favorites. Just like last year's embarrassment of a Royal Rumble when Alberto Del Rio survived by defeating Santino as the last person (wow), WWE wants Orton to win it this year. And then tomorrow, everything will be wonderful when Triple H, who is still "acting" as Chief Operating Officer, will evaluate John Laurinaitis. Oh joy!

The WWE is making it easy for me to walk away...

CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread

BLOG is TITO Archive on LoPForums.com

© Mr. Tito 1998 - 2012